Exclusive | Dutch bank ING to boost recruitment drive in Asia amid growing demand for green and sustainable finance across the region

ING joins other major lenders, including HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank and Bank of China (Hong Kong), that are now focused on green financing deals
Greater Bay Area-related green and sustainable loan issuances in Hong Kong already reached US$52.7 billion last year

Green finance

Enoch Yiu

Published: 7:30am, 21 Aug 2023

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ING Bank, the largest lender in the Netherlands, plans to escalate its staff recruitment efforts in Asia to meet the growing green finance opportunities across the region, according to a senior executive at the Dutch multinational company.

“We will continue to selectively add capability in sustainable finance in Asia because that is where we are a leader in our industry,” Andrew Bester, head of wholesale banking at ING Bank, said in an interview with the South China Morning Post. “What we want is to continue to hire in the areas where we have expertise.”

ING’s staffing initiative reflects the robust outlook for sustainable funding deals in China and across Asia, where many major banks – including Hong Kong’s three note-issuing lenders HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank and Bank of China (Hong Kong)– are now catering to the increased demand for green finance.

Amsterdam-based Bester visited Hong Kong last week to meet major clients who are seeking green bonds and other sustainable loans to finance their businesses, while ensuring that their operations run in a manner that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions or cut down the use of water and energy.

Andrew Bester, the head of wholesale banking at ING Bank, points out the Dutch lender’s strategy in an interview at the company’s offices in Admiralty on August 17, 2023. Photo: Jonathan Wong

“Hong Kong has the potential to be a hub for green finance because the Hong Kong Monetary Authority is focused on building the regulatory framework to facilitate sustainable financing,” he said.

The regulator’s move follows the expanding green and sustainable debt market in the Greater Bay Area (GBA), a megalopolis that comprises the Hong Kong and Macau special administrative regions and nine cities in southern Guangdong province that include its capital Guangzhou and tech hub Shenzhen.

GBA-related green and sustainable loan issuances in Hong Kong last year totalled US$52.7 billion, up more than 100 per cent from 2021, according to data from the Guangzhou municipal government.

Major lenders in Hong Kong already have programmes in place to tap into this market. HSBC’s GBA Sustainability Fund, which aims to support companies in the area to lower their carbon emissions, has boosted its financing resources to U$9 billion from an initial outlay of US$5 billion, the city’s biggest bank said on Wednesday.

Over the past few years, Bank of China has introduced a range of green finance products in the city, including the BOCHK Greater Bay Area Climate Transition ETF, the Green Mortgage Plan and Green Insurance Plan, to support customers’ low-carbon transition initiatives.

Standard Chartered also has a green branch to focus on this type of financing product.

Bester, who previously worked at Standard Chartered in Hong Kong and Singapore between 2005 and 2012, said many corporate executives across Asia have also made green and sustainable financing a priority, which has increased ING’s opportunities in the region.

“Our customers in Hong Kong and across Asia, as well as those in Europe, are all transitioning their business models and supply chains to achieve a greener future. It is a board-level topic of the big companies,” he said. “That is why we keep hiring more people in these areas, as well as train all our bankers to support and advise our clients to achieve their goals.”

ING Bank last year helped clients in Europe raise €101 billion (US$110 billion) from various green and sustainable financing deals. Photo: Shutterstock

ING has operations in 23 markets across Europe and 11 markets in Asia, including its regional headquarters in Singapore, as well as in Hong Kong and mainland China. Asia revenue represented about 5 per cent of ING’s total sales last year.

Bester, who joined ING in 2021 after a stint at Lloyds Banking Group in London, said Asia is expected to become the bank’s fastest-growing region.

ING, which last year helped clients in Europe raise €101 billion (US$110 billion) from various green and sustainable financing projects, said the volume of such funding deals arranged by the bank globally grew by almost 20 per cent in the first half of this year, according to Bester.

“This trend will continue because our clients, including those in Hong Kong and mainland Chinese companies, are looking for advice to work through that transition,” he said.

Bester indicated that ING will also hire more bankers to support transaction banking services, as well as to advise and support clients seeking mergers-and-acquisition deals.

“There are very active pipelines and discussions on potential mergers and acquisitions, and they would need financing to support these activities,” he said.

Although China’s economic recovery has recently slowed down, Bester said ING remains positive about the long-term outlook in Hong Kong and the mainland.

“We are not sitting here with a short-term view. It’s about delivering for the very long term for our clients,” he said. “We have operations in 23 markets across Europe, and many global companies and Chinese firms are exporting into those markets. They need us to help support their businesses.”