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Lead story:

AFTER THE CRISIS
Getting Rid of the Rust: Three years after the Crisis, many in the Asiaweek Financial 500 are in the black. Will profitability last?

NATIONS UPDATE
Mini-charts on your nation's banking market:
Australia China IndonesiaJapanPhilippinesSingaporeSouth KoreaTaiwan Thailand Hong Kong Malaysia
and the best performing banks in India Sri LankaPakistanBangladesh

ASIA'S HOTTEST STOCKS

Money and Investing: Riding the hottest financial stocks in Asia (plus the 100 hottest bank stocks)

PLUS
Foreign Invasion?: Overseas banks go slow on buyouts
Technology: The nitty gritty of Internet banking
Halfway at full speed: Hong Kong and Singapore rebound
The Acquired: What Danu Bank learned form its new owner
The Home-Alone Bank: Why Taiwan's Chinatrust didn't expand


Financial 500 Archive
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Asiaweek 1000
Your guide to Asia's 1000 largest companies

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Australia: Alone, On Top, Down Under
Snapshot: 22 Aust., 7 N.Z. banks in the 500. (1999: 22/6). Total assets of banks in the 500: Aust. $560.3b. ($506.9b.); N.Z. $54.2b ($51.3b)Total profits: Aust. $5.4b. ($4.2b.); N.Z $392m. ($467m).



The economy is powering ahead despite several interest rate hikes this year, and banks are riding high on fat margins. They have benefited from several years of strong profits to substantially improve capitalization.

RESTRUCTURING Perhaps because business is so good at home, banks seem to have stopped looking to expand elsewhere. ANZ Bank sold its Asia-centered subsidiary, Grindlays, to Standard Chartered earlier this year.

LENDING Housing and personal lending has been robust, growing at 17% a year in the first seven months of 2000 despite interest rate hikes of 1.5% since November. Credit card debt is soaring at 30% annually. However, business lending, which got Australian banks into big trouble during the last downturn, is growing at a comparatively feeble 7%.

LIBERALIZATION Ostensibly the financial services industry is open to foreigners. But none has ever tried to test the nation's appetite for enlightened internationalism by taking over one of Australia's six "pillar" institutions. Given the inward focus of the pillars, that's probably not surprising.


Performance Topnotchers - Aust. & N.Z. 10 Best Performing Banks
   Institution  HQ
Assets
$ Mill
Profits
$ Mill
Profit as % of

500

Rank

Assets Equity
1 NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK Melbourne 166,120
1,844.4
1.1% 15.2% 15
2 AUSTRALIA & N.Z. BANKING GROUP Melbourne 97,422
967.6
1.0% 15.7% 21
3 WESTPAC BANKING CORP. Sydney 91,677
951.9
1.0% 16.2% 23
4 COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUST. Sydney 90,288
929.7
1.0% 21.1% 24
5 ST. GEORGE BANK Kogarah 29,432
102.6
0.3% 4.7% 78
6 BANK OF NEW ZEALAND Wellington
16,142
186.4
1.2% 26.3% 132
7 NATIONAL BANK OF N.Z. Wellington
15,516
173.4
1.1% 21.7% 137
8 MACQUARIE BANK Sydney 15,292
137.5
0.9% 17.0% 139
9 COLONIAL STATE BANK Sydney 15,129
114.5
0.8% 12.2% 142
10 SUNCORP-METWAY Brisbane 14,054
161.5
1.1% 13.1% 146

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Rating show the number of banks in each category; "E" is the lowest grade for financial soundness. Souce: Moody's Investors Service


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