PETALING JAYA: HSBC today announced a US$1 billion (RM4.73 billion) Asean Growth Fund in six of the fastest growth countries in Asean, to help scale up platform players in the region’s booming digital economy.
To help the region’s digital platform players achieve economies of scale, grow their asset portfolios and advance along the corporate lifecycle, HSBC is allocating US$1 billion of credit facilities through this dedicated lending fund.
Southeast Asia’s digital economy is among the world’s fastest-growing; worth US$218 billion in 2023 and expected to reach US$600 billion by the end of this decade at a compound annual growth rate of 16.2%.
“Like so many other internationally minded businesses, we are excited about Asean’s booming digital economy,” said HSBC Malaysia CEO Datuk Omar Siddiq.
He added that with a working population that is digitally native, increasing in size, and poised to consume more goods and services – especially on e-commerce – Asean has so much potential for growth.
We are delighted to work with digital companies as they expand in the region and beyond,” he said.
The HSBC Asean Growth Fund provides lending to companies that are scaling up through digital platforms across Southeast Asia. It supports new economy names, more established corporates, and non-bank financial institutions by assessing operating metrics tied to their cashflow-generative asset portfolio, rather than relying solely on traditional financial metrics.
“HSBC has a proud history and strong heritage in Asean of supporting entrepreneurs and scaling up businesses. The introduction of our latest offerings allows us to better support new economy companies in Asean, whether startups or scale-ups, as they expand across the region and advance along the corporate lifecycle,” remarked Omar.
The six highest growth countries in Asean are: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. HSBC has a presence in all six countries.
HSBC recently surveyed 600 companies operating in Southeast Asia and found that “digitalising operations” is a key business priority, selected by 55% of Malaysian respondents. Other priorities include “growth in Asean” (59%) and “product development/research and development” (33%).
“To help capture growth in the booming digital economy, almost three quarters of the respondents (73%) said that digitisation of operations is becoming more important compared to 2023. More importantly, we also see 82% of the respondents planning to increase their investment in the digitalisation of their businesses in Asean,” said HSBC Malaysia commercial banking head Karel Doshi.
She added that rapid digital adoption in Asean means businesses increasingly – and understandably – need fuss-free digital banking to support their growth.
“They want convenient and simple-to-use trade and payment solutions that would free up more time for them to focus on strategy and expansion,” shared Karel.
