Retail banking sector has been the main growth driver for Indian banking sector during the past few years, as banks’ exposure to corporate banking sector has been reduced due to bad loans problems. Their retail lending has grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.2% over the FY2013 to FY2018 period, making India's retail banking one of the biggest among emerging markets.

The Top 100 banks in consumer banking in Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa is the result of The Asian Banker International Excellence in Retail Financial Services Programme, the most rigorous, prestigious and transparent audit programme for consumer banking.

A year after Hong Kong issued eight digital banking licences, Mox and ZA Bank have emerged as the early leaders. Together with WeLab, the three banks account for 86% of all virtual banking deposit in Hong Kong.

The inaugural BankQuality™ Consumer Survey and Rankings interviewed 11,000 bank customers in 11 markets across the Asia Pacific region on their engagement, experience and satisfaction with their main retail banks.

The Internet of Things offers potential opportunities in retail and corporate banking and will fuel the rise of new types of clients in the form of smart cities and autonomous artificial intelligence driven market agents.

The last four years have been considered the worst for Thai banks in retail banking. Despite a meagre income and loan growth, banks have been working hard to improve operating efficiencies, re-balance portfolios, and build digital platforms to support the country’s next phase in e-payments, internet financing and micro lending.

As data analytics becomes nearly ubiquitous in most parts of consumers’ digital lives, leading banks are providing digitised solutions that deliver the right offer at the right time, predict fraud so they can reduce risk, and boost cross-sell rates.

Declining profitability from lending is forcing Japanese banks to rethink product and service strategies whilst innovative technology adoption is helping to maintain high service levels

The gross retail banking income for the entire region will grow by 8% by the end of 2017 after showing a year-on-year growth of 7.5% in 2016 and 10% in 2015.

Financial institutions are starting to use APIs to create important linkages between their products and services and their customers and important third party value providers. Early movers to stand to gain mindshare of both customers and the wider application developer community.

DBS Group’s retail and wealth business has been accelerating income generation since 2013. However, the bank continues to face an uphill struggle with some of its overseas retail markets.

While many financial institutions in emerging markets are trying to strike the right balance between their physical footprints and digital presence, leading banks in mature markets are proving that digital transformation can boost profitability and efficiency.