As investors fret over banks' exposure to emerging markets, Mr Whitford also signalled Westpac had not experienced any major deterioration in credit quality among its Chinese institutional clients.
China has risen to be one of Australia's biggest sources of overseas capital in recent years, with the federal government approving $27.7 billion in Chinese investments in 2013-14.
However as its economy slows, some fear this trend could go into reverse, affecting industries such as commercial property in particular. Last week, ANZ reported that its bad debts in Asia were increasing.
But in an interview during a visit to Australia, Mr Whitford said Chinese outbound investment was accelerating, as companies looked for overseas revenue growth, and Chinese appetite for assets here was still strong.
Official outbound investment from China jumped 15 per cent last year as its government encouraged big firms to look abroad, he said.
Mr Whitford argued the fall in China's currency, the renminbi (RMB), made overseas investment more attractive because it meant offshore earnings were more valuable in RMB.
"With the onshore slowdown in China, some of these large Chinese corporates are cashed up, they're looking at growth opportunities, they're looking at how they can diversify their revenue streams," Mr Whitford said.
"With the devaluation of the renminbi, getting offshore earnings is another attractive objective for them."
Agricultural and health services assets were likely to be especially attractive to Chinese buyers, he said, and interest in Australian commercial property assets also remained strong.
"As the Chinese economy is transitioning to a consumption-based services-based economy, China needs more and more high-quality food, it needs more services, and it needs more health and healthcare products. And they are all things that Australia is good at," he said.
The free trade agreement with China, which came into force in December, also raised the threshold at which private investment from China must be scrutinised by the Foreign Investment Review Board.
His view contrasts with that of Citi's chief economist, Willem Buiter, who last week said a financial crisis in China may prompt Chinese firms to sell their assets overseas.
The strength of Chinese investment is important to banks because all of the major Australian lenders are trying to cash in on Asia's growth by financing the trade and investment flows across the region.
Westpac, which has had a Chinese banking licence since 2008, has an Asia strategy is focused on these flows as they relate to Australia.
It is also targeting foreign exchange, where it has invested heavily in direct conversion between renminbi and the Australian dollar. In the market for direct conversion between Aussie and Chinese currency, Mr Whitford said the bank had experienced "phenomenal" growth since the shock devaluation of the renminbi last August.
Reflecting this shift, industry figures show the there was a 85 per cent jump in transactions sending renminbi from Australia to China in 2015.
China's slowdown has been blamed as one reason for the recent slump in global bank shares, as investors fear banks may hold loans linked to the economy.
But Mr Whitford said Westpac Chinese clients were top-tier institutional borrowers, and it did not service smaller businesses where there has been a slide in credit quality.
He said the value of its trade finance loans was falling because of lower commodity prices, and institutional lending margins were contracting, as has occurred around the world.
"But in terms of the lending book, whilst there's been a slowdown and we're probably not lending as much onshore in China, we're starting to see more and more growth opportunities coming through on those investment flows that are coming back this way," he said.
Sydney Morning Herald
Please
contact us in case of Copyright Infringement of the photo sourced from the internet, we will remove it within 24 hours.
京公网安备 11010502030596号
