Supply chains can be diversified, but treasury structures cannot be redesigned overnight. That distinction is becoming increasingly important for multinational corporations (MNCs) operating across South and Southeast Asia as they respond to geopolitical tensions, tariffs and a more volatile trading environment.

For Anand Sachdev, Managing Director, Country Manager for Singapore and Head of South and Southeast Asia at ING, the implications extend well beyond manufacturing. Companies are reconsidering where they produce, how they procure, how they fund operations and, increasingly, how they organise liquidity and risk across multiple markets.

"We live in a world where risks are moving faster than supply chains can adapt," he observed. According to Sachdev, businesses can often adjust liquidity, funding structures and foreign exchange (FX) positions far more quickly than they can redesign manufacturing footprints or qualify new suppliers. As a result, banks are increasingly being drawn into strategic planning at an earlier stage rather than being engaged only when financing is required.

That shift aligns with ING's own wholesale banking strategy. Operating across 35 countries globally and 11 markets in Asia Pacific, the bank combines lending, financial markets, transaction services and capital markets and advisory through an international network built on sector expertise and sustainability. Singapore serves as the regional headquarters for Asia Pacific wholesale banking and the principal hub for its activities across South and Southeast Asia.

Risk management is becoming the starting point

Much discussion about trade fragmentation has focused on relocating production away from China. Sachdev believes the reality is considerably more nuanced.

"It took China decades to become the factory of the world. You cannot replace that overnight," he said. Rather than abandoning China, many MNCs are diversifying manufacturing while maintaining substantial operations there. Chinese companies themselves are pursuing similar strategies by establishing production bases elsewhere in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) while retaining domestic capabilities.

According to Sachdev, companies are also changing how they think about resilience. "We are seeing a clear shift from efficiency-led models to more resilience-driven decision-making. An example is firms moving from just in time to just in case inventory management."

The result is increasingly distributed production networks spanning China, Southeast Asia and India, with different currencies, regulatory frameworks and financing requirements across each market. Treasury decisions therefore become one of the earliest responses to geopolitical uncertainty because liquidity, funding arrangements and FX positions can be adjusted much more quickly than physical supply chains.

For banks, supporting resilience increasingly means helping clients manage risk across geographies, suppliers, funding sources and currencies rather than simply financing individual transactions.

Singapore is becoming the region's coordination hub

One consequence of more distributed supply chains is the growing importance of regional coordination.

"The other shift in Southeast Asia is that corporates are using markets such as Singapore as regional procurement, distribution and treasury hubs to manage their supply chains on both the buy and sell side while also managing foreign exchange exposures and funding," Sachdev explained.

He believes Singapore remains at the centre of these developments because of its financing ecosystem, treasury capabilities, legal framework and international connectivity. He also argued that ASEAN's greatest opportunity lies not in competing internally but in strengthening regional connectivity and collaboration.

That assessment is supported by developments in the semiconductor industry. Singapore attracted more than SGD 30 billion (about $23 billion) in semiconductor investments between 2022 and 2025 and today accounts for around one in 10 semiconductor chips and one in five semiconductor equipment units globally. Budget 2026 also committed SGD 800 million (about $620 million) to semiconductor research and development, including SGD 60 million (about $47 million) for a national power electronics research centre.

ING's regional operating model complements this trend. Representative offices in India, Indonesia and Vietnam help the bank stay close to clients on the ground and support relationships. Transactions are ultimately executed through Singapore or other relevant ING entities, depending on client needs, currencies and regulatory requirements. The bank said this enables a focus on supporting cross-border financing, rather than competing in domestic local-currency markets.

Clients increasingly organise banking around business activity

According to Sachdev, one of the most significant changes in recent years is that MNCs are organising their banking relationships around commercial activity rather than individual products.

Procurement may occur in China or Europe, production in ASEAN, treasury management in Singapore and final sales in North America or Europe. What appears commercially as a single supply chain often requires import financing, trade finance, FX management, working capital solutions and capital markets access delivered seamlessly across multiple jurisdictions.

A semiconductor manufacturer importing fabrication equipment illustrates the point. The initial requirement may be import financing. Once production begins and chips are sold to hyperscale cloud providers, receivables discounting can unlock working capital against future cash flows. Financing therefore follows the value chain rather than a single transaction.

FX management has become equally important. According to Sachdev, clients are increasingly integrating FX policies with supply chain design, pricing and funding structures rather than managing them independently.

