It has been close to four months since our earlier interview with the CEO of HSBC Singapore Kee Joo Wong. 

At the time, we talked about HSBC’s new Innovation Banking Unit carved out from the UK subsidiary of SVB, and whether HSBC would move into catering services for players in the VC and startup landscape.

Kee Joo told me to keep a lookout for an interesting development out of the unit that will be announced at the Singapore Fintech Festival. 

The secret is now out, as HSBC Singapore announces a partnership with early-stage VC firm Antler to facilitate the growth of Southeast Asian innovation companies and entrepreneurs based in Singapore. 

This collaboration aims to provide startups and founders that are a part of Antler’s network access to financial expertise and banking solutions such as preferred business banking accounts, venture debt and working capital facilities designed to support their needs and enable their growth and future expansion.

But what is the rationale behind working with Antler? How will HSBC assess their risk profiles and ability to repay? 

In this Singapore Fintech Festival edition of Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Jo Miyake, Chief Commercial Officer, Global Commercial Banking, HSBC.