This study focused on how financial ratios could be used as indicators of the overall performance of banks relative to their competitors. In addition, this study introduced Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) as a methodological approach to analyzing small sample sets in financial research. We used GRA to rank 28 financial ratios from 43 separate banks spanning 8 countries within the ASEAN region for the study period; 2004-2008. The results produced two sets of rankings: one that ranked the performance of each financial ratio by individual country, as well as a total ranking for the 28 financial variables for all banks included in the study. GRA was then administered to cluster each of the variables into references ratios based on the following six financial dimensions: profitability, asset utilization, leverage, liquidity, growth, and stock performance. Study limitations and suggestions for future research were further outlined in the discussion.

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