With limited space and exorbitant rental costs, retail banks in Hong Kong have been rethinking the role of the branch. But rather than moving away from bricks to clicks, Hong Kong’s banks are investing in and revamping their branches. 

The Asian Development Bank's annual meeting in Delhi in May saw a new president take the helm, but it was the policies of his home country – Japan – that dominated proceedings.

Led by innovative deals from development banks, Kazakh bond markets are enjoying a dynamic spell, but pension reform casts uncertainty over the equity markets.

Large capital inflows and structural changes at home are just two of the challenges for Singapore's economy, says the Monetary Authority of Singapore's managing director.

The Deals of the Year winners from Asia-Pacific.

Taiwan's rising prominence as an offshore renminbi centre reached a milestone earlier this year when the Bank of China opened a clearing bank in Taipei. But with Hong Kong, and to a lesser extent London and Singapore, already working as offshore renminbi hubs, where will Taiwan fit in?

Mobile money, including banking and payments, is encroaching into the everyday life of the consumer. Monetising the business is still proving difficult, but thanks to the abundance of products available already, tangible business models are slowly emerging.

Singapore's big three lenders may still be dominating the top positions in the Association of South-east Asian Nations ranking by Tier 1 capital by a considerable margin, but Thai and Malaysian banks now occupy six of the top 10 spots, while Indonesia's institutions are recording the region's strongest profitability ratios.

With a significant unbanked population and the world's second largest number of mobile connections, India is a prime market for mobile banking. But, unlike other mobile banking markets, it is adopting a bank-led rather than telecommunications-led approach, with the largest institutions already rolling out services and the country's regulator keen to use it as a tool to improve financial inclusion.