HSBC Investing in the future

Your forecasts for Vietnam have been positive and brought about positive energy for the country. How much of your feelings or emotions play a part when crafting an economic outlook?

Tim Evans, CEO of HSBC Vietnam

As a CEO, I think one has to be realistic instead of letting emotions win. If you are not, your people will never believe you. My optimism about Vietnam is based on the economic fundamentals, the resilience of the people, and from my discussions with customers who live and breathe the economy every day.

Vietnam entered the pandemic with strong economic fundamentals and a strong positive outlook. These remain despite two years of challenges. The country remains a favoured destination for foreign direct investment (FDI), the local corporate community remains resilient, and there is a strong entrepreneurial history of overcoming adversity.

Planning for the future is never easy. With experience of ups and downs in the global financial market, what are your suggestions for Vietnam?

Indeed, planning in a hugely uncertain environment is never easy. We cannot always predict the future, especially in the environment today, but we need to try and predict it. All need to ensure that they remain meaningful and relevant to their customers. Staying close to them, understanding them and working together with them is essential for the future. Companies that forget who their customers are, or who do not listen to them, ultimately end up being irrelevant.

Vietnam needs to continue to keep an eye on the future. It needs to continue to invest in its infrastructure and ensure that it continues to move up the Ease of Doing Business rankings as this is what investors and companies look at.

That said, I believe that as we start to pull out of this crisis, Vietnam is well-positioned to capture any opportunities that present themselves as evidenced by the fact that at the end of 2021, Vietnam delivered a stronger than expected 4Q growth of 5.2 per cent on-year. This was based on manufacturing activity improving quickly, while exports also climbed to record highs. Meanwhile, the service sector has also rebounded well.

The financial performance of the banking sector in general has not been too positive in recent times. But are there any blessings in disguise from the last couple of years?

It is often said that banks are only as good as the customers that they serve. If our customers suffer, so do the banks. If customers prosper, so do banks. That said, while the entire economy has suffered over the past time, I believe the future bodes well for banks and especially those that supported their customers during the toughest of times. Customers have long memories, and banks who helped them during times of trouble tend to have stronger and better relationships with their customers.

I do not think that the pandemic was a blessing in disguise. What I would say is that Winston Churchill once said that one should never let a crisis go to waste. I cannot speak about other banks, but I can say that from an HSBC perspective, we have seen a great deal of innovation about how customers can transact with us remotely and how our people can work remotely.

We have also focused heavily on our ability to deliver green/sustainable finance to Vietnam for a long-term sustainable future for the country. We have done a number of market firsts in this sector too, for example with the world’s first-ever sustainable exchangeable bond.

HSBC opened its first office in Vietnam in 1870

As the bank is optimistic in terms of Vietnam’s recovery in 2022, what does the recovery roadmap in parallel with the economy look like?

We believe that Vietnam will continue to benefit from strong FDI, especially into the manufacturing sector. This will continue to drive strong export volumes for the country. This, coupled with the growing sophistication of the Vietnamese corporate sector, will help drive the economy forward. Banks need to support and be involved in these themes if they want to succeed. Other areas of optimism are the ever-growing middle class that will drive consumption in the economy. This, coupled with strong infrastructure spending and ongoing increases in green finance, will help Vietnam address the negative impacts of climate change and drive opportunities for banks, businesses, and the Vietnamese people.

You joined HSBC more than 26 years ago and have held different management roles across three continents. How have these roles shaped you as a professional?

As a youngster, one sometimes has an image that life and one’s career is a straight line that gets better each year. I can say that, for me, this has not been the case. There are times when one’s career advances well, and there are other times when we go through challenges that lead us to question ourselves and wonder if things will ever improve. I think this is the reality of life, as the tough times test us. We learn from them and hopefully become better executives and professionals as a result.

I recall when I lived through the Asian financial crisis, my boss at the time told me that this was a great opportunity as one can only be an effective banker if you have lived through such an economic crisis. I do not wish these lessons on anyone, but it is often when we go through adversity that we learn the most about ourselves and it helps us handle future crises in a better way.

What are you committed to achieving in whatever time you have left in Vietnam?

I am hoping for a 5-year run in Vietnam so hopefully I am not halfway through my assignment just yet. When I arrived, I had a mandate to help continue to grow the HSBC business in Vietnam that had been immensely successful.

Unfortunately, three months after I arrived, the pandemic emerged. You can only play the hand that you are dealing. So, despite all the challenges that we have faced, I believe our business and people are better positioned now to capture the future opportunities that will present themselves in Vietnam.

I also believe that having been through this together, many of us are closer as friends than we have been in the past. A shared crisis in some ways brings us closer together and a more connected team always performs better than teams who are not.