Driving growth from Singapore across Asean and beyond

AS SINGAPORE gears up for its biggest race weekend of the year, the city once again takes centre stage as a meeting point for talents, capital, ideas and ambitions.

Few organisations are more closely connected to these flows than Standard Chartered. The bank has grown alongside the nation, helping connect businesses, investors, individuals and families to opportunities from Singapore to the rest of the world.

This year, that spirit of connectivity is amplified through Standard Chartered’s partnership with Formula 1® as the Official Wealth Management Partner and Corporate & Investment Banking Partner.

With the bank’s other longstanding initiatives such as the Singapore Marathon, it reflects the bank’s commitment to bring together clients, colleagues and communities around shared passions and experiences.

Powering Asean as a growth engine

Standard Chartered opened its first branch in Singapore 167 years ago. Since then, it has grown from financing the then-colony’s booming rubber and tin trades to offering a full range of financial services as the city-state’s most deeply rooted international bank.

Patrick Lee, Standard Chartered’s CEO for Singapore and CEO, Asean and South Asia says: “Standard Chartered has been in Singapore since 1859, giving us a unique perspective from which to see the country develop”.

Singapore is not just the bank’s Asean hub, home to some of its global leaders, but it is also the second-largest contributor to Standard Chartered’s group income across its global footprint. It is the bank’s gateway to a thriving Asean, serving as the central conduit for regional growth, as well as investment and trade flows.

The region’s potential is enormous, with Asean being the fourth-largest economy according to the International Monetary Fund, and intra-Asean trade growth expected to outpace the global annual average of 5 per cent.

“We are Asia’s financial super-connector and lie strategically in the epicentre of growth. As Asean plays a greater role in the global economy, with trade, supply chains and capital flows taking new shape and reconfiguring, the bank draws on our insights, expertise and trusted relationships to help our clients turn ambition into progress,” Lee explains.

Standard Chartered is the only international bank in most Asean markets and is poised to ride these fast-growing capital, trade and wealth flows, driven by accelerating urbanisation, rising digitalisation and e-commerce, and a growing focus on sustainability. With its “corridor model”, this allows the bank to be a super-connector with privileged access and expertise to Asia and beyond.

Lee says: “Capital increasingly follows connectivity, and our strength lies not just in providing capital, but also in connecting capital to opportunity.”

This includes connecting global capital to opportunities in Asean, facilitating renminbi flows across trade and investment, or helping multinational corporations manage funding and risk across multiple markets.

Racing where growth is: Connecting capital across global circuits

Standard Chartered is in pole position to play its role as superconnector, most notably in Asean. “We are seeing a redefinition of the corridors of globalisation,” says Chow Wan Thonh, the bank’s head of coverage for Singapore and Asean.

For instance, she notes that trade and investment flows are becoming more diversified, in which clients are expanding supply chains, investing across multiple Asean markets, and strengthening connections with the wider Asian economy.

This is creating new opportunities for businesses, investors and entrepreneurs who can navigate the region effectively. Success in this requires a deep understanding of local markets, regional dynamics and cross-border relationships, and this is where Standard Chartered’s network becomes especially valuable.

Chow says: “Standard Chartered can act as a super-connector between the East and West. Singapore is a strategic hub in this network, providing a trusted base from which businesses can coordinate their regional ambitions. From here, we bring together our expertise and cross border corridors, helping clients access capital, manage liquidity and risk, and seize opportunities across borders”.

This is critical as businesses are balancing efficiency with the need to diversify where they manufacture, source and invest.

A multinational might manage its treasury from Singapore, manufacture in Vietnam, and source from Indonesia and Malaysia, and raise capital internationally. Each decision affects the other, and Standard Chartered is able to draw on its on-the-ground expertise, strategic insights, and global network to mobilise resources clients need to grow.

Race strategy: Navigating wealth management at every turn

Today, Standard Chartered is the third-largest and one of the fastest-growing wealth managers in Asia.

At its investor event this year, the bank announced that its Wealth and Retail Banking business had brought forward the timeline of its previously stated ambitions from 2029 to 2028, notably targeting US$200 billion of Net New Money, and Affluent income to reach 75 per cent of its total.

The bank continues to have bold aspirations in this space, supported by wealth creation at an unprecedented pace as connectivity expands and new growth drivers emerge.

In 2020, Singapore became the first market in the bank’s network to launch an International Banking and Priority Private Centre, strengthening its ability to serve clients with cross-border and increasingly sophisticated needs. On the hiring front, the bank will grow its number of relationship managers and wealth specialists globally by 50 per cent before the end of 2028.

Andrew Chia, head of wealth and retail banking for Singapore, Asean and South Asia, adds: “Affluent clients today are building wealth in a more connected and fast-moving environment. Their needs are changing as they pursue new ambitions, explore new opportunities and think more internationally.”

At Standard Chartered, this means supporting clients through every stage of their journey with bespoke wealth solutions, expert advice and market insights.

For private banking clients and families, wealth is far more than a collection of financial assets. It is the embodiment of each of their life’s work: achievements, values, aspirations and purpose, woven into a legacy that they hope will endure across generations.

Foo Tian Ong, regional head for South-east Asia and Singapore location head, Standard Chartered Global Private Bank, says: “As families become increasingly global and multi-generational, their needs grow more complex. Through our international network and One Bank capabilities, we bring together specialists across markets, disciplines and generations, providing integrated solutions that help clients navigate complexity with confidence, while preserving the values and legacies they have worked so hard to build.”

Against this backdrop, wealth, business and family interests rarely exist within a single market today. Singapore serves as a trusted ecosystem combining legal and regulatory certainty, deep financial expertise and strong connectivity, making it a preferred hub for families with global ambitions.

In the driver’s seat: Human-led intelligence under the hood

Like Formula 1®, every decision, from race strategy to car setup, is informed by an integrated ecosystem of data, technology and most importantly, human expertise.

“Technology is only part of the equation. The winning advantage comes from combining advanced technology with the expertise, judgement and relationships that clients rely on. AI can help process information at greater scale and speed, but it is our people who turn those insights into advice, execution and outcomes for clients”, adds Chia.

Just as race strategists who turn data into action, Standard Chartered applies the same principle, combining technology and human expertise to deliver better outcomes for clients.

Across the bank, AI-powered knowledge management capabilities have been deployed in contact centres, enabling frontline teams to easily identify validated policy, product and process information for customer queries, improving service consistency and resolution times.

Beyond everyday interactions, the bank also uses AI to augment its wealth advisory capabilities, enabling relationship managers to identify opportunities, synthesise portfolio and market insights and deliver more personalised engagement at scale.

Engineering an advantage: Innovation, excellence and staying ahead

In the next lap, the super-connector bank will strive to ensure its clients continue to stay ahead and remain in pole position.

This distinctive global connectivity is just one of several shared values between the bank and its newest partner Formula 1®, Lee notes.

Staying ahead and taking a holistic approach are key principles of how Standard Chartered helps clients, whose business, financial and personal goals are increasingly interconnected. From managing liquidity to planning a legacy, the bank helps clients navigate the decisions that shape their future.

Drawing parallels with Formula 1®, Lee notes that ambition is only the starting point.

He adds, “Progress comes from preparation, precision, teamwork and the confidence to act when the moment arrives, qualities that clients increasingly need as they grow businesses, invest across markets and build wealth for the future. As trade, investment and wealth flows become increasingly connected, Standard Chartered’s network, insights and enduring partnerships will help turn opportunity into progress, and ambition into lasting prosperity”.