Survey Insights

The company which did the research report - United Overseas Bank

About the company - UOB provides commercial and corporate banking services, personal financial services, private banking and asset management services, as well as corporate finance, venture capital, investment, and Insurance services. It has 68 branches in Singapore and a network of more than 500 offices in 19 countries and territories in Asia Pacific, Western Europe and North America.

Name of the organization which did the survey - United Overseas Bank

Participants of the survey - 300 key decision-makers across Southeast Asia, Mainland China and Hong Kong.

Duration of the research survey - The survey was conducted between 28 Nov 2019 and 24 Jan 2020.

The main points of discussion in the survey :

1. Surveying the Macro Risk Landscape and Implications
2. Macro findings from the survey

Findings of the survey:

1. Macro risk finding:
   1. Sharp economic slowdown
   2.  Tightened credit conditions
   3. Geopolitical risks
   4. Climate change
2. 69% think that COVID-19 will have more impact than the US-China trade tensions.
3. Vietnam and Indonesia are beneficiaries of companies looking to diversify manufacturing bases or markets.
4. 49% consider ‘sharp economic slowdown’ as the key macro risks that will have the most impact on business. 
5. 56% of respondents believed that the impact from COVID-19 will last six months.
6. 62% of respondents saw a decline in interest rates in the next one year, vs 15% who anticipated an increase.
7. 48% opined that over the next three years, interest rates will increase, vs 30% who thought that interest rates will decline.
8. Tactical strategies such as cost management and cautious expansion to mitigate near term risks. Revenue and product diversification ranked highly as corporates looked to mitigate concentration risk.
9. For a longer-term horizon (> 3 years), strategic plans such as revenue/product diversification and supply chain management are deemed as key risk mitigations. Longer-term measures such as technology and capital structure also ranked higher compared with the planning for 1-3 years.
10. 54% of respondents were not seeing a direct impact due to US-China trade tension. 87% of respondents who said, “no impact” were SMEs geared to the domestic economy whereas most impacted are the Consumer Goods and Industrials sectors, due to implications on supply chains and secondary impact from the weaker outlook.
11. Respondents from Mainland China and Hong Kong held the view that US-China trade tensions could last longer than three years, compared with Southeast Asian respondents.
12. Since US-China trade tensions emerged about two years ago, businesses have been adopting tactical approaches such as trade diversion and alternative sourcing to mitigate the immediate negative impact.
13. More respondents from Mainland China and Hong Kong viewed that the trade tensions will last longer than three years, compared with respondents from Southeast Asia. We believed that Mainland China and Hong Kong respondents were expecting a longer duration due to the immediate impact they faced.
14. Our survey indicated top destinations for strategy diversification are Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia. Key attractions of Vietnam include competitive costs, developed infrastructure and favourable government policies. One in three respondents from Singapore indicated Indonesia as their top diversification destination, with about 90% of them indicating that they would do so within three years. 
15. Respondents from Consumer Goods, Industrials and TMT indicated Vietnam as the top market into which they would like to diversify. Their medium-term (>3 years) plan to mitigate risks was to improve supply chain management.
16. Respondents from O&G also indicated they would like to diversify into Vietnam. Their long-term plan was to seek new markets to diversify their revenue streams.
17.  Half the respondents from REH in Hong Kong indicated that they would like to move to Singapore. This was to diversify from domestic geopolitical risks.
18.  Indonesia was the top diversification destination for companies from Singapore and Malaysia. Key industries looking to diversify into Indonesia include Construction, Infrastructure and Industrials.

Questions :

1) What is the title of the survey report?

1. Closing the gender gap
2. Fighting against discrimination
3. Survey Insights
4. Diversity and inclusion

2) The survey was done by?

1. Standard chartered
2. Portland Communications
3. United Overseas Bank
4. Synchrony

3) The report was done by?

1. Standard chartered
2. United Overseas Bank
3. Societe generale
4. Synchrony

4) What was the number of participants?

1. 300
2. 450
3. 350
4. 1000

5) When was the survey conducted?

1. 2019
2. 2020
3. 2018
4. 2021

6) What % thinks that COVID-19 will have more impact than the US-China trade tensions?

1. 69
2. 52
3. 48
4. 23

7) What % considers ‘sharp economic slowdown’ as the key macro risks that will have the most impact on the business?

1. 49
2. 82
3. 65
4. 70

8) What % of respondents saw a decline in interest rates in the next year?

1. 32
2. 62
3. 54
4. 19

9) What % of respondents were not seeing a direct impact due to US-China trade tension?

1. 32
2. 60
3. 54
4. 18

10) What % of respondents who said: “no impact” were SMEs geared to the domestic economy?

1. 87
2. 56
3. 43
4. 90

11) More respondents from_____ viewed that the trade tensions will not last longer than three years. 

1. Hong Kong
2. Mainland China
3. Southeast Asia
4. USA

12) Survey indicated the top destination for strategy diversification is _____. 

1. Vietnam 
2. Indonesia
3. Malaysia
4. Singapore

 13) Respondents from Consumer Goods, Industrials and TMT indicated _____ as the top market into which they would like to diversify.

1. Indonesia
2. Malaysia
3. Vietnam
4. Singapore

14) Respondents from O&G indicated they would like to diversify into _____.

1. Vietnam
2. Indonesia
3. Singapore
4. Malaysia

15) ____ the respondents from REH in Hong Kong indicated that they would like to move to Singapore.

1. ¼
2. ½
3. ¾
4. 2/5

16) _____ was the top diversification destination for companies from Singapore and Malaysia.

1. Vietnam
2. China 
3. Indonesia
4. Hong Kong

17) ____% opined that over the next three years, interest rates will increase.

1. 48
2. 32
3. 56
4. 20

18) ____% opined that over the next three years, interest rates will decline.

1. 23
2. 30
3. 45
4. 72

19) It’s a ____ plan to mitigate risks to improve supply chain management.

1. Mid-term
2. Long term
3. Short term
4. None of the above

20) Which of the following is not a ‘Macro risk finding’?

1. Sharp economic slowdown
2. Tightened credit conditions
3. Geopolitical risks
4. Technology and capital structure