Rising intra-regional trade and the growing interest among Singapore's businesses to expand into Iskandar Malaysia have prompted Singapore-based banking group UOB to set up five foreign direct investment (FDI) advisory units in five countries. United Overseas Bank Ltd managing director and group head of commercial banking Eric Tham said that other than Malaysia, these advisory units would be set up in Thailand, Indonesia, China and India. “Malaysia currently accounts for 10% of total FDI inflows from South-East Asia from the manufacturing, services and mining sectors,” he said. This was validated by a survey conducted by SMU. In that same survey, Malaysia was ranked the top investment destination by companies in Asean. “As our largest trading partner, Malaysia remains an attractive expansion destination because of its pro-business environment, proximity and similar culture and language,” he added.