StanChart sees growth opportunities as firms reduce ‘single points of vulnerability’

[SINGAPORE] As geopolitical tensions prompt companies to rethink supply chains, financing arrangements and trade routes, Standard Chartered believes the push to reduce “single points of vulnerability” is creating new growth opportunities for the bank.

Governments are increasingly seeking leverage through critical minerals, energy supplies, financial systems and trade routes, the bank’s president for international, Benjamin Hung, told The Business Times, pointing to the Strait of Hormuz as one of the clearest examples today.

“We are seeing this – every single corporate and investor around the world (is) trying to say: How do I make sure I make sense of the world, and ensure that my business is resilient and not subject to potential choke points or chokeholds?” he said in an interview.