Global financial affairs magazine The Banker of news organisation The Financial Times made the announcement in an online report this month.

The largest increase in the ranking goes to Cambodia, which grew by 30.4 per cent, although it has only one lender – Acleda Bank – recognised on the list. Cambodia also accounts for only 0.1 per cent of the total assets in the ranking, down from 0.19 per cent the year before.

Vietnamese banks – 19 of which made the ranking – grew their assets by the second-highest amount, 15.66 per cent, and although they still contribute a relatively small share of the total assets in the ranking, 7.46 per cent, they are up from 6.21 per cent in the previous year.

The ranking remains dominated by Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, which jointly hold nearly three-quarters of the total assets.

However, growth does not necessarily translate into profitability, the report said.

With an aggregate return on assets (ROA) of 0.8 per cent and return on capital (ROC) of 12.19 per cent, Vietnam is placed at the tail-end of the Asean ranking for returns.

Instead, as has often been the case in the past, the champion in that category is Indonesia, which boasts an ROA of 2.7 per cent and ROC of 25.31 per cent.

Vietnam’s banks stood out in terms of asset growth, with Vietnam Prosperity Bank coming out on top with a 35.02 per cent increase, followed by local competitors Sai Gon Commercial Bank and Shinhan Bank Vietnam, which expanded by 34.22 per cent and 33.32 per cent, respectively.

The country’s banks look to be poised to continue this rise. In addition to robust growth and stability, banking penetration remains among the lowest in the region. Only 30.86 per cent of the population aged 15 or over had a bank account in 2014 in a country of 91 million people.

However, as Vietnamese banks expanded their operations, they did not raise capital at a corresponding pace. Vietnamese banks registered a meagre 4.54 per cent uptick in Tier 1 capital, the lowest ranking among the countries measured.

Although the local banks are among the least profitable in the ranking, the situation is improving, with Vietnam showing a six per cent increase in pre-tax profits, a larger hike than for any other country except Singapore, where profits increased by 10.91 per cent.

Another notable growth story comes from the Philippines, which showed the largest asset growth in last year’s ranking. Local balance sheets grew by an impressive 13.59 per cent, the highest after Vietnam and Cambodia, but more slowly than the year before when the country’s banks recorded a 21.26 per cent expansion.

East West Banking Corp and Land Bank Philippines contributed the best performances, with their assets growing by 31.7 per cent and 23.21 per cent, respectively. However, as in the case of Việt Nam, asset growth did not mean a major increase in the capital base, as the aggregate Tier 1 capital growth by Filipino banks amounted to 6.53 per cent.

Indonesia’s institutions dominate the returns tables, with Bank Rakyat Indonesia boasting the highest ROA and ROC in the ranking, at 3.85 per cent and 37.58 per cent, respectively. Bank of Central Asia followed on its heels, coming second for both ROA and ROC, with 3.75 per cent and 32.22 per cent, respectively.

Overall, six of the top 10 banks for the highest ROA and five of the top 10 banks for the highest ROC are Indonesian.

Indonesian lenders managed these high profits while simultaneously posting the highest Tier 1 capital increase in the ranking. For all Indonesian banks in the ranking, Tier 1 capital grew by 11.93 per cent, more than in any other country bar Cambodia, where the single lender, Acleda Bank, increased its capital base by 22.29 per cent.

Still, “Vietnam is on its way to becoming a heavyweight presence in Southeast Asia, with the top ranking for asset growth,” The Banker’s data editor Matthew Karwacki wrote in the report.

Singapore ranks behind London and New York, and two points ahead of Hong Kong on the Global Financial Centres Index. Tokyo came in in fifth.

Singapore’s two-point lead, is fairly insignificant, according to the report. It came in fourth in the previous survey in September last year, behind Hong Kong.

The semi annual survey is based on the responses of 2,520 financial-services professionals.

London remained just ahead of New York to retain the number one position. However, the report noted that the two centres “are complimentary rather than purely competitive”.

It noted also that a number of respondents commented that the uncertainty surrounding the possible exit of Britain from the European Union, dubbed Brexit, is having a negative impact on London’s competitiveness at present.

The ranking reflects performance in key areas including business environment, financial sector development and infrastructure of the 86 financial centres around the world covered by the survey. Evidence of a centre’s performance in these spheres is drawn from a range of measures like external indexes.

