Simon Montlake reports from Kuala Lumpur on a revitalised economy now under the low-key yet decisive auspices of the newly elected Abdullah Badawi.

The Banker’s Central Banker of the year for 2003, Tan Sri Dato’ Zeti Akhtar Aziz, is now in her second term at Bank Negara Malaysia. She helped Malaysia through the 1997-1998 financial crisis and has since presided over a dramatic consolidation of Malaysia’s financial sector. The country is now reaping the benefits.

After Malaysia’s stormy financial fortunes in the late 1990s, the country has recovered well, and its economy is proving of valuable interest to international markets.

Mervyn Davies, group chief executive of Standard Chartered, shares his vision of Asia with The Banker.

China’s barriers to foreign banks will soon be coming down but their expertise will also be useful to local institutions, says Louise do Rosario.

Kala Rao reports on India’s timid yet nevertheless genuine attempts to overhaul its pension system – and on the global players licking their lips in anticipation.

Foreign investors are bullish on India’s banks and ICICI especially. By Kala Rao and Stephen Timewell in Mumbai.

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.