SINGAPORE (Reuters) -DBS Group, the largest bank in Southeast Asia, said on Thursday that it has partnered with Riyadh-based Banque Saudi Fransi to strengthen trade finance and payment flows between Asia and Saudi Arabia.
The partnership, aimed at capitalising on the economic ties within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, will involve collaboration on trade settlement, financing and regional currency-clearing solutions, Singapore-based DBS said in a statement.
The agreement comes as economic flows between the GCC and Asian nations accelerate. Trade between Southeast Asia and the GCC reached about $130.7 billion in 2023 and is expected to grow by another $50 billion by 2027, according to DBS.
The tie-up was formalised at the sidelines of Sibos financial services conference in Frankfurt, and will also facilitate joint financing of client transactions, the statement said, adding that the trade volumes between China and GCC countries are projected to double to $1.9 trillion by 2035.
“Asia and the Middle East are growing increasingly interconnected as businesses, investors and talent pursue opportunities in these dynamic markets,” Sriram Muthukrishnan, DBS’s group head of global transaction services product management, said in the statement.
Saudi Arabia, the GCC’s largest economy, is expected to play a key role in driving growth across the corridor, DBS said.
Under the agreement, BSF will also consider using DBS’s GlobeSend platform to enable same-day cross-border payments across the lender’s global payout network, which spans over 100 markets.
(Reporting by Yantoultra Ngui; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
