With the launch of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) months away, the approach of viewing the region as a whole is more relevant than ever. Indeed, Asean is increasingly being juxtaposed against its sizeable neighbours of China and India. As a collective group, it is able to project heft and certainly it also projects the promise of a young population, rapid urbanization and with it, the need for companies to be well-placed to take advantage of what the region should be able to offer as the AEC takes shape.
It is the possibilities of AEC that are now driving a number of Asean banks to at least fashion a semblance of being a regional proposition. In fact, for banks such as the Big Three in Singapore - DBS, OCBC and UOB - and Malaysia's Maybank and CIMB, it is much more than that. In no other region in the Asia-Pacific are the local banks more competitive in challenging the likes of Citi, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Standard Chartered than in Asean.
Regional Asian banks such as Maybank and DBS solidified their grip on their respective home markets offering a range of products to a diverse client segment. They also took big steps internationally. Maybank for example worked with its affiliate MCB Bank in financing parts for Ufone's 3G Pakistani project and DBS provided a comprehensive virtual accounts solutions for Indian-based Deepak Fertilizers and Petrochemicals.
OCBC and UOB, both started by entrepreneurs and much identified with their pedigree serving the emerging business enterprises, are exporting that understanding and flexibility serving the SME (small and medium enterprises) segment beyond their home markets. OCBC has a strong presence in Malaysia while UOB operates against homegrown banks such as Kasikorn Bank and Siam Commercial Bank in Thailand. Both banks are also active in Indonesia.
Malaysian-based Hai-O Group tapped OCBC to move what once was a multi-bank complex process of reconciling group of accounts to one main account providing better visibility and improving working capital. Thailand's Miracle Intertrade worked with UOB (Thai) to improve working capital including trust receipt financing and L/C discounting.
That is not to say that the large international banks are resting on their laurels of being dominant in years' past. What some have done is to concentrate their fire power especially on the multinationals and large local corporates.
Citi, for example, cemented its position with the MNCs/LLCs client segment in Asean securing cash management mandates for big corporates such as PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP) in Thailand and Samsung Electronics Vietnam Thai Nguyen (SEVT) in Vietnam. Citi also parlayed its work with the public sector in US to win key mandates in Asean such as from Vital, the Singapore government's shared services centre, for its intergrated travel, payment and expense management card programme to the public sector agencies. It was reappointed for a second term.
Public sector wins, in fact, are not so easy for international banks. Local banks tend to use their large distribution network to ensure they get the nod. In Indonesia, national champion Bank Mandiri won the liquidity management role for BPJS Kesehatan, the government mandated organization in charge of the healthcare insurance programme in the country.
Australia was the battle of two banks. ANZ entered the fray establishing itself as a leader in trade finance leveraging on its impressive regional footprint and risk management capabilities. Westpac secured wins through its electronic solutions for clients including its closed-loop payments system that allowed cashless transactions through the use of an ID badge or NFC mobile phone.
As an indication of the emergence of Myanmar, The Asset is delighted to receive submissions from local banks in the country. Yangon-based CB Bank, which spread its wings following the 2011 lifting of banking limitation, became the first to offer mobile banking and instant fixed deposit accounts in the country.
The Asset will host an Oscar-style gala awards dinner on April 30 2015 at the Four Seasons in Hong Kong to honour the best transaction service providers and the solutions they jointly crafted with their corporate clients.
Overview The Asset Triple A Treasury, Trade and Risk Management Awards 2015
