Georges Elhedery

Group Chief Executive, HSBC Holdings plc

Executive Summary

In the past years, unprecedented developments impacting the global economy have resulted in significant structural shifts in the global trade landscape. While global trade continued to grow in 2025, increased uncertainties arising from tariffs, geopolitical tensions, and military conflicts have been intensifying. Nonetheless, these headwinds, as well as the resulting structural shifts, have created new opportunities and given rise to emerging trade corridors.

Under the current “new normal” of global trade, Chinese enterprises are facing new needs and challenges in their “going global” process, as they begin to invest, hire, and operate overseas rather than simply exporting to foreign markets. A lack of understanding of overseas market and policy environments, as well as inadequate cross-border financial services they can rely on, may hinder their success in those markets.

In this paper, leveraging expertise of the world’s largest trade bank, with long history of connecting the world’s economies and access to a majority of global trade flows through its international network, we share the bank’s experience and practices in building strong international networks and providing customized, onestop financial solutions.By providing efficient services, from liquidity and supply chain financing to risk management and leveraged buyouts, banks can help Chinese companies capture global opportunities with lower costs and better efficiency.

By providing secure and efficient financial services to support major economic and trade corridors, such as China-Southeast Asia and China-Middle East, new momentum can be generated for RMB to play a bigger role in global payments and investments. On this basis, efforts to deepen the adoption of the RMB at the enterprise and financial institution levels should be coordinated with proactive national-level opening-up to create greater synergy.

Download the full report：Embrace China’s Opportunities in a Changing Global Landscape