The UK government and Singaporean bank the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) have announced a partnership to facilitate £10 billion in investment into the UK.
UK minister for investment Baroness Poppy Gustafsson signed the memorandum of understanding yesterday with OCBC head of global corporate banking Elaine Lam, which will see the bank invest the money into what the Ministry for Investment called “priority growth sectors” until 2030. These include energy, infrastructure and real estate.
“This £10 billion commitment from OCBC is a major vote of confidence in the UK economy,” said Gustafsson. “Not only will it help create more opportunities in real estate and infrastructure, but will also back our clean energy industry, a key growth sector identified in our upcoming industrial strategy.”
The UK’s new industrial strategy is headlined by the Invest 2035 programme, a project launched last year to encourage investment into high-growth areas of the UK economy, including energy. A total of £24 billion was announced in investments into the clean energy sector, with over £10 billion in offshore wind alone, and while OCBC has not specified how much of its investment will go towards energy in particular, the two projects represent significant support for the UK energy transition.
The OCBC deal follows a number of investments made into the UK renewable energy sector, from both private and government backers. Just this year, Vishay Intertechnology and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) have made investments into Welsh energy manufacturing and project development, while Ofgem has fast-tracked a £4 billion investment to improve the UK grid.
The deal also follows the UK’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which ratified by a number of members, including Singapore, in 2023, demonstrating growing interest in UK-Asia investment. The UK government estimates that the UK-Asia-Pacific trading relationship is worth more than £126 billion.
“We are also committed to supporting UK companies that are keen to establish or expand operations in Singapore and Southeast Asia” said Lam. “We look forward to building on our strong track record in the UK to deliver on these goals.”
