The fluidity of the Covid-19 pandemic, rising global inflation and turbulent international situation in the past three years, coupled with the Russia‑Ukraine war in 2022 and the U.S. Federal Reserve’s higher than expected interest rate hikes, are posing great challenges to the banking sector. Some banks are struggling to cope with the narrowing net interest margin under the rate hike cycle and to keep liquidity, credit and other risks under control. The volatilities in the financial market also impact business revenue.

Despite such difficulties, the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (SPDB) Hong Kong Branch noted during an interview [1] that it is actively mobilising its mainland and international resources to seize Hong Kong’s new business opportunities. It is also responding more effectively to challenges arising from changes in the external environment and further its business, while ensuring that risks are controlled.

Opportunities in cross-border financial services

SPDB Hong Kong Branch leverages the convenience of cross‑border financial cooperation between mainland China and Hong Kong to promote development in Hong Kong’s local business and cross‑border financial business. It provides customers with comprehensive and customised financial services, including deposits and loans, remittance, settlement, custody, and bond underwriting and investment, and makes continuous efforts to enrich the variety of its products and businesses. It offers a range of products in the financial market, including non‑deliverable forward (NDF) contracts, interest rate swaps (IRS), and structured bond funds, and assists customers in managing interest and exchange rate risks through its SPDB Risk Hedging service.

However, the bank pointed out that rising interest rates have greatly increased its cost of debt, while geopolitical tensions and the weak global economy have brought uncertainties to all sectors. Overseas financing interest rate hikes have also reduced companies’ needs for financing. These developments will unavoidably affect the bank’s operation. SPDB Hong Kong Branch is actively leveraging Hong Kong’s advantage as an international financial centre and its internal and external resources to promote diverse business development in order to better capture business opportunities as they arise.

In fact, SPDB Hong Kong Branch has been operating in compliance with the law since its opening in 2011, with equal emphasis on both inheritance and innovation. It focuses on providing banking services needed by different types of customers, including companies, public organisations, financial institutions and individuals. Although competition in Hong Kong’s banking sector is keen, with nearly 200 banks and over 70 of the world’s top 100 banks having a presence in the city, SPDB Hong Kong Branch insists on operating with professionalism, putting customers first and continuously improving its financial services while enriching its financial portfolios. It has won many prestigious awards for its syndicated loans, bond underwriting and investment, derivative products, green finance and payment and settlement services.

Hong Kong as the base for capturing worldwide opportunities

In future, SPDB Hong Kong Branch hopes to make better use of Hong Kong’s unique advantage in “enjoying strong support from the motherland and being closely connected to the world” and play a part in the Belt and Road Initiative. By seizing the opportunity of interactive and integrated development in the Guangdong‑Hong Kong‑Macao Greater Bay Area and the Yangtze River Delta region and leveraging the advantages of Hong Kong and Shanghai as international financial centres as well as its own domestic and overseas networks, the bank seeks to serve overseas customers launching a business on the mainland and connect them to mainland resources. The company also looks to providing premium banking services to help domestic customers “go out” and allocate their assets globally. In providing such services, the bank aims to better integrate into the country’s overall development and help boost the economic and social development, as well as the long‑term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong.

SPDB is a Shanghai‑based nationwide joint‑stock commercial bank. SPDB Hong Kong Branch opened for business on 8 June 2011 as the bank’s first branch outside mainland China. It is also the 149th licensed bank in Hong Kong and the eighth Chinese bank offering a full range of banking services in Hong Kong. As a pioneer and major player in SPDB’s internationalisation strategy, SPDB Hong Kong Branch strives to enhance its professionalism, strengthen its profit‑making capability and improve its management efficiency to better achieve SPDB ’s strategic objectives. While endeavouring to better meet customers’ international and cross‑border financial needs, it will pursue long‑term robust and high‑quality development and assist SPDB in building itself into a first‑class joint‑stock commercial bank with international competitiveness.

[1] Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Hong Kong branch was interviewed by HKTDC Research and the China Business Advisor (seconded from the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce to HKTDC) in the first quarter of 2023.