NAB gears up to grab bigger share of Chinese business
The Australian bank has helped Bright Food get a foothold in Australia and an New Zealand company find a mainland distributor
National Australia Bank, one of Australia's biggest banks, is keen to transform itself into a "go-to bank" for mainland Chinese companies aiming to expand in Australia and New Zealand as competition heats up for Chinese-related banking business Down Under.
Spiro Pappas, NAB's newly appointed Asia chief executive, said the bank had aggressively strengthened its infrastructure and network in Asia in the past few years, and was ready to make bigger moves.
"There has been a lot of very deliberate planning around what I call the hardware [like] technology, core banking platforms, but also the software, so that's about how do we bring the businesses in Asia back to the mothership in Australia," Pappas said.
Such efforts to expand in Asia have been rewarded.
In August, NAB helped China's state-owned Bright Food Group buy Australian business Manassen Foods.
Last month, it helped A2 Corp, a New Zealand dairy company whose products are also sold in Australia, seal a distribution deal with China State Farm, a subsidiary of state-owned China National Agriculture Development Group.
"If we support our customers and their growth ambitions, we will get rewarded. We build trust. We build credibility," said Pappas, adding that NAB was helping Bright Food to look for more opportunities in Australia.
