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  • OCBC Targets 200 Homegrown Cyber Risk and Security Staff

    OCBC Targets 200 Homegrown Cyber Risk and Security Staff

    OCBC is partnering with Temasek Polytechnic in an effort to train up to 200 employees to become cyber risk analysts and cybersecurity specialists in the next three years.

    The bank and higher education institution will launch a cyber certification program focused on four main areas: digital services and solutions, software development, risk and assurance, and security operations and monitoring. OCBC collaboration with lecturers of Temasek Poly’s School of Informatics and IT will also cover subject matters such as risk management, audit, and cybersecurity.

    At OCBC, we strongly believe that people will be the most important line of defense against potential threats, said Vincent Choo, OCBC’s head of group risk management. The bank takes great efforts to ensure that our people are aware of and trained to deal with existing and emerging risks.

    The certification is part of OCBC’s Future Smart program, a $20 million initiative to upgrade internal talent. In July 2019, OCBC also partnered with Ngee Ann Polytechnic to create a data certification program to train 200 data science and analysts over the next three years in order to double the number of such talents.

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  • OCBC Names Consumer Banking Sucessor

    OCBC Names Consumer Banking Sucessor

    OCBC names a successor to oversee the consumer financial services following the exit of Dennis Tan.

    Tan joined the bank 10 years ago as its head of branch and group premier banking before being appointed as head of consumer financial services in 2012. He will be succeeded by Sunny Quek, effective November 13, reporting to OCBC’s COO and Bank of Singapore chairman, Ching Wei Hong.

    After 10 years with OCBC, [Tan] has decided to pursue other interests, according to a spokesperson for the bank, who added that Quek would also join the bank’s group management committee.

    Quek was the branch banking director at Citibank Singapore before he joining OCBC in late 2012 as Singapore head of branch and premier banking. In the last six years, he has tasked with forming and executing OCBC’s sales and distribution strategy for the consumer banking branch network in Singapore.

  • SMFG, OCBC Join Bidding War for Bank Permata

    SMFG, OCBC Join Bidding War for Bank Permata

    Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and OCBC Group are believed to be readying their offers to compete for the acquisition of Indonesian lender PT Bank Permata.

    The two banks have separately conducted due diligence on Permata in the past several months, citing unnamed sources. This follows recent reports that OCBC was still making considerations on whether or not to submit a bid.

    The two banks earmarked as the frontrunners for the deal but DBS and other Southeast Asian lenders were also reportedly interested in Permata. At least two parties will be shortlisted for the final round, the report continued, with Bank Permata seeking a valuation exceeding 1.6 times book value.

    Currently, Standard Chartered and PT Astra International each own a 45 percent stake in Permata, a mid-sized lender with a 320-strong branch network in Indonesia.

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  • OCBC May Partner Keppel, Validus, For License

    OCBC May Partner Keppel, Validus, For License

    OCBC Bank is in talks with Keppel Corporation, peer-to-peer lender Validus Capital, and Vertex Ventures, to form a digital-bank consortium.

    OCBC is likely to take an equity stake in the consortium rather than open up its balance sheet. With a track record of being active in the small- and medium-enterprise (SME) lending space, this move could augment the bank’s share in this segment.

    If the Singapore lender opts to enter the digital banking scene, the bank will face direct competition from its own virtual entity. We have to accept that there will be cannibalization. But on the other hand, the mothership should also be in a position to go out and compete, said OCBC’s chief operating office

    In August, the lender has indicated that it is looking for partners ahead of the introduction of virtual bank licenses in Singapore.

    Among the three local banks, DBS and UOB have rolled out standalone digital banks in regional markets and have stepped up their efforts in digitalizing processes, said  CGS-CIMB analyst Andrea Choong in the report.  OCBC is a laggard in this respect, but we strongly believe it will be part of a consortium in the run for a license come end-2019.

  • OCBC 3Q Core Profit Up Slightly

    OCBC 3Q Core Profit Up Slightly

    Singapore’s second-largest lender reported core net profit of S$1.26 billion in the third quarter, slightly above the $1.25 billion reported a year earlier.

    However, OCBC Bank’s headline net profit slipped 6 percent to S$1.17 billion for its third quarter ended September 30, from S$1.25 billion a year ago due to a one-off charge at its Indonesian banking unit.

