British bank HSBC has set up special teams in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to prepare itself for the push. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
Chinese and foreign banks are gearing up to tap into the wide market in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, convinced that the region’s accelerated financial development, as envisioned by the central government, offers immense scope for expansion.
British bank HSBC has set up special teams in the southern region to prepare itself for the push.
“The Bay Area is a key area for our development and the core of our China business,” said Rannie Lee, Guangdong co-chief executive and head of Pearl River Delta wealth and personal banking at HSBC Bank (China).
“To grasp the opportunities offered by the Bay Area’s development, we’ve created a Bay Area work team which includes staff in wealth and personal banking from Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland,” she said.
The lender has also established technology and innovation business teams in Guangdong province and Hong Kong. “With closer Guangdong-Hong Kong cooperation and customized products and services, we hope to provide better financial support to technology enterprises in the region,” said Lee.
Shenzhen-based Ping An Bank is tilting its credit policies toward the Bay Area, giving greater financial support to businesses in the region to fuel growth.
The bank will allocate more credit resources to such strategic emerging industries as electronic information, medical care, transportation, warehousing logistics, new infrastructure and the new economy, as well as advanced manufacturing and technological innovation sectors, the bank told China Daily.
To develop new business opportunities in the region, Ping An now offers customized financial products to enterprises to meet their diverse financing needs for greater production capacity, technology and equipment upgrades, mergers and acquisitions and initial public offerings.
Cao Zhongxiong, executive director of the New Economy Research Institute at Shenzhen-based think tank China Development Institute, said Shenzhen, as a leading financial hub, is poised for a leading role in the Bay Area development as the region seeks to become an international technology and innovation hub.
According to a recent report by the institute, the number of Fortune 500 companies in Shenzhen is projected to surpass 10, while the number of “unicorns” — startups valued at US$1 billion or more that have yet to go public — would reach 30 or more by 2025. That would require stronger support from the financial sector.
“Shenzhen has to further promote financial opening-up, strengthen its appeal and make its industries more appealing to international capital,” Cao said.
“While synergizing with Hong Kong’s financial industry, Shenzhen should strive to promote itself as a global financial center and a pioneer in the country’s financial opening-up.”