Treasury capabilities have also evolved. One example is Bank Mendes Gans (BMG), ING's specialist global liquidity management business. Originating from two historic Dutch banking institutions that now form part of ING, BMG focuses on helping multinational clients centralise cash, optimise liquidity and manage funding efficiently across multiple entities, jurisdictions and currencies.

Through capabilities such as notional pooling and multicurrency cash management, it enables treasury teams to view and mobilise liquidity across international operations as though they were managing a single balance sheet. According to Sachdev, these capabilities become increasingly valuable as production, procurement and treasury functions become more geographically dispersed.

The strategic direction is reflected in ING's own performance. In the first quarter of 2026, ING reported wholesale banking deposits increased by EUR 2.9 billion (about $3.4 billion), driven by higher payments and cash management balances as clients maintained larger liquidity buffers. Sachdev also noted that transaction services has delivered strong double-digit growth while capital markets and advisory has expanded as ING deliberately broadens relationships beyond traditional lending.

Growth increasingly combines organic expansion and financial sponsors

Supply chain diversification is not the only way clients are expanding across the region.

According to Sachdev, MNCs are increasingly balancing organic investment with acquisitions, partnerships and financial sponsor-backed transactions depending on market conditions and sector opportunities. This creates demand not only for financing but also for advisory capabilities spanning mergers and acquisitions, debt raising, treasury integration and post-transaction funding structures.

For ING, this reinforces the rationale for expanding beyond balance-sheet lending into capital markets and advisory. Clients increasingly expect a banking partner capable of supporting strategic expansion across the full investment lifecycle rather than providing isolated financing products after decisions have already been made.

The trend also reflects a broader shift in client behaviour. Banks are being engaged earlier in strategic discussions as companies evaluate market entry, capital allocation and long-term operating structures.

Sachdev observed that this reflects a broader change in the role of banking relationships. Rather than approaching banks after deciding how to enter a market, many clients are engaging them during strategic planning to assess acquisition opportunities, financing structures and post-transaction treasury arrangements. As a result, advisory capabilities and financing solutions are becoming increasingly intertwined.

Financing follows the value chain

The same integrated approach is becoming evident in emerging sectors.

ING has long financed data centre developments across Asia. Sachdev now expects additional opportunities around graphics processing unit (GPU) as a service, a business model under which customers rent high-performance computing capacity rather than purchasing graphics processing hardware outright.

The financing implications extend across multiple stages. GPUs must first be imported, often requiring trade finance instruments and letters of credit. Once deployed, computing capacity generates recurring service revenues that can themselves support receivables financing and working capital solutions.

Sachdev drew a similar parallel with semiconductor manufacturing. Financing may begin with importing fabrication equipment through trade finance and letters of credit, continue through the production phase and extend into receivables financing once output is sold to hyperscale cloud providers. In his view, the financing requirement increasingly follows the commercial value chain rather than being confined to a single transaction or asset.

The energy transition presents similar opportunities. ING participated alongside Citi in arranging a $521.5 million export credit agency-backed financing for PV Power's Nhon Trach 3 and 4 project, Vietnam's first liquefied natural gas power plant development. The transaction illustrates how international banking networks can connect Asian infrastructure projects with overseas equipment suppliers and government-backed export credit institutions.

Renewable energy developments across Vietnam and Indonesia are creating further demand for financing structures that combine sector expertise with lending, capital markets and advisory capabilities rather than relying on a single product offering. According to Sachdev, transactions of this nature also reflect ING's broader strategy of combining its international network and sector expertise with sustainability as one of the three pillars underpinning its wholesale banking franchise.

Banking for a more connected regional economy

Trade fragmentation does not necessarily imply financial fragmentation.

According to Sachdev, businesses are responding by diversifying production while strengthening regional treasury, funding and risk management capabilities. Banks are therefore being asked to support increasingly interconnected operating models spanning multiple jurisdictions rather than isolated domestic businesses.

"ASEAN's biggest opportunity is not to compete harder with itself, but to further connect and collaborate better within itself," he said.

That perspective extends beyond manufacturing. Treasury, FX management, trade finance, transaction services and capital markets are increasingly converging around common commercial objectives.

For MNCs, resilience now depends as much on financial flexibility as operational flexibility. The ability to mobilise liquidity, manage currency exposures and access funding efficiently has become an integral component of supply chain strategy.

For banks, the implication is equally significant. In Sachdev's view, the future of corporate banking will be determined less by the breadth of individual products than by the ability to integrate financing, treasury, transaction services, foreign exchange and advisory capabilities around increasingly complex multinational operating models. Institutions capable of delivering that integrated proposition may be better positioned to support clients as supply chains become more distributed while financial ecosystems become progressively more interconnected.