Place your bets on Southeast Asian banks, as they are set to turn in bumper earnings in the coming quarters, said Chong Yoon-Chou, investment director at Aberdeen Asset Management Asia.
"Remember, we were looking at all our banks thinking that they are all potential Merrill Lynchs," Chong told CNBC's Asia Squawk Box, but he said the fear of them getting thrashed in the financial crisis did not happen.
"The Asian banks were so cautious ... Most of the Asian banks have been through the crisis knew about it and really, the central banks have put a strong grasp of situation in the last 15 months," he added.
Chong said he expects Southeast Asian banks to report strong earnings in the coming quarters as the market provisionings over the past 12 months will come down quite drastically.
He named Singapore banks as his top picks because they are in a solid state with a good central bank in charge. He also likes Malaysian and Thai banks.
"They all come in strong from the crisis, they are all putting in place good systems, risk management control. So a lot of confidence there at great prices."