Features

To traditional bankers, Jakarta’s gaming salons might seem unlikely places to launch a hot fintech startup. But for veteran gamer Vincent Iswaratioso, battling virtual bad guys in World of Warcraft has proved the perfect training ground for his universal Dana e-wallet.

Cambodia’s government, central bank and financial institutions rose to the challenge of mitigating the impact of the pandemic, with some success. There is more work to be done – but a growing focus on innovation and digitalization could herald a new beginning.

Alfa Bank has married its SME focus and its digital ambitions to much success in Kazakhstan, but will its business model be enough to ward off the competition?

With its razor-sharp focus on SMEs, technology firms and ESG, Busan Bank has come a long way in the last 50 years, and is moving in the right direction.

The community of economies going green in a hurry has the unlikeliest of new members: coal-addicted Mongolia. Can the country shed its past?

Sprawling conglomerates dominate South Korea’s economy, making it hard to retool a creaking economic model. With a presidential election looming and financial technology firms growing, the market is ripe for disruption.

MUFG Bank is investing in its Greater China business, but will its strategy pay off?

Predicting the direction of markets has never been harder than during the past two years of pandemic-fuelled worries and volatility. Asiamoney speaks with the top-rated analysts across markets in Asia to see how they navigated 2021 – and how they are positioning themselves and their clients for 2022.

Since Kazakhstan left the Soviet Union and embraced capitalism, its banks have been locked in a boom-bust cycle, but a banker who lamented the passing of Communism has emerged as the industry’s leader. Now Halyk Bank’s Umut Shayakhmetova faces what could be her biggest test yet.