Stanchart sees huge growth potential in Malaysia
ASIA continues to play a pivotal role in driving Standard Chartered plc’s (Stanchart) growth.
The bank, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange, has a strong presence in Malaysia and it has no plans to exit the market here.
In fact, it expects its business in Malaysia to continue growing, especially in the segments that cater to high-net-worth clients and wealth-management areas.
Stanchart’s head of consumer, private and business banking, Asia and global head of digital business, Samir Subberwal says the group views Asia as a whole as a very important market, and Malaysia alone represents a large business for the group.
“For Stanchart, Malaysia is the seventh largest business out of our 28 markets. So, it is an important business for us in terms of consumer, private and business banking (CPBB).
“As a bank, we are one of the bigger affluent and wealth players in Malaysia,” Samir tells Starbizweek.
“In the last four years, we have invested significantly in building up our product platform capability for wealth such as the launch of equities brokerage capability and an online mutual funds platform.
“These are the best-in-class platforms that we have in the markets like Hong Kong and Singapore,” he adds.
Samir says there are further growth opportunities in the wealth and affluent space for the group in Malaysia, given its strong brand equity presence in the region.
“We will continue to invest in our capability here. We will bring a new mobile banking capability to Malaysia next year, following a launch in Hong Kong and Singapore.
“We will invest in hiring many more relationship managers and wealth specialists this year to support the business,” he says.
Commenting on its financial performance, Samir says 2023 was a strong year for the CPBB business in Asia where incomes grew more than 20% while profits leapt more than 50%.
“We had the highest incomes since 2016 as a bank.
“Among the drivers of this performance is the focus on the affluent client segments.
“Higher interest rates have also helped our net interest margins. We also had some 250,000 new affluent clients in Asia – an increase of 65%,” Samir says.
He notes growth in Asia will continue to be driven by China and India, the two largest economies on the continent.
“Asia is the most dominant business for us, we are a bank mainly in Asia, Africa and the Middle East for the CPBB business.
“This year, based on gross dometic product (GDP) forecasts, our growth will be led by India.
“This will be followed by other Asian markets, including China despite the headwinds there,” Samir says.
Moving forward, he is optimistic about the prospects of capturing a good amount of international cross-border flows, while seeking to partner with the right companies within the digital space.
“Small and medium enterprises (SMES) are the biggest spinner of GDP in most markets we operate in. So, we will try to leverage on this opportunity as well,” he says.
On the flip side, Samir says some of the challenges that the group could potentially face this year include higher interest rates which might affect its portfolio.
“We will continue to watch this space. GDP growth may slow a little on higher inflation and interest rates in most countries, while geopolitics is a wildcard,” he says.
Meanwhile, in the consumer banking space, there is the ongoing concern over the increased number of fraud and scams these days, Samir notes, adding that the bank is constanly on guard against such risks.