    The one-time charge of S$91 million arose as a result of refining the group’s expected credit loss modeling approach for Bank OCBC NISP. Excluding the one-time charge, the group’s core net profit of S$1.26 billion is slightly higher than $1.25 billion a year earlier.

    Loans rose year-on-year and fee income climbed to a record high led by wealth management as the private banking business managed to maintain net new money inflows, said OCBC chief executive Samuel Tsien in a statement.

    Net fees and commissions grew 10 percent to a new record of S$550 million from S$502 million a year ago, led by higher fees from wealth management, investment banking and remittance services.

    Net interest income for the quarter grew 6 percent to S$1.60 billion, stemming from a five basis point increase in net interest margin to 1.77 percent. Improved asset yields and a 2 percent increase in customer loans underpinned the improved net interest income.

    Non-interest income for the quarter increased 2 percent to S$1.06 billion from S$1.04 billion in the previous year. Total income for the quarter rose 4 percent to S$2.66 billion from S$2.54 billion a year ago.

    Not all sections of the bank’s results slip are glowing – net trading income was only S$182 million compared to S$213 million a year ago, as a decline in treasury income offset a rise in customer-related flow income.

    Global and regional economic growth continued to slow, and geo-political event risks have increased. We shall remain vigilant and will maintain prudent risk management practices while exercising disciplined cost management, Tsien said.

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  • OCBC Allows Instant Account Opening For Startups

    OCBC Allows Instant Account Opening For Startups

    Start-ups are now able to open an OCBC business banking account in Singapore immediately after incorporation, rather than having to wait one day. Once a business is incorporated, OCBC Bank can validate the start-up’s business profile issued by the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA). This is made possible due to an Application Programming Interface (API) between OCBC Bank and global information services provider, Experian (formerly known as DP Information).

    Banks play a key role in the start-up and SME ecosystem partly because the bank account is at the center of business operations. Given this role and our standing as banker to more than 1 in 2 SMEs in Singapore, we are in the best position to strengthen the connections among all players in this ecosystem, said Christie Chu, Head of Emerging Business and Commercial Banking Cash, OCBC Bank in a media statement on Monday.

    OCBC Bank launched a dedicated business supporting the start-up segment at the end of 2018. Since then, it has been engaging start-ups to understand the pain points when starting a business. With a track record of serving the start-up segment, the bank found that starting a business is a journey of discovery, and many stumble along the way.

    To that end, the team is putting together a start-up guide, with practical tips from successful entrepreneurs with first-hand experience. The guide will be accessible to all aspiring entrepreneurs on OCBC Bank’s website.

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  • OCBC Bank named World’s Best Consumer Bank byGlobal Finance

    OCBC Bank named World’s Best Consumer Bank byGlobal Finance

    OCBC Bank has been named the World’s Best Consumer Bank by international financial publication Global Finance. This comes on top of the ‘Best Bank in Asia-Pacific’ title that Global Finance awarded to OCBC Bank in April 2019. Mr Raymond Chee, General Manager of OCBC Bank’s New York Agency, was at the 20th World’s Best Bank Awards ceremony in Washington D.C. to receive the latest honour.

    Mr Ching Wei Hong, Chief Operating Officer of OCBC Bank, said: “We are honoured to be recognised as a global leader in consumer banking. This award is a testament to our unceasing obsession with customer-centricity. Competition is a constant in the consumer banking industry and consumers are constantly on the lookout for innovative products and services that blend seamlessly into the rest of our daily lives.

    “As we drive deeper customer engagements through our digital transformation, we will continue to maximise the value we offer to each customer by placing his or her needs, aspirations and ideals at the centre of our every product, service, process and policy.”

    Mr Joseph Giarraputo, President and Editorial Director, said: “Singapore consumers are benefiting from OCBC Bank’s early adoption of digital channels, with instant approvals for key banking products. By making use of the national data repository, MyInfo, as well as its own systems, OCBC is able to authenticate customers in real time and to pre-fill application forms with personal details. The bank has eliminated pain points for clients and is leading the way in frictionless banking. OCBC’s strong presence in Asian countries other than Singapore enables it to offer the same model in the rest of the continent.”

    Global Finance winners were selected based on performance over the past year and other criteria including reputation and management excellence. Global Finance made the selections after extensive consultations with corporate financial executives, analysts and bankers throughout the world.

    Most recently, OCBC Bank was the first in Singapore to enable customers to use their voice to perform banking transactions and access services, and the first in Singapore to enable cash withdrawals at ATMs using QR codes.

