Asia

Asian frontier markets for which ratings have been received this year include Bangladesh , Kazakhstan , Sri Lanka and Vietnam – a repeat of 2020 . Of these , Vietnam attracted the most responses , accounting for half of the regional total . At the beginning of 2021 , some new legislation went into effect in this market , including a Law on Investment , a Law on Enterprises and a Law on Securities . As a whole , the markets mentioned comprise 7 % of the total responses received compared to 5 % for the 2020 ABFM survey . Over two-thirds of responses received for these markets as a whole were for Standard Chartered . Others included HSBC and Citi . This is a rather disparate group of markets with little in common other than geography and that covers a vast area of the globe . That said , the collective scores are pleasing with all category scores averaging between the upper end of the Good range ( 5.00-5.99 ) and the lower end of Very Good ( 6.00- 6.99 ). The most notable improvements are for Asset Servicing and Technology . The former goes from Weak to Very Good , while the latter jumps from Very Weak to Good . Standard Chartered ’ s scores represent a substantial improvement on 2020 , exceeding the regional average in all categories with the exception of Liquidity Management , which is nevertheless rated Very Good . One client from the broader region praises what it describes as “ Excellent client service ; they always respond to our inquiries efficiently in a timely manner .” Though other providers do not record sufficient responses for detailed analysis , client comment adds some colour . Regarding HSBC in Sri Lanka , for example , one US bank notes “ some delayed responses but overall very good ”, while a client of Citi ’ s in Kazakhstan says , “ Market complexity and lack of standard instruction cause delays on the clients ' side .”