Shanghai, Singapore and Hong Kong continue to be the most appealing financial centres in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of foreign direct investment (FDI), attracting $1.52bn, $1.19bn and $982m respectively, according to database fDi Markets.
But while greater capital was spent on Hong Kong compared with a year earlier, figures fell for Shanghai and Singapore.
Most improved is Bangalore, fourth in the FDI inflows table, which received $942m-worth of investment, almost six times the $162m it previously attracted. This is largely thanks to NMC Group’s multiple projects, worth an estimated total of $311m. The United Arab Emirates-based company is opening 11 new branches in the Indian city to provide remittances and other financial services.
The largest individual inward investment among all financial centres came from Mizuho Bank, which spent an estimated $145m to relocate its Singaporean operations, the Japanese bank’s regional hub for south-east Asia, India and Australia, to a larger office.
Beijing slipped from fourth place to ninth and saw investment in its financial sector fall to $340m from last year’s $507m. On the other hand, the city performed much better as a source of FDI. Beijing-based companies invested $678m abroad, compared with $496m a year earlier.
Seoul takes the lead in the outflows table after investing a total $1.87bn – more than four times the $440m it had spent the previous year. South Korea’s Hanwha Life Insurance paid an estimated $298.8m to open a new sales division in Indonesia, the largest investment project from Seoul’s financial centre in the 12 months to July.