    OCBC Bank was the first bank in Southeast Asia to launch a robo-investment service that enabled customers to start investing and growing their wealth in a simple and self-directed way.

    OCBC Bank was the first bank in Singapore to allow customers to instantly open and use a new bank account, leveraging MyInfo and OCBC Bank’s digital KYC process; digital applications and instant approvals of OCBC’s most popular savings account, the OCBC 360 Account, have since grown three-fold. Also available is instant approval of online applications for products like personal loans and credit cards.

    OCBC Bank has earmarked $14M to roll out its new-age ATMs and digital service kiosks at 35 branches by 2020. This will enable customers to get their banking done without having to queue. Fifteen per cent of over-the-counter branch transactions have since been migrated from the teller counter to these machines.

    OCBC Bank was first bank in Singapore to offer a free online will writing service to help Singapore citizens and residents prepare their own wills within 10 minutes.

    The FRANK by OCBC banking programme created in 2011 remains the only programme in Singapore to provide millennials with banking products and solutions designed for them as they go from being students in tertiary education to entering the workforce as young professionals. FRANK by OCBC offers millennials deposit accounts, credit and debit cards, insurance, investment products and study loans.

    OCBC Bank has had the highest number of winners across the financial industry for four consecutive years at the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) Excellent Service Awards, and were also honoured with the Highest in Retail Banking Customer Satisfaction by J.D. Power’s 2018 Singapore Retail Banking Satisfaction Study. This year, the bank also won top honours for ‘Best ATM Innovation’ and ‘Best Self-Service Banking’ at The Digital Bankers Global Retail Banking Innovation Awards 2019.

     

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  • OCBC Joins Singtel’s Mobile Payment Alliance

    OCBC Joins Singtel’s Mobile Payment Alliance

    OCBC became the first Singapore bank to join Singtel’s VIA mobile payment alliance, boosting the mobile operator’s regional payment network. Thailand’s Kasikornbank has also joined the alliance earlier.

    By the first quarter of 2020, OCBC Bank customers will be able to go cashless when they travel to Thailand or Japan. They will be able to make QR code payments at more than 1.7 million merchant partners on VIA’s network using the OCBC Pay Anyone app, in Singapore dollars and at competitive and transparent exchange rates.

    This long-term partnership with Singtel is another key milestone in our journey to drive digital payment adoption among our customers and address their digital payment needs. Customers will have the ability to travel overseas and use OCBC Pay Anyone at over 1.7 million merchants’ acceptance points, reducing their need to carry cash, said Ching Wei Hong, OCBC Bank’s Chief Operating Officer in a media statement on Monday.

    The partnership would help the bank’s customers eliminate the hassle of changing and carrying foreign currencies, said Arthur Lang, CEO of Singtel’s International Group.

    OCBC customers stand to enjoy the ease and familiarity of using their local app for cashless purchases when they travel, in turn boosting the customer base of our VIA merchants. Our partnership with OCBC comes from a shared vision to offer a seamless payment experience that caters to the needs of consumers and drive the growth momentum for cross-border mobile payments in Asia, said Lang.

    Currently, the OCBC Pay Anyone app enables OCBC Bank customers to make QR code payments to merchants, and peer-to-peer e-payments leveraging QR codes, any recipient’s Singapore mobile number or PayNow, directly from the customer’s bank account.

    From November 2019, OCBC Bank customers in Singapore who are Singtel Dash users will also be able to top up their Dash accounts quickly and seamlessly with OCBC Pay Anyone integrated on the Dash app. We look forward to deepening our collaboration with OCBC as we build the financial services ecosystem together, added Lang.

    Moving forward, Singtel and OCBC will also explore linking their rewards and merchant programs. The VIA alliance, which was launched in October 2018, aims to unify the region’s fragmented payment scene by creating an interoperable network in the Asia Pacific, both companies said.

    Currently counting AIS GLOBAL Pay and NETSTARS among its alliance members, VIA is expanding to include Thailand’s Kasikorn Bank’s K PLUS, Axiata Digital’s Boost Malaysia and Indonesia’s LinkAja. This will see the alliance grow to reach some 50 million consumers and 2.1 million merchants across Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Japan.

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  • OCBC, JCB Collaborate to Broaden Card Acceptance

    OCBC, JCB Collaborate to Broaden Card Acceptance

    The leading payment card issuer from Japan has announced a partnership to extend its reach in Singapore, bringing added convenience to cardholders in the region.

