Standard Chartered
No one in southeast Asia can hold a candle to Standard Chartered, the only international bank present in all 10 Asean markets, and with a history in the region that stretches back 150 years.
When the UK lender calls itself a “natural fit with the Belt and Road Initiative”, it is neither misleading nor hyperbolic. Over the last 12 months, the bank has held BRI-themed events in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, and struck memoranda of understanding with Export-Import Bank of China and China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation, also known as Sinosure.
Its deal list alone over the last year justifies its self-billing, just as it did last year, and the year before that. In February 2019, it was mandated by China Energy Engineering Corporation as the sole structuring and financing bank on a 257-megawatt solar power project in Vietnam. It is providing a full range of services to the Beijing energy conglomerate, including foreign exchange, payments and collections, and trade receivables discounting.
In June 2019, StanChart was mandated to arrange $43 million in financing to support local dealer financing in Indonesia for SGMW, a joint venture between Chinese automaker SAIC and General Motors.
In December 2018, the bank set up a facility in Indonesia to support the working capital needs of Mengniu Dairy, China’s second-largest maker of dairy products.