JULYASIA BUSINESS OUTLOOK9In line with CEO Helen Wong, Singapore's Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation has focused on "longer term opportunities" in Greater China and Southeast Asia and anticipates that this strategy would generate $2.2 billion in extra revenue by 2025.The second-largest bank in Southeast Asia declared on Monday that its brand will be unified throughout its key markets in Greater China, which includes Hong Kong and Macao, as well as Southeast Asia. Wong told CNBC that the 10-nation Association of South East Asian Nations bloc and Greater China together will continue to contribute more to global GDP growth if macrotrends were to hold."China and ASEAN are growing at a CAGR of 13percentage, if you look at the trade numbers for the last four years," she continued. Compound annual growth rate, which assumes earnings are reinvested at the end of each year, is a measurement of annualized returns for an investment over time.Wong claimed in a press statement that "the effects of China's reopening post-pandemic, the rise of ASEAN for the China plus one strategy, and other geopolitical factors" had increased the likelihood of trade flows between the two regions.Because of this, Wong said she is sure that OCBC would be able to capture growth as it "puts our act together," despite the fact that the OCBC has observed slower economic growth in some nations in the region. Adeclaration from an online auction reveals that HSBC's Chinese partner has put a 31% stake in a joint venture up for sale, with the European bank having the right of first refusal.After sources told Reuters in May that Europe's largest bank was looking to increase ownership and grow its footprint in the asset management industry of the world's second-largest economy, the auction of a stake in HSBC Jintrust Fund Management was announced.According to a webpage from China's National Public Resource Trading Platform, the Chinese state-owned Shanxi Trust, which holds a 51 percent stake in the joint venture, is auctioning off the partial ownership with an asking price of 1 billion yuan ($138.27 million).The China fund unit is valued at 3.2 billion yuan, calculations based on the asking price shown.The auction started to receive bids on Thursday last week. China Fund News first reported the stake auction late on Monday.In response to an inquiry about whether it was considering purchasing the shares up for auction, HSBC stated that the bank was "eager to grow our businesses in China, including our fund management JV HSBC JinTrust, which is a strong, profitable business."The statement said, "The Group is open to opportunities to grow its companies at the appropriate time and in line with its strategic growth plans.According to the auction page, HSBC, which presently controls 49percentage of the fund unit, has the first opportunity to buy the stake. The bank still has the option to exercise its right. Existing shareholders have the right to reject auctioned shares first according to the preemptive right. OCBC BANK TO UNIFY FOCUSING ON LONG TERM OPPORTUNITIESHSBC CHINESE COUNTERPART AUCTIONS 31 PERCENTAGE OF ITS STAKE IN A JOINT VENTURENEWSROOMJUNEASIA BUSINESS OUTLOOK9
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