SMEs in different Asian countries vary in the extent to which they want to expand beyond home markets. With many HNW individuals operating cross-border or looking to do so, findings of the survey should be of interest to private banks and wealth managers.

A study of more than 4,000 businesses in Asia by United Overseas Bank has found that 83 per cent of businesses are keen to expand overseas, and this desire is most pronounced in Indonesian, Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese companies. 

Small- and medium-sized companies in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore are the most hesitant, the UOB Business Outlook Study 2023 said. 

About four in five companies value having a cross-border digital trade platform for their overseas expansion. However, obstacles holding businesses back include difficulties in finding the right partners to work with, lack of in-house talent, and lack of legal and regulatory compliance and tax support.

Most cited needing more support to venture overseas including connecting with overseas partners or clients and tax incentives.

From a wealth management viewpoint, the study sheds light on the kind of financial advice and support that HNW business owners thinking of expanding their overseas businesses might be looking for.

ASEAN countries and China are the top two markets which businesses want to expand into. Only one in four companies want to expand beyond Asia. Within ASEAN, Singapore is seen as the most important country for businesses to venture into, followed by Thailand and Malaysia, the study found. 

Around 60 per cent of small- and medium-sized enterprises surveyed highlighted that their supply chains have been affected by the ongoing geopolitical tensions.

Companies are pressured by global inflation on their cost of supplies and challenges in procuring suppliers.