As the share of Asia in world GDP and global capital is growing rapidly, western financial institutions are planning to increasing their involvement in eastern region. Moreover, Asian-based banks see local opportunities too, and follow the trend of regional rather than global expansion. “Asia is now one third of global GDP with a growth rate of 6%. Why would I allocate capital to the other two thirds growing at 1.5%?” - says Piyush Gupta, chief executive of DBS in Singapore, one of the fastest expanding Asian banks. 

The Asian population has grown rapidly over time, and the Asian Development Bank predicts that the number of Asians needing banking services will increase by three billion by 2050. In addition, by that time, per capita income in purchasing power parity is expected to increase sixfold, by which time the continent will account for 52% of global GDP.

The government institutions play much bigger role in the banking sectors of many Asian emerging Asian markets (such as China and India) compared to the rest of the world. In China, for example, the five largest banks are government-controlled, and in India, state-owned banks account for about three-quarters of the system's assets. This also applies to non-bank financial institutions: in India, one of the world's largest life insurance companies, the Indian Life Insurance Corporation, is controlled by the country’s government.

There is also a huge inequality across the region - state-owned banks in countries such as the Philippines and Thailand account for a much smaller share of total banking sector assets, and private institutional investors play a significant role in Malaysia.