HSBC creates US$3 billion fund to support tech firms in Hong Kong, China with an eye on enhanced role of the knowledge economy in Greater Bay Area
- The enlarged new fund will support start-ups in healthcare, life sciences, climate tech, industrials and consumer sectors in Hong Kong and mainland China
- HSBC CEO said in March that the lender ‘wants to be heavily involved in tech, in the innovation sector’
HSBC, Hong Kong’s biggest bank, will upsize its lending scheme tailor-made for start-ups to US$3 billion as it widens its support to new economy companies in Hong Kong and mainland China following strong inflows from clients of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), whose UK unit it acquired in March.
HSBC said in a statement on Wednesday it will create the HSBC New Economy Fund, by combining two lending schemes set up in 2019 to provide financing to the healthcare and technology sectors in the Greater Bay Area, and would increase the size of the aggregate lending capacity from US$1.8 billion.
“We’ve had significant inflows in the US from SVB’s US clients and investors, and by significant, I mean billions,” he said in March. “The clients that had had their money in the US and around the world are starting to move their money to us.”
Quinn said the UK unit offered a strategic fit by enhancing HSBC’s ability to serve innovative and fast-growing companies in the technology and life-science sectors.
The enhanced role of the knowledge economy in the region was one of the key reasons behind this launch, a senior HSBC official said.