Standard Chartered is in advanced talks over a Chinese joint venture in aviation financing that will aim to help the country’s airlines pay for the $1tn-worth of new aircraft they are set to buy in the next two decades.
The Asia-focused bank will partner with either a state or a provincial entity to break into China’s aircraft lending market, said a person with knowledge of the plans.
Standard Chartered’s Dublin-based aviation finance unit is a sizeable player in the global industry, with more than 100 aircraft on lease to 25 of the world’s leading airlines. But the Chinese market has proved difficult for foreign banks to crack, especially because the country’s own banks have plenty of money to lend to their airlines.