    JCB International, the international operations subsidiary of JCB, has announced a partnership with Overseas-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC Bank) to broaden the acceptance of JCB payment cards in Singapore, the two firms announced in a statement on Wednesday.

    This partnership brings added convenience to JCB cardholders in Singapore, Japan and Northeast Asia, and the «fast-growing card issuing base in Southeast Asia, the statement said. It also allows OCBC merchants to develop their business through a wider choice of payment schemes to attract more customers.

    This new partnership with JCB is an indication of our continuing work to establish a higher level of card acceptance that goes beyond Visa and Mastercard,» Desmond Tan, head of Group Lifestyle Financing, said, adding that the partnership is «an opportunity for OCBC to extend our comprehensive credit card network to a new consumer base.»

    JCB has 120 million cardmembers worldwide.

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  • OCBC’s Voice-Based Virtual Assistant Logs 20,000 Requests

    OCBC’s Voice-Based Virtual Assistant Logs 20,000 Requests

    OCBC’s voice-based virtual assistant has successfully resolved over 20,000 requests since its launch in mid-August, the bank said, breaking down the request types received.

    According to OCBC, half of the requests were about spending categories and budgets with another 30 percent being on inquires about past banking transactions. Other popular voice-based requests include locating ATMs, paying bills and changing PINs.

    The «OCBC Banking Assistant» can be found in the bank’s mobile app and was developed over 13 months in partnership with U.S.-based fintech firm Clinc, engaged through the bank’s Open Vault fintech and innovation lab.

    The bank notes that the development of an effective voice-based solution required local considerations or, in its case, a consideration for Singaporean English. Unstructured phrases commonly used in Singapore such as How much I spend on dining?, Can show my spending pattern? or Can pay my bill?, were stumbling blocks that had to be ironed out.

    Ordering up and carrying out commonly-used banking services just by talking to their smartphones will make it much easier for our customers to manage, move and multiply their finances on their own terms,»said Aditya Gupta, head of digital business, Singapore and Malaysia, OCBC Bank.

    We are bullish on the conversational AI and natural language processing technology and will continue to invest in enabling more voice-activated interactions over time.

  • OCBC Head of China Joins CapitaLand

    OCBC Head of China Joins CapitaLand

    The real estate company has hired a China specialist to support the firm’s development in China.

    Singapore-based real estate company CapitaLand has hired former OCBC head of China, Kng Hwee Tin to the newly created role of CEO, finance and corporate services, China.

    She will start on October 1 and will be based in Shanghai. She reports to Andrew Lim, group chief financial officer and Lucas Loh, president, CapitaLand (China). In her role, she will oversee CapitaLand’s finance, treasury, corporate finance and tax, communications, general procurement, and legal functions in China.

    Kng’s career with OCBC began more than three decades ago. During this time, she has held a range of responsibilities in risk management, and was also the bank’s head of group audit. Most recently, she was the executive director and CEO of OCBC Bank (China), a role she has held since December 2012.

    According to its website, CapitaLand owns and manages a global portfolio of S$129.1 billion ($93.56 billion), which includes 1,067 properties in 206 cities, as of 30 June 2019.

    Last week, CapitaLand opened Raffles City Chongqing, the eighth Raffles City in China. The 1.2 million square foot mixed-use development received over 900,000 visitors on its opening weekend.

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  • OCBC Launches Mass-Market Travel Credit Card

    OCBC Launches Mass-Market Travel Credit Card

    The bank is hoping to capitalize on the rising trend of frequent traveling among the younger generation and the high share of rebates and reward card users who are also keen travelers.

    OCBC Bank has launched its first mass-market miles card, the OCBC 90°N Card, with which it hopes to achieve $1 billion in annual billings within three years, the bank said in a statement.

    The credit card, which is targeted at fresh graduates, young professionals, management, executives and technicians (PMETs), as well as emerging affluent individuals, has a low annual income requirement (S$30,000), a brand new rewards currency that does not expire, and smaller redemption blocks with no fees, the statement said. The card also allows instant cashback ranging from an average of 1.5–5 percent and reward points that can be used for dining and shopping privileges.

    The bank said it hopes to attract 150,000 sign-ups, and is offering a launch bonus of up to 8 miles per dollar with no cap and minimum spend, as well as 7,000 miles to draw new customers.