The historical dominance of the leading centres in Western Europe and North America has eroded over time, Z/Yen Group said. The mean rating of the top five centres in these regions is now lower than the mean of the top five centres in the Asia Pacific region, it noted.

Said Mark Yeandle, associate director at Z/Yen Group: “While London and New York still lead the field, the next three centres are all Asian”.

The latest survey also noted that Western European centres remain “mired in uncertainty”. Of the 29 centres in this region, 12 centres rose in the ratings and 17 centres fell.

In the North American region, fortunes were mixed. Financial centres in the United States like New York and Washington DC rose in the ratings, but the three leading Canadian centres fell in the ratings.

In the Asia Pacific area, seven of the top 10 centres saw a fall in their ratings, though the ratings of Singapore, Tokyo and Beijing rose slightly. Of the top ten centres in this region, Seoul and Sydney showed the largest falls.

According to the tax inspection plan that the department submitted to the finance ministry recently, supermarket giant Big C, Nguyen Kim Trading Joint Stock Company which distributes electrical appliances, Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Company Ltd, and An Phong Investment Corporation, were included on the list for inspection this year, Vietnam News Agency reported.

The tax authority said it would focus on the large trading companies and firms that had a high potential for tax evasion.

In the first quarter of this year, the focus would be on inspecting about 10 companies in Ha Noi, HCM City and the southeast region that were considered high risk for central budget collection.

As of March 25, the tax authorities had carried out inspections and checks at more than 6,500 firms nationwide, or 7.2 per cent of the plan for the full year, collecting an additional VND1.6 trillion (US$714.3 million) in taxes.

Earlier, the General Department of Taxation said that it planned to inspect and check at least 18 per cent of the total number of firms and collect an additional VND13 trillion.

The tax authorities will pay special attention to new sectors such as e-commerce, online businesses and multi-level marketing.

He said the current development model, which consisted of three main pillars, namely political-security community, economic community and socio-culture community, fitted well for the region.

“The European Union has its own set of models, which goes beyond a single market.

“They have a single currency, European Parliament, European Court and others. That was never the intention for Asean,” he told reporters after the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants President’s Debate 2016 yesterday.

He added that Asean did not believe in having a single currency like the European Union (EU) does.

“When it comes to monetary policy that is certainly not in the agenda.

“I believe there is a lot more we can do. I believe the opportunity is great if we follow through with our commitment towards success without the need to adopt the EU model,” he noted.

Unlike the EU, in which the formation of a monetary union with a single currency represents a major element in realising its economic integration, the Asean region had come to a decision some time ago, in the early 2000s based on a study by Asean central banks, that a common currency would not be pursued.

Bank Negara Governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz had earlier mentioned that this is because theAsean economies did not have the pre-conditions to achieve such a monetary union, and the effort to achieve such pre-conditions would involve immense cost to our economies.

“It was therefore concluded that the region would instead be better served by greater regional financial integration to achieve the very same objective of a shared economic prosperity for the region,” she said.

The Asean region has experienced a long term annual average growth of more than 5%, much higher than the global average, and this is expected to be sustained going forward, she said.

Collectively, Asean is now the sixth largest economy in the world, with a population of 630 million and a combined GDP of US$2.5 trillion.

With a young population, Asean has the third largest labour force in the world, after China and India. By 2020, Asean is expected to account for more than US$2 trillion of additional consumption to the world economy.

However, Wahid explained that Asean can be made more effective if there are improvements on strengthening institutions, such as the Asean Secretariat.

Currently, the Jakarta-based secretariat only has 300 international staff, a budget of just US$16mil.

In comparison, the EU has 30,000 staff and a budget of US$120bil

“Perhaps we can strengthen it with more funding and resources which will in turn help drive all the initiatives to grow the region better,” he said.

Meanwhile, Wahid added that the minimum wage for employees that will increase by RM100 to RM1,000 per month in the peninsula is reasonable.

“I don’t think a thousand ringgit per month is unreasonable.

“I think its a reasonable level and my view is that if businesses felt that its a bit too high then they have to look at ways on how to improve the productivity and review the business model to reach out to customers and so on,” he added.

He said that the Government took into account various factors, including recommendations from the committee that has been set up before making the decision to increase wages.