United Overseas Bank (UOB) recently hosted Johor Menteri Besar Onn Hafiz Ghazi on July 2 and facilitated discussions between Onn and Chinese companies at a March roundtable in Shenzhen. These efforts aimed to promote the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (SEZ) to corporations and chambers of commerce.
According to the July 2 press release, UOB facilitated a roundtable discussion between a Johor delegation led by Onn and representatives from large corporations and various business organisations.
These included the Singapore Business Federation, Singapore Manufacturing Federation, Singaporean-German Chamber of Industry and Commerce, China Enterprises Association (Singapore), the Korean Chamber of Commerce in Singapore and the Japan External Trade Organisation.
During the roundtable discussion, the Johor delegation presented the strategies, priority sectors and implementation plans for the SEZ, the release adds.
In March this year, UOB Malaysia and UOB China hosted a roundtable dialogue for Onn in Shenzhen, one of China’s SEZs. This event brought together Chinese business and public sector leaders to facilitate more foreign direct investments into the Malaysian state.
Shortly after this meeting, at least three companies from China committed to investing in Johor, amounting to about $550 million.
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At the forefront of UOB’s regionalisation efforts is its Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Advisory Office, established in 2011. Since then, FDI Advisory has signed several MOUs and partnered with various regional government agencies.
One of the first MOUs was signed with the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) in 2012. In January, UOB signed an MOU with the Board of Investment Thailand (BOI). Other UOB partners include the Economic Development Board (EDB) and Enterprise Singapore, the Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), the Foreign Investment Agency Vietnam (FIA Vietnam), the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) and DICA, a Myanmar government agency.
FDI Advisory connects companies looking to invest in Asean with various government agencies, auditors, lawyers, administrators and other relevant professionals to assess their on-the-ground requirements.
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“We go beyond one region and one country. By working closely with government agencies, we have a better understanding of what governments want. What FDIs are they looking for and how can I source the quality FDI these countries need? These countries want to attract a diverse group of FDIs to have a comprehensive technology transfer and stable and sustainable investment into the country,” says Sam Cheong, managing director and head of FDI Advisory and Network Partnerships, UOB.
In 2012, UOB partnered with the CCPIT as Chinese companies began pivoting to Southeast Asia for resources. Fast forward to 2024 and UOB has signed its fourth MOU with CCPIT. China’s foreign direct investment into Asean increased by 81%, from US$10.3 billion in 2016 to US$18.7 billion in 2022.
Cheong says: “We may have started with many Chinese companies looking for resources in Asean. Last year, we opened an FDI Advisory office in Japan. We now have a Korean desk based in Singapore, and soon we will have a German desk. FDIs from Germany have doubled from US$1.68 billion in 2018 to US$3.8 billion by 2022. As of today, we have helped more than 4,500 companies invest in the region.”
Since the pandemic in 2020, FDI Advisory has included job creation as one of its key performance indicators (KPIs). “We operate our FDI business very differently. We are looking at FDIs from a country perspective, and do so by aligning these objectives with the government agencies,” Cheong adds.
When companies plan to invest in the region, FDI Advisory evaluates their investment plans, including the investment amount and the number of employees they intend to hire. “I pulled a team together with the view that FDI Advisory can make a difference. We came out with the purpose of enabling the creation of quality jobs through the FDIs that we support into Asean as a motivational pivot. Since 2020, we have created close to 200,000 job opportunities,” Cheong says.
He adds: “This is part of our sustainability goal. Doctors save lives; bankers can help create livelihoods. We rally the entire bank towards a common goal of enabling the creation of job opportunities. We are facilitating businesses, but we are also contributing to their social impact. With the partnership of our stakeholders, we aspire to contribute to the creation of one million jobs in Asean. We continue to work closely with HR firms so that companies planning to invest in the region get their HR strategy right. For FDI Advisory, opening a bank account is the last part.”
