Foreign banks are already checking out local acquisitions in the run up to the full liberalisation of the Malaysian banking market in 2007. Bank Negara, the central bank of Malaysia, will then allow foreign banks to buy local ones, although in the next few years it will gradually allow some foreign banks to open more branches and have off-site ATMs.

Maybank CEO Amirsham Aziz believes Malay banks are ready to face foreign competition, he tells Karina Robinson.
A grey-haired man wearing a grey shirt and grey trousers is not a promising subject. But Amirsham Aziz, the unassuming president and CEO of Maybank, Malaysia’s banking behemoth, turns out to be a fan of the Havana-based Tropicana nightclub. He goes on about “the trees, the music, the sound, the acoustics, the colours”. (My emphasis would have been on the three dozen gorgeous mulatas (mixed race girls) who form the chorus line of probably the oldest outdoor cabaret show in the world, but perhaps only women can say these things nowadays.)

Financial sector reform must continue and deepen across Asia for prosperity to be sustainable in the region, says Tadao Chino.

Projections on growth for China that envisage a doomsday scenario for the rest of the world are both overblown and flawed.

Activity to update the banking systems is continuing in mainland China, one of the latest moves being Bank of China’s implementation of Summit Systems’ treasury and capital markets software across its interest rate derivatives trading desks.

Indonesia is looking forward to growth this year, but this depends on whether the government can reduce corruption and achieve political and economic stability, writes Peter Janssen in Jakarta.

Since the Asian crisis, Indonesia’s banking system has been shaken up and streamlined. Despite this, scandals still occur. Tim Johnston assesses progress so far, and discusses what the priorities must be for the recovering industry.

Some companies are already reaping the rewards of a bold decision to invest in Indonesia’s banking sector, but one investor is asking how long they will be able to operate before the big banks decide to move in.

When Indonesia graduated from the IMF programme at the end of last year, it brought to an end a traumatic six-year relationship, but since then the country has emerged stronger and more fiscally disciplined.