| James Kon |
STANDARD Chartered Bank (SCB) will help Brunei attract foreign direct investment (FDI) as a way to diversify its economy, a senior official of SCB said yesterday.
“I understand that there is a need for Brunei to attract more foreign direct investment and we are perfectly positioned to ensure that. We can help create opportunities for meeting and exchanging ideas while in the aspect of financing, we will absolutely do it,” Ajay Kanwal, Regional CEO, Asesan and South Asia of SCB, told the Bulletin in an interview.
Ajay Kanwal, who was in Brunei for three days to oversee the bank’s growth in the Sultanate, reiterated the international bank’s commitment to remain and grow in Brunei Darussalam as part of its strategy to provide well-established, interconnected banking services in all 10 Asean member countries.
“We are 100 per cent committed to stay here and grow here. I don’t want people to have any ambiguity about our future presence here. My visit here is to improve connectivity for the bank and our franchise,” he said.
Describing the bank’s relationship with Brunei, he said, “Brunei Darussalam and Standard Chartered Bank have a long history of 58 years. We are the second oldest bank in Brunei. We believe that SCB has become an integral part of Brunei’s society and economy.”
Ajay Kanwal, Regional CEO, Asesan and South Asia of Standard Chartered Bank at the newly opened investment subsidiary, Standard Chartered Securities (B) Sdn Bhd for wealth management. – JAMES KON
SCB has a good and balanced team that will grow the bank’s business in a very sensible way, he added.
SCB is currently looking ahead to grow further through proper planning and introducing numerous banking products and services.
Ajay revealed that the bank is looking to “focus on transaction banking capability, providing working capital for local SMEs, digital agenda of mobile application and employee banking”.
He also commended the Autoriti Monetari Brunei Darussalam (AMBD), the financial regulator in Brunei, for the good work in maintaining stability of the Brunei’s financial market and promoting growth in the country, especially by enhancing SMEs and direct foreign investment.
On the establishment of Brunei stock market in 2017, Ajay pointed out that “it is a good step for Brunei and the initiative is sending out a strong signal that the country is diversifying its economy. The next step after establishing the stock market is to look at connectivity to get the depth of volumes. This would give people more access to capital in Brunei and also offer Bruneians more opportunity to invest”.
As the only international bank that has presence in all 10 Asean member countries, he said, “Brunei is an important part of the Asean connectivity strategy. All multi-national companies operating in Brunei need a bank while overseas companies that are looking to gain access to Brunei markets also need a bank, we are be here to serve and therefore Brunei is extremely important.”
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