Our Financial Services (FS) sector is as diverse as the companies and the people we serve. Unique is our ability to join the important work we do in this sector under one global FS sector strategy. No two markets are alike. Through our broad network, we can best serve FS clients by learning from each other and from the work we do in different sectors, such as consumer and technology.

To realize the strengths of our global integration and the benefits of real-time collaboration, we conducted a two-week road trip to Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai – gathering our teams in the region to bring together 50+ executives to learn together and hatch new thinking. The results were many-fold. At the highest level, a few insights on what we learned about the host markets are below, which underscores the increasing role the APACMEA region plays for the FS sector.

DUBAI

The economies of the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council), the intergovernmental political and economic union of the Persian Gulf, have boomed in recent years mostly due to a increase in oil and natural gas revenues coupled with a building and investment boom backed by decades of saved petroleum revenues. Regional government funds also have several hundreds of billions of dollars of assets under management. Dubai is the region’s primary financial hub and home to the 10-year old Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), where almost 2,000 financial services firms have their regional base – a pioneer of Islamic banking and finance, and home to 50 local banks. All of which are heavily focused on wealth management. While the price of oil matters here, the depth of wealth accrued in the past decades has enabled the market to ride out the good times and bad.

The remittance business is big, with foreign workers sending money back home to support their families. This is significant in a region where only 12 percent of the population are UAE nationals. When it comes to raising international funds, all of the serious players make a stop in the region as a matter of course. Investment is also an issue for those not among the ultra wealthy since the pension system does not exist beyond a defined ‘end of service benefit’ paid in cash by companies, which is calculated based an employee’s salary and number of years in service. Opportunities abound for FS, where many industry sub-sectors are still in early phases of development.

HONG KONG

With Financial Services comprising 93 percent of GDP in Hong Kong, it is clear that this market reigns as the international hub for global and regional FS in Asia. A glance about the skyline reveals as much, with the HSBC, UBS and Standard Chartered brands prominently displayed. These companies must straddle multiple regulatory bodies across APAC and carefully parse out products and services accordingly. Whether the conversation is centered on massive wealth coming from China and Hong Kong itself or new forms of fintech and consumer finance, it is clear that Hong Kong is the aggregator market for institutions and copy-cat companies alike, who are  ready to service the needs that growing money and wealth bring. Communications executives in this market are eager to leap-frog old practices but sill need support bringing management along.

JAPAN

Some credit a return to optimism in Japan to Abenomics, the Prime Minister’s shock therapy based on unprecedented monetary easing, deficit-financed supplemental government budgets filled with new public works spending and deregulation. After 20 years of stagnation, Prime Minster Abe has often framed these polices as Japan’s last chance and hence, a matter of national importance to put the world’s third largest economy back on track. Japan is also home to three of the world’s largest banks: Mitsubishi UFJ, Mitsui Sumitomo and Mizuho Bank. Each of these banks have been active in expanding their representation in Asia and other global markets through acquisitions and tie ups, as they move to follow their customers into international markets and provide access to Japan-backed capital to the region’s fast-growing companies. Japanese insurers are no strangers to merger activity in Asia, as they look to position themselves as leading providers of insurance products to the growing ranks of the middle class in Asia.

SINGAPORE

Shiny and luxurious, Singapore lives up to the vision of its legendary leader, Lee Kuan Yew. Even today, the city lives true to its trading economy legacy dating back to the 14th Century. One can see the massive vibrancy of the port life with an economy rising steadily at nine percent since its economic modernization programs of the 1960s have firmly taken hold. The world’s biggest banks are there to both take advantage of and boost a booming high end retail economy. In fact, Citi* is the country’s largest banking employer and by far the most visible global bank. Still, with the money, the infrastructure and the highly educated population, there is the palpable sense that Singapore is an economy in search of a higher purpose beyond its transactional history and pristine surface. Communication can help evolve, promote and protect reputation for the companies that want to take the lead.

Deidre H. Campbell, global chair, Financial Services sector.

*Edelman Client