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Opinion / Op-Ed Contributors

Support tomorrow's business winners

By Andrew Bainbridge (China Daily) Updated: 2014-12-05 08:36

In the last couple of decades, as global trade has evolved, mid-sized corporations have also come to play a much more important role in supply chains. Whereas in the past, they would have focused on domestic markets, these days many such companies are fully active in overseas trade as suppliers and distributors.

This is especially true for emerging markets where trade is growing more rapidly than in the West. The world's fastest-growing trade corridors are "south-south - such as trade between Asia and the Middle East, Latin America and Asia, and Asia and Africa.

Today, by the time a company reaches the mid-size bracket, it is likely to be well underway to internationalizing, looking for opportunities and support to further innovate and push into new markets. This is a crucial stage in the corporate lifecycle, and one which can make or break a company's future.

Unfortunately, this is also the time when mid-sized corporations tend to hit something of a confused space in the banking industry - too big and complex to be served alongside small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and too small to be fully on the radar of wholesale bankers.

Most financial institutions cater for mid-sized corporations, but the definitions of "mid-sized" vary dramatically, and services are often fragmented by geography, while what these clients really need is the full complement of international banking services.

Many have the same banking needs as large companies - such as cross-border payment collection or help to access capital markets for funding. Indeed, in a number of markets in Asia, including Hong Kong and Singapore, more companies are now issuing debt or equity well before they hit the "large corporate" banking bracket.

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