Protecting profits across the board.
In the Asia-Pacific region, geopolitical risks and supply chain diversification require contingency planning by corporates, and banking partners who can help treasurers mitigate foreign exchange risk to protect profit margins.
“Businesses navigate an increasingly complex environment and confront a shift in trade patterns and supply chains across Asia,” says Lim Soon Chong, group head of Global Transaction Services at DBS, Global Finance’s winner both as Best Bank for Transaction Banking and for Best Corporate Cross-Border Payments Solution. “Leveraging our broad and deep network in the most exciting growth nexus across Asia, we help clients navigate the complex environment and fortify their ability to capture regional opportunities.”
Citi, winner of the award as Best Bank for Long-Term Liquidity Management, has focused on delivering solutions that will enable clients of all sizes, industries, and geographies to achieve their ambitions. Citi has, for example, built a real-time liquidity dashboard solution for mutual fund clients in India and introduced on-demand sweeps in China—providing clients with access to their cash to support real-time funding of payments. Citi is expanding its Global Liquidity Sharing platform to include greater functionalities and more countries. The expansion of Citi’s Intelligent Pooling Solutions across Asia continued in 2023; while Citi Interest Optimization (CIO) end-to-end, straight-through onboarding has been expanded to 12 Asian markets, with automated system setup and validations to improve the client experience with faster turnaround on selected CIO requests.
With a large global presence but a core strength in Asia, Bank of China (Hong Kong), winner of our Best Bank for Cash Management award, has a suite of cash management services, including account management, collection and payment processing, liquidity management, and investment options. A leader in renminbi transactions, the bank has developed a Distinctive Overseas Treasury Development (DOTD) solution for state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in order to raise liquidity, maximize efficiency, and mitigate risk of funds, by concentrating cross-border services worldwide and offering a comprehensive solution, which can be tailored to solve SOEs’ pain points.
In Australia, the New Payments Platform (NPP) is an open-access infrastructure launched in 2018 to facilitate data-rich, real-time payments, helping to set up Australia’s digital economy for the future. It enables customers of different banks to make and receive domestic real-time payments.
“The NPP infrastructure supports an increasingly digital economy: improving payment speed, reducing errors, and providing convenience and transparency, which all goes toward enhancing the customer experience,” says Lisa Vasic, managing director of Transaction Banking at ANZ, our Best Bank for Payments.
Also in Australia, PayTo provides a digital way for merchants and businesses to initiate real-time payments from their customers’ bank accounts. ANZ became the first major bank to offer it to billers, in December 2023. “PayTo demonstrates how investment in modern payment rails and solutions can transform the customer experience across a range of industries and use cases,” states Vasic. “The first successful transaction using PayTo was completed with the Australian Bond Exchange, helping customers purchase fixed-interest bonds digitally, in real time and 24/7, which had never before been possible.”
She says another big benefit will be the NPP’s international payment services. “At present, a treasurer transferring money from Singapore to Australia would need to make payment prior to midday Singapore time to achieve same-day value. Payments coming in from Europe or the Americas will also materially benefit. Previously, payments sent on a Friday would hit Australia on a Saturday, therefore being held over for the weekend.” Industrial Bank of Korea, winner as Best Provider of Short-Term Investments/Money Market Funds, takes a leading role in money market funds by offering short-term bonds tailored to customers’ needs, effectively responding to continuously changing market conditions. Small and Midsize Industry Financing (SMIF) bonds are issued to secure stable funding for small and midsize enterprises.
| Asia-Pacific | |
|---|---|
| Best Bank for Transaction Banking* | DBS |
| Best Bank for Cash Management | Bank of China (Hong Kong) |
| Best Corporate Cross-Border Payments Solution* | DBS |
| Best Bank for Payments | ANZ |
| Best Bank for Collections | OCBC |
| Best Bank for Long-Term Liquidity Management | Citi |
| Best Provider of Short-Term Investments/Money Market Funds | Industrial Bank of Korea |
