You tube link: https://youtu.be/XPNU_eSorGg
PBEC hosted CCB Malaysia Senior Vice President Chong Fook Jade who shared and described CCB Bank’s Smart Matchmaking Digital Trade Platform that was launched a year ago during the pandemic. CCB Match Plus is a smart matchmaking platform safely connecting businesses that cannot trade easily in today’s disrupted markets. As one of the largest banks in China, CCB has assets of more than RMB27 trillion, ranking second in the world in terms of market capitalization. CCB aims to promote the bank’s transformation from a pure financial product provider to a customer-centric, omni-channel service designer, with the goal of sustainable development in the future. CCB Match Plus fits into this ambition by helping reduce information asymmetry in cross-border transaction scenarios and lower cross-border transaction costs at the same time. Although economic globalization has continued to deepen over recent years, the lack of effective information exchange is still one of the biggest pain points for companies when it comes to cross-border trade, investment and financing. Through intelligent algorithms and online access, CCB Match Plus unites CCB’s branch offices in 31 countries and regions on six continents to provide a free business information-matching platform for hundreds of thousands of companies through the integration of online and offline channels.
Speaker: Chong Fook Jade Head of Global Banking & Markets from CCB Malaysia
China wants to build along the Belt and Road, a global infrastructure development strategy adopted by the Chinese government in 2013 to invest in nearly 70 countries and international organizations.
Chong addresses a misconception that the Chinese state is out to get states of other countries along the Belt and Road into a debt trap, highlighting as a misrepresentation. “There is always potential for a country or nation to be caught in a debt trap. But the nation itself needs to look in terms of weighing its pros and cons in taking on this liability to pay for what it gets in return in terms of infrastructural benefits. When we look at a Government funding or the type of concession, it’s very important to ask a fundamental question as to where the funding is from. Because some projects may have special allocation from the Government but others may be under the budget of a certain ministry. This may cause further delay in the project due to approval process and other factors,” he clarifies.
Chong also said that the Chinese players are already here with representatives in Malaysia, to show their commitment towards potential projects. “The Chinese contractors provide competitive prices due to the scalability from their relative size and are hugely supported by the banks. They are willing to look at Engineering, Procurement, Construction Contract (EPCC) plus Financing type of structure to mitigate the completion risk. Additionally, they are willing to engage with local partners on PFI type deals,” he said. Chong concludes that, it is no longer a question of ‘if’ but how much and to what extent Chinese participation will benefit the Malaysian economy.