HSBC remains optimistic about Malaysia’s long-term outlook

KUALA LUMPUR: HSBC Malaysia is optimistic about the country’s long-term prospects, given its strong fundamentals and clear policies, which would attract more investors.

Chief executive officer Datuk Omar Siddiq said that in the grand scheme of things, after being present in Malaysia for over 140 years, currency fluctuations tend to play a relatively short-term role.

Thus, he said, this would not impact Malaysia’s attractiveness as one of the preferred investment destinations in Asean in the short term.

He noted Bank Negara has stated that Malaysia’s underlying fundamentals remain strong and very clear in the long term.

“We have seen this throughout the government’s efforts in 2023 and 2024 when more foreign direct investments are expected to come in.

“People are putting money into Malaysia and that is the biggest testament. We are very positive of the country,” he told Bernama after a briefing on its newly established Asean Growth Fund here.

HSBC, one of the world’s largest banking and financial services organisations, has allocated Us$1bil of credit facilities via its 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.

Omar said the fund also aims to help digital platform players achieve economies of scale, grow their asset portfolios and advance along the corporate lifecycle.

“The opportunity for Asean remains bright. For the first time, HSBC is offering this dedicated Asean Growth Fund to accommodate debt financing for new economy businesses, 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,” he said.