East & Partners

Big three banks dominating Asian corporate banking scene

(6 July 2004 – Australia) HSBC, Standard Chartered and Citigroup continue to dominate Asia’s corporate banking markets with the three banks owning almost 50 percent of primary transaction banking relationships across the region, new research from East & Partners has found.East’s Asian Corporate Transaction Markets report reveals the three banks’ share
of primary relationships remains unchallenged, accounting for 48.6 percent of
the market compared with 48.9 percent some 18 months earlier.

HSBC has 19.1 percent of primary relationships, down slightly from 20.8 percent
at the beginning of 2003, while Standard Chartered is up to 15.6 percent from
14.9 percent, and Citigroup has increased its share to 13.9 percent from 13.2
percent in January 2003.

Regional banks DBS and UOB have increased their share of the market over the
past fifteen months but OCBC and Bank of China have seen their share decrease.

“Local banks provide good service when dealing in their local currencies but
they continue to struggle when asked to provide large corporates with
world-class products and services that allow them to improve their working
capital and supply chain management efficiencies,” East & Partners principal
analyst Paul Dowling said.

“Transaction banking is a scale dependent business and only banks that achieve
scale can justify reinvesting in the business to build a platform of customer
service and transaction execution excellence. This is why large regional and
international banks, such as HSBC, Standard Chartered and Citigroup,
consistently outperform their local service providers in this area,” he said.

The research program is based on regular interviewing programs with CFOs and
Treasurers from the 1,000 largest corporates across the region – Hong Kong,
Singapore, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan
and Thailand – about their banking relationships.

“Most players in these banking markets are being increasingly challenged by
customer expectations and although service provider performance is climbing,
customer expectations are rising more quickly,” Mr Dowling said.

The three most important service factors of the 26 covered in the research are:

  • Quality of Transaction Execution

  • Quality of Overall Service Delivery

  • Response Times on Queries and Quality of Bank’s Relationship Management

By contrast, the three least important factors to corporates are:

  • Usefulness of Bank’s Website

  • Reputation / Name of the Bank

  • Social Interaction

“Indirect, web-based tools and techniques that have been used by banks to grow
and extend their existing corporate transaction relationships are not highly
regarded by their corporate customers in Asia. These customers demand a personal
approach to service delivery and relationship management,” Mr Dowling said.

Main Reasons for Corporates Changing Bank
% of
Reasons Reported
May 2004
Service levels and
performance
35.4
International capabilities
and network
17.9
Support and responsiveness 27.7
Improved debt offerings and
securities
24.9
Value for money 9.7
Lack of added value in
relationship
13.2
Lack of competitive pricing 16.0
Alternative / competitive
bank approaches
12.3
Other 2.7
Note: sums to over 100
percent due to multiple responses

Source: East & Partners Asian Transaction Banking Report ¯ May 2004

Total Market Product Importance and Satisfaction Ratings – May 2004
Average Rating Reported
1
¯ ¯ 2 ¯ 3 ¯ 4 ¯ ¯ 5
(important)
(unimportant)
(satisfied)
(dissatisfied)
Importance


Satisfaction


Overall
Rating
Overall
Satisfaction
Product
Performance
Customer
Support
Value
for Money
Account and Transaction
Facilities
1.11 2.03 2.01 2.10 1.99
Liquidity Management 1.17 2.56 2.69 2.51 2.48
Integrated e-Banking Service 1.98 2.42 2.58 2.22 2.46
Internet Banking Service 1.23 2.40 2.56 2.39 2.24
Receivables 1.40 2.35 2.41 2.27 2.38
Payables 1.55 1.98 2.03 1.90 2.00
Trade Finance 1.73 2.09 2.13 2.04 2.10
Money Market 1.33 2.41 2.37 2.25 2.61
Short Term Debt 1.23 2.44 2.44 2.29 2.59

Source: East & Partners Asian Transaction Banking Report ¯ May 2004

For further information please contact:

Paul Bartholomew
Executive Editor
East & Partners Pty Ltd
Tel: +61-2-9222 1588
Mob: +61-410 400 156
paul.b@eastandpartners.com

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