Singapore bank eyes Bay’s potential

SINGAPOREAN bank OCBC views the Guangdong-HKMacau Great Bay Area as a strategic platform for strong business growth in the future, and said it will ride on the wave of the region’s development.

The lender said it will invest S$200 million (US$148.2 million) in people and technology there by 2023, and they aim to achieve S$1 billion in profit from the area during the same period.

Thanks to strong government support, the ongoing internationalization of the yuan as well as rising connectivity and flows, the area is set to achieve sustained long-term development, OCBC said.

The bank said that business potential for financial institutions in lending and fee income is tremendous, and they are well-positioned to capture the trend in this fast-growing area.

In 2017, Premier Li Keqiang announced a plan for the development of a city cluster in the Guangdong-HK-Macau Great Bay Area, with the aim of creating the world’s largest bay area by gross domestic product by 2030.

As one of Asia’s most dynamic economic regions, the Great Bay Area is a leading growth engine for China.

Although the area covers less than 1 percent of the country’s land area and its population is below 5 percent of the total, it contributed 12 percent of the nation’s GDP in 2017.