In the wake of the subprime fallout, with some European and North American peers declaring billions of dollars' worth of subprime-related writedowns, the Asia's banks have remained resilient.

For Zeti Akhtar Aziz, a key reason for this is the raft of regulatory reform introduced in the wake of the Asian financial crisis.

"The banking institutions in our region have been strengthened since the crisis ten years ago," says Zeti. "They're better capitalised, they have better risk management systems