Xero in major bank deals

Xero has extended its global footprint into Asia with agreements with two major banks that chief executive Rod Drury says will make it much easier for Australasian businesses to export into the region.

The Wellington-based cloud accounting software developer this week signed deals with Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corp and the Development Bank of Singapore to bring the Asian lenders into Xero's expanding "financial web".

The HSBC deal will let Hong Kong and Singapore HSBC customers connect their bank accounts with Xero's platform, while the DBS partnership aims to align the firm's platforms to ultimately enable small and medium-sized businesses to make payments and apply for loans.

The Asian deals come hot on the heels of Xero's information-sharing arrangement with Californian lender Silicon Valley Bank, and is part of the NZ firm's goal to become embedded in a broader financial web that links small-to medium-sized firms with financial institutions, easing their access to capital, which is a major constraint.

Drury says the new Asian bank agreements give Xero a lead on its competitors. "It's the emergence of global platforms, not just software, but networks of companies using it," Drury said from Singapore. "Since the TPPA [stalled], we've got a lot of people thinking about how they really need to get into Asia."