As companies are looking to cash in on the potential of uniting the infrastructure and development of the Greater Bay Area, HSBC said on Tuesday that it is creating a US$880 million technology fund to provide financing to early stage companies in the region. The GBA+ Technology Fund will focus on lending to high-growth companies in mainland China, Macau and Hong Kong in a variety of sectors, including e-commerce, financial technology (fintech), robotics, biotech and health care technology, HSBC said. “Lending money is not the sole purpose. We want to create a lasting relationship with our customers,” said HSBC’s head of commercial banking in Hong Kong Terence Chiu. “We're not transactional. That's never been our strategy in 154 years.” The new fund comes as a framework for the Greater Bay Area (GBA) was unveiled in February to better integrate Hong Kong, Macau and nine cities in Guangdong province for future development and economic cooperation. In 2018, the GBA was home to nearly 120 million people and had a combined gross domestic product of US$1.6 trillion, making it larger than Australia if it were a stand-alone economy. The China Centre for International Economic Exchanges, a government-affiliated think tank, has estimated that the region’s GDP could exceed US$4 trillion by 2030. The region which encompasses Shenzhen - dubbed China’s Silicon Valley - is already home to tens of thousands of technology companies and start-ups, several of which are world leaders in their areas of expertise. They include DJI , which makes three of every four recreational drones used in the world; Tencent Holdings, the biggest Chinese games publisher and social media network operator; and Huawei Technologies, the world’s largest maker of 5G telecommunications equipment. The new fund comes as tensions have been rising between the United States and China ranging from trade to technology. The US recently blocked Huawei and more than five dozen of its affiliates from buying American technology and components over national security concerns, sparking fears of a technology war between the world’s two largest economies. “The launch of the GBA+ Technology Fund will help us finance innovative companies who are driving the transformation of Guangdong’s economy at a crucial stage in their growth,” said Neo Wang, co-chief executive HSBC’s Guangdong business and head of commercial banking for Guangdong, adding that more than 45,000 hi-tech companies operate in the province. Last year, HSBC created dedicated teams within its commercial banking business in Guangdong and in Hong Kong to support technology companies in the Greater Bay Area. The HSBC fund would allow growth and technology companies who have received a round or two of funding from venture capital or private equity firms to access senior debt financing. HSBC will not take equity as part of the financing, Chiu said. The fund would focus on providing financing to companies with viable business models and focus on helping those companies fund future growth, rather than providing financing for the earliest “proof of concept” work at a start-up. “We’ll use a range of criteria when considering applicants for this fund. We would look at cash flows and not just profits,” Chiu said. “We would take into account the market valuation, the sponsors from the previous rounds of funding, the management capability, the rate of money they're burning and their ability to raise funds. We’ll also look at business growth factors like how fast they acquire new customers to download their app.” “We won't guarantee that every application will be approved. That's common to all kinds of lending,” he said. “At least now, there is a bank with the willingness to listen.”