When FinanceAsia editorial board member, Sunil Veetil, took on his Singapore-based leadership role as head of Commercial Banking Sustainability for Apac at HSBC back in summer 2022, Asia was in the throes of pandemic uncertainty. Market to market, the approach of each governing authority proved to be heavily nuanced Singapore had not long lifted restrictions to social gatherings and would soon abandon the mask mandate while Hong Kong’s decision makers would deliberate for a further seven months before considering any such easing.
Yet, with hindsight being 2020 some may recoil at reference to the fateful numerical sequence, there was a sense of steadiness albeit slow in the...