The decision by RHB Capital, Malaysia’s fourth-largest lender, to buy 80 per cent of an unknown regional Indonesian bank, Bank Mestika Dharma, for $356m speaks volumes about both nations’ bank sectors.

Malaysia is comparatively well banked, with little potential for significant domestic growth. Its banks have been expanding overseas for some years, as demonstrated by the Indonesian acquisitions of Maybank and CIMB, the country’s largest two banks.