Lu: As an international bank, we follow our clients wherever they go and have been client-centrically supporting the globalisation journey of Chinese business by seamlessly connecting them to our global network.
Malaysia has steadily deepened its economic and strategic engagement with China in the last decade, while maintaining its long-standing position of neutrality and non-alignment on the global stage.
Standard Chartered Bank (China) Ltd chief executive officer Jean Lu says China has been Malaysia’s largest trading partner for the last 16 years, and initially, Malaysian companies entering the market were largely from traditional sectors like engineering and construction.
“Malaysia is also China’s second largest trading partner within the Asean region. It may appear to some that Malaysia-China trade relations are a recent development but in actual fact, this collaboration has been a longstanding pillar of regional growth and has been evolving for many decades,” she says to StarBiz 7.
China and Malaysia’s bilateral trade reached US$212bil in 2024.
Despite flying in from Singapore only hours earlier, Lu spoke enthusiastically about why Chinese companies favour Malaysia.
“There is a growing momentum today for Chinese companies to start venturing out. As many industries reach a new stage of development, exploring global markets has become a natural step forward.
“This is also driven by a strategic need to diversify growth opportunities, upgrade operations and better align with international demand,” she says.
China’s globalisation has been broad – from the early stage of reform and opening-up in the 1980s to its entry into the World Trade Organisation in 2001, and later the Belt and Road Initiative that has further deepened international economic cooperation and connectivity.
Today, Lu says, if one looks at the key industries in the world, it would become clear that China has some of the most comprehensive and well-integrated supply chains around.
“China also has the power of scale. In the last three decades, the country has maintained steady growth in exports, reaching more than 200 markets across the world.
“What they did well from the start, was open up their own markets for technological cooperation, and looked for ways that international partners could help them grow and nurture their own markets,” Lu says.
The time has come, she points out, for China to support other markets raise their own standards and capabilities.
Malaysia already has so many good things going for it, she opines.
“We regard Malaysia as a very friendly and important market in South-East Asia. For Chinese companies wanting to explore other markets, Malaysia has naturally been the choice,” she says.
The Bank’s newly released Future of Trade report also reveals that Malaysia is among the top markets of interest for Chinese corporates surveyed, with over 53% planning to increase or sustain trade activities with Malaysia over the next three to five years.
When asked why, Lu points to Malaysia’s strategic geographical position, accessible by both land and sea.
She adds that the Malaysia government’s pro-investment environment and policies have also been key factors.
Agreements such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the Asean–China Free Trade Area (ACFTA) laid the foundation for trade liberalisation between China and Asean, while providing a broader, more comprehensive regional framework.
She also notes that financing support is extensive, covering not only entrepreneurs and end users but also players across the supply chain.
“All these factors combined, Malaysia makes complete sense for Chinese companies to venture into,” Lu says.
She shares about meeting a Chinese auto company during her trip. The company initially entered to export its products, but as opportunities emerged, it recognised the potential to establish a stronger local presence through manufacturing and production.
Despite having operations in Thailand and Indonesia already, they opted to make Malaysia a hub for its Asean productions.
Lu adds that industries like high-end electronics, AI, EV, energy storage, data centres and renewable energy are most likely to take centre stage.
Meanwhile, as an international bank, Standard Chartered has been in China for 167 years now, and has an unrivalled presence in 10 different countries across Asean.
“As an international bank, we follow our clients wherever they go and have been client-centrically supporting the globalisation journey of Chinese business by seamlessly connecting them to our global network.
“For instance, we sent very experienced Mandarin-speaking Chinese as corridor bankers into over 20 markets,” she explains.
The bank also has priority private centres for individual clients so everything is connected for a seamless service experience.
Lu says that right now in China, the banking system is one of the most expansive and highly-developed in the world, comprising over 4,000 banks – including policy banks, state-owned commercial banks, joint-stock commercial banks, city commercial banks and smaller banks for the more rural areas, as well as foreign invested banks like us.
“What is special about Standard Chartered is, when companies come from different markets, especially across the Asia, Africa and the Middle East markets, most require a bank like us to facilitate, navigate the risks and ultimately give them a home away from home in those new markets,” she says.
Standard Chartered China is one of the largest foreign banks in China and is present in nearly 30 cities. It has plenty of offerings, including transaction banking, financial markets, corporate finance and wealth solutions for a full spectrum of individual, corporate and institution clients.
“But really, our purpose was to build a meaningful presence in China, and a strong one that plays to our strength as a super connector for cross border business and wealth management.
“And we found out that these companies coming into China or Chinese companies expanding their footprint abroad tended to favour banking with international banks like us given our global reach and local insight,” Lu adds.
On tariffs impact, Lu admits they have not been convenient, posing challenges and short-term uncertainties, but every coin has two sides - it’s also prompting more Chinese companies to expand overseas and truly localise in those markets.
This includes the greater use of Renmimbi across markets.
“The US dollar can be relatively more expensive as a financing currency, while corporates will benefit from comparatively lower funding costs in renminbi (RMB) today.
“If you look at the Chinese interest rates, it is very attractive.”
She opines that the current international usage of RMB is still quite low compared to China’s share of global trade, implying a lot of potential for the increased use of renminbi in global trade settlement. As of August 2025, the RMB remained in the same position as the 6th most active currency for global payments by value, with a share of 2.93%.
“For example, the use of the RMB in Asean and Malaysia has seen strong momentum, and this trend is expected to continue as regional integration deepens.
“The overseas use of renminbi is a natural commercial process. We have seen more trade finance and short-term loans in RMB for Chinese corporates as well as multinational and local corporates in Asean markets such as Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia,” adds Lu.
