A new system for identifying each citizen in India is opening the door to social and financial inclusion for the huge section of the community without identification documents.

India's banks remained relatively profitable in 2012, and the outlook for this year is equally positive thanks to a government initiative that is helping lenders to tap the country's large unbanked population. The Banker talks to the senior executives of 10 of India's biggest banks to discuss the industry's past successes and future developments.

China's economy started to slow in 2012, but the profitability of the country's banks showed no signs of waning, with indicators from lenders both large and small showing strong growth.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China has experienced incredible growth in the past year, and is now the number one bank in The Banker's Top 1000 World Banks ranking, the first Chinese bank to hold this position. Stephen Timewell charts this rise and speaks to the bank's chairman.

Jiang Chaoliang, the new chairman of Agricultural Bank of China, one of the country's ‘big four’ state-owned banks, gives The Banker his views on the future of China's banking industry, and ABC's role within it.

Mohammad Al-Hashel is settling into his role as Kuwait’s central bank governor, taking over responsibility for a banking sector that is well capitalised and highly liquid. 

Kuwait’s banks are looking to external markets as they pursue growth, a strategy that has the potential to strengthen Kuwait’s economic relationships with the countries in which it operates.  

In the past year, political turbulence has dented Kuwait's otherwise healthy economy, with political infighting effectively blocking the government's $130bn economic development plan (EDP). But a new government, elected in December 2012, looks set to put an end to the country's political problems and kick-start the EDP.

Largely unaffected by the political and economic turbulence outside the country, Kuwait's banks recorded strong growth in 2012, and are looking to improve on this in 2013, by seeking growth abroad and taking advantage of the opportunities offered by the government's $130bn national development plan.

The growth of China's economy is slowing, and with it the profit margins of its leading banks. However, with an increasing focus on SME lending, opportunities opening up in wealth management and the capital markets, and the renminbi edging ever nearer to achieving international reserve currency status, the mood among the country's bankers is still one of optimism, albeit of the more cautious variety.