    In the past five years, overseas credit card expenditure among OCBC cardmembers has «more than doubled,» Desmond Tan, OCBC’s head of group lifestyle financing, said.

    In addition, the bank has a total card base of 2.5 million customers, and its total card billings have registered a compound annual growth rate of 10 percent over the past three years.

     

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  • Greater China Earnings Contribution Triples Says OCBC

    Greater China Earnings Contribution Triples Says OCBC

    Since OCBC’s acquisition of Hong Kong lender Wing Hang Bank in 2014, it has managed to realize synergies and significantly grow its Greater China business with the region’s earnings share tripling from six percent to nearly one-fifth.

    Earnings contributions from Greater China grew from 208 million Singapore dollars ($150 million) in 2013-end (representing six percent of OCBC Group’s total earnings) to $748 million in 2018-end, now making up 19 percent of total earnings, according to figures released by the group last week.

    Headline growth figures in this period include a more than tripling of operating profits, income and wealth management assets under management. Its total client base in the region across all banking segments grew a colossal 19 times from 28,000 to more than half a million.

    OCBC credits a large part of its growth to the Wing Hang acquisition it made in 2014 for reported 38.4 billion Hong Kong dollars ($4.9 billion), which was since newly named OCBC Wing Hang.

    OCBC Wing Hang’s profits grew from $257 million in 2014-end to $419 million in 2018-end, representing a 1.6-fold increase in the four full fiscal years since the acquisition. Whilst this lags behind the group’s overall Greater China growth, the bank notes that there are other synergies realized that are not necessarily reflected in the subsidiary alone.

    According to the bank, it has managed to capitalize on economic growth in Greater China and the increased connectivity between North and Southeast Asia. Its access to a broader funding base led to an expansion of its product capabilities (OCBC Group’s loan assets grew 2.4 times from 2013-end to 2018-end).

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  • OCBC Rolls Out Contactless Cash Withdrawals Islandwide

    OCBC Rolls Out Contactless Cash Withdrawals Islandwide

    OCBC Bank customers only need to scan a QR code on the OCBC Pay Anyone app to make withdrawals.

    OCBC customers can now make withdrawals without a bank card by generating a QR code from its mobile banking app, which can be scanned at any of its 655 Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) islandwide, the bank announced in a statement.

    Apart from reducing the time required to make withdrawals, doing away with ATM cards and personal identification numbers raises security levels as biometric verification can be selected – customers have the option of authenticating the transaction via fingerprint, faceprint or mobile banking login credentials.

    We believe this completely reimagines a core service for which customers engage with the banks and will move the needle in making QR code payments mainstream in Singapore, Aditya Gupta, the bank’s head of Digital Business, Singapore and Malaysia, said

    According to OCBC, mobile banking usage has tripled, while the number of its customers who used mobile banking at least once in the last three months has grown by 25 percent since 2018.

    OCBC has 3 million cash withdrawals at its ATMs monthly, a figure unchanged in the past year.

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  • OCBC Q2 Profit Growth Purely From Consumer And Private Banking

    OCBC Q2 Profit Growth Purely From Consumer And Private Banking

    Strong performance from OCBC’s consumer and private banking segment helped bump up quarterly profits by 1 percent and offset all of the group’s other segments which posted negative year-on-year profit growth.

    The Singaporean financial group posted second-quarter profits of 1.22 billion Singapore dollars ($890 million), up 1 percent from last year’s ($880 million) and first-half profits of $1.78 billion, up 6 percent year-on-year.

    While economic growth in our key markets is slowing, our healthy capital, funding, and liquidity position will allow us to comfortably navigate the challenging operating environment and pursue our long-term growth strategy, said OCBC CEO Samuel Tsien. This also gives us the flexibility to capitalize on market expansion opportunities as they arise.

    OCBC registered year-on-year operating profit drops across all business segments but closed the quarter higher due to a 20 percent surge in its consumer and private banking segment. The segment posted profits of $273 million due to higher net interest income and lower allowances. Its private wealth arm, Bank of Singapore also reached a new high in assets under management with $111 billion.

    Despite a 33 percent drop in profits from its insurance segment, attributed to weaker performance from its subsidiary Greater Eastern Holdings, non-interest income still rose 1 percent driven by various business lines including wealth management fees which posted a five-quarter high and 8 percent increase. Net interest income climbed 10 percent year-on-year to reach $1.16 billion, attributed to increased customer loans and higher net interest margins (12 basis points).

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