Digital banks in Asia Pacific witnessed improving overall profitability in FY2019. Although some digital banks’ net profit in FY2020 has been affected by COVID-19 pandemic, their growth outlook remains optimistic.

Countries are eager to strike a balance between mitigating the economic damage from lockdowns and keeping the coronavirus outbreak under control.

The hiring activity in the banking and financial services market will be driven by factors such as continuous digital transformation, new regulations and the issuance of digital banking licences

Australian households are struggling with the record amount of outstanding debt, and the sliding housing market fuels concerns over shrinking economic growth in the country. In addition, the rapid build-up of household debt in China continues to attract attention

While the growth of Alibaba and Alipay as well as Tencent and WeChat pay in China is well known, there have been questions about whether a similar model can succeed outside of China. Local players as well as those Chinese giants themselves are starting to show that a super-app may well succeed in other markets in Asia too.

Asian stock markets attracted less investible funds in 2018 and more went into bond markets, banking institutions and managed funds

Overall economic growth prospects for the Africa region are favourable. Most banks will raise capital base and maintain stable profitability, but weak asset quality will remain a key concern

In the Asia Pacific region, skilled and experienced tech professionalsand regulatory compliance specialists will find themselves well-positioned in the banking and financial services market

Chinese banks’ mortgage loan growth dropped the most in 2017 and will continue to be affected by property cooling measures and relatively tight liquidity conditions. Hong Kong banks’ mortgage loan growth, on the other hand, increased, but they are not expected to maintain it due to tough operating conditions.

Technological disruption is reshaping the payment landscape, creating a tight mobile wallet business environment. Banks must reshape their strategies that will help enhance their competitiveness in this market.

Digital-only banks pose serious challenges to the traditional financial services industry with their entirely new banking experience. However, for most of them, licensing, scale and profitability are the three key issues they must face going forward.

Household indebtedness has been on the rise, which is putting future economic growth and financial stability in jeopardy. Thus, many central banks have unveiled measures to curb high household debt. In Asia Pacific, Australia and South Korea are facing the most serious household debt problems.