Standard Chartered on top in Asian trade finance satisfaction
Standard Chartered is the bank with which primary trade finance customers in Asia have the highest levels of satisfaction.
The bank is number one in Asean and South Asia, as well as the region overall. Mitsubishi UFJ Group (MUFG) tops the poll in Northeast Asia, while JP Morgan is second-placed in all three regional categories.
The research was conducted by financial consultancy East & Partners, and shared with GTR. The company interviewed 942 of the top 1,000 corporations in 10 Asian countries by revenue: China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.
The results show that HSBC, the biggest trade bank in the region, is behind Citi and ANZ, languishing fifth overall. ANZ, meanwhile, has shown the most improvement over the six-month period, ranking fourth overall and third in Asean and South Asia.
In another recent piece of East & Partners research, HSBC was found to have lost some ground on its competitors. The bank’s share of primary relationships has declined by 3.5% over the past three years, with Citi and Standard Chartered snapping at its heels.
For Standard Chartered and JP Morgan, those who have them as their primary trade finance provider ranked them highly on industry sector knowledge, speed of response to enquiries and customer service. HSBC, on the other hand, underperformed in the areas of speed of response to enquiries, competitiveness of pricing and trade credit process.
For MUFG in Northeast Asia, the bank performed well on trade credit process and full supply chain financing, both of which are verticals considered extremely important by large Asian companies.
Standard Chartered has a score of 1.92 (on a 1 to 5 scale, where 1= satisfied and 5= dissatisfied), followed by JP Morgan (1.95) and Citi (2.09). These top three banks have improved their ratings by 0.02 points to 0.04 points each in the last six months, further reinforcing their positions in the market. Standard Chartered’s 4-point increase made it the most improved financial provider in the ranking.
Sangiita Yoong, an analyst with East & Partners, tells GTR that the respondents are quizzed on 19 service categories and that “the perceived lack of value for money in trade finance dealings is a key characteristic among banks serving the Asia market”.