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Interview to invest is probably the one thing that has stood out so far this year . If you think about some of the policies that were announced during the autumn statement , for example , permanent full expensing , these have given businesses increased confidence to take long-term decisions . Inflationary pressures have abated somewhat , Red Sea disruptions notwithstanding . Supply chain pressures have also eased , which is enabling businesses to reduce levels of safety stocks built up over the last two-to-three years , freeing up cash for investment . Looking at the results from industry surveys , we ’ re also seeing business confidence beginning to recover .
“ That confidence is key in business and very important in the manufacturing sector because those investment decisions are long-term , typically five-to-seven-year investment cycles , and businesses hold back when they don ’ t feel confident . The fact that this is starting to change is really encouraging , not least because the sector is a significant contributor to GDP but is also crucial when it comes to a country ’ s trade balance . HSBC is a global trade finance house . A thriving manufacturing sector plays to our strengths and so we ’ re encouraged to see some of those green shoots emerging . Whilst there are still challenges out there , especially in terms of ongoing skills shortages , companies are starting to find creative ways to address these .
“ Providing access to finance is clearly the one obvious way that HSBC UK supports its clients . Alongside this , we offer advice and thought leadership to our clients about trends across different sub-sectors , discussing ideas , such as the ways in which scalable Industry
4.0 technology solutions can be deployed right through their entire operations and value chain to increase productivity , cost efficiency and ease pressure points . We focus on understanding barriers to investment and technology adoption for each business and exploring how we may be able to help clients overcome some of those barriers , whether ourselves , or in partnerships with third parties .
A big part of our job is thinking ahead about ways in which events and emerging trends may impact our clients and how we adapt our support for them to keep commerce flowing
“ A big part of our job is thinking ahead about ways in which events and emerging trends may impact our clients and how we adapt our support for them to keep commerce flowing . For example , leveraging our global trade expertise to supporting clients during the post pandemic supply chain disruption . We proactively reached out to clients to tailor our facilities to help them manage the impact of elongated working capital cycles because of longer lead times and late payments ,” he explains . Rohit goes on to share insights into the transformation of the global supply chains that is underway . “ We have seen that businesses are much more focused on getting a balance between cost efficiency and increased resilience in their supply chains ,” he elaborates . “ Clients are looking at ways in which they can de-risk , diversify and shorten their supply chains through efforts such as near-shoring or bringing back activities in-house where it makes sense . Regardless of how these supply chain trends shift , as a bank that covers c . 90 percent of the global trade and capital flows , we ’ re well positioned to support our clients in achieving their objectives .
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