Straight Times: Creating history together

Wed 18 March 2020

The fifth edition of the Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) Singapore Open is just a week away, and will be played from Jan 16 to 19. The tournament title sponsor is SMBC; one of Japan’s largest banks.

When it comes to sport and banks, long histories are preferred, with plenty of tales of success and challenges overcome. This is why SMBC and the Singapore Open is such a good partnership. SMBC has over 100 years of proud history while the Singapore Open is one of Asia’s oldest professional golf tournaments dating back to 1961. The sport of golf is believed to have originated in 15th century Scotland with the first major tournament, The Open Championship, played in 1860.

SMBC has a long history of helping businesses grow both in Japan and around the world. So, it is fitting to see how the Singapore Open has grown into one of the most prestigious golf tournaments in Asia since SMBC started its title sponsorship in 2016.

Last year, Sentosa Golf Club, where the SMBC Singapore Open will be held, was crowned Best Golf Club in the World at the prestigious World Golf Awards. The stunning Serapong Course, previously awarded Best Golf Course in Singapore by Golf Digest and Number One Championship Golf course in Asia by Asian Golf Monthly, is the perfect venue to hold a major event like the SMBC Singapore Open.

The prominent event is drawing the world’s top players, including the Rio Olympics gold, silver and bronze medallists Justin Rose, Henrik Stenson and Matt Kuchar respectively. They will be competing for a share of the honours and cheered on by an estimated 30,000 fans on the course. The tournament will also be broadcast around the world and watched by millions, which is a boon for Singapore’s brand recall and tourism.

Just as the SMBC Singapore Open has grown in size and reputation in recent years, so has SMBC. Since 2016, SMBC has opened an office in the Thilawa Special Economic Zone in Myanmar, established a branch in Mumbai in India, and created the new Bank BTPN through the merger of SMBC Indonesia and PT Bank Tabungan Pensiunan Nasional Tbk. These are all in keeping with the bank’s focus on business in Asia.

SMBC first opened its doors in Singapore back in 1963, long before either the bank or city state were the financial power houses they are today. Based on assets, SMBC is now one of the largest banks in Japan, while Singapore has grown into the regional business hub of South-east Asia.

The bank is committed to help businesses grow across the region and it has set its sights on Singapore as the ideal location for its regional headquarters.

Currently, Singapore is second only to New Zealand when it comes to ease of doing business, as ranked by the World Bank. However, the country came in first for having the most competitive economy last year, according to the IMD Competitiveness Ranking. The latter accolade knocked the United States off the top spot, which can only be good for SMBC and its mission to develop local and regional business.

With their storied past and potential to succeed, SMBC and the Singapore Open make up the ideal partnership that is set to achieve more in the future.

Head to the SMBC Singapore Open and experience a day of world-class golf at Sentosa.

Find out more about the SMBC Singapore Open here.