Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation

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Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited
Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited logo
Type of Company Public
Founded 1932
Headquarters Singapore
Key people Cheong Choong Kong, Chairman
Michael Wong Pakshong, Vice Chairman
David Philbrick Conner, CEO
Products Financial Services
Employees 7,424
Slogan Singapore's longest established local bank
Website www.ocbc.com.sg

Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited SGX: O04 (Simplified Chinese: 华侨银行有限公司), abbreviated as OCBC Bank (华侨银行), is a publicly listed financial services organisation with head office in Singapore. OCBC serves many business and retail customers in the East Asian market with a wide array of financial products and services.

The OCBC Centre, located on the southern bank of the Singapore River.
Enlarge
The OCBC Centre, located on the southern bank of the Singapore River.

Contents

[edit] History

OCBC Bank was a product of the Great Depression with the merger of three banks in 1932: Chinese Commercial Bank Limited (established 1912), the Ho Hong Bank Limited (established 1917) and the Oversea-Chinese Bank Limited (established 1919). As the establishment of the bank was during the economic crisis, the founders of the bank understood the peoples' hardships encountered, and helped customers with financial solutions for their personal and business needs.

Under the management of Dato Lee Kong Chian (1938-1964), Tan Sri Tan Chin Tuan (1966-1983) and Mr Lee Choon Seng (acting Chairman during the Occupation), OCBC prospered to become one of the largest banks in Singapore and Malaysia. OCBC Bank was also the only foreign bank to have branches in China in the 1950s. OCBC's long history in China dates back to 1925 when they opened a branch in Xiamen, the first Singapore bank to do so.

OCBC have a proud history of innovation, which is regularly refreshed by the introduction of "firsts" into the market. Even as far back as 1948, OCBC Bank changed the face of banking by introducing the night safe system which allowed customers to deposit cash and valuables after business hours. In 1958, the mobile bank was established, targeting customers living in suburban areas. They were also one of the pioneers in the Asian dollar market in the 1960s.

By 1970, the bank's total resources exceeded 1 billion SGD, making OCBS, then, the largest financial institution with the biggest deposit base in Singapore.

Today, OCBC Bank has total assets of more than 134 billion SGD and operations in 15 countries and territories. The spirit of innovation in OCBS is influenced by a determined focus on introducing new products and services that meet customers' changing needs.

[edit] Core Business Activities

[edit] OCBC Bank

OCBC Bank is one of Singapore's most established local banks which has a history dating back to 1912. Today, OCBC is one of the biggest banking institutions in the combined Singapore-Malaysia market in terms of its assets, and is also one of Asia's leading financial services groups. With group assets of more than 130 billion SGD, OCBC has one of the highest bank credit ratings in the region. As of 2006, OCBC Bank is the third largest local bank in Singapore.

OCBC Bank provies a full range of specialist financial services solutions. This is delivered via a global network of 292 branches and representative offices extending 15 countries and territories, including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Australia, UK and USA. This network includes 185 branches and offices in Indonesia operated by its subsidiary, PT Bank NISP.

With a huge presence in both the consumer and business banking segments in Singapore and Malaysia, OCBC is the number one player in bancassurance and home loans in Singapore, and ranks among the top players in unit trust distribution, personal credit, small and medium-sized enterprises market and the Singapore Dollar capital market. It has an insurance subsidiary, Great Eastern Holdings, which is the largest insurance group in Singapore and Malaysia in terms of assets and market share. The asset management subsidiary, Lion Capital Management Ltd, is one of the largest asset management companies in Southeast Asia.

[edit] OCBC Securities

OCBC Securities Private Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of OCBC Bank, and is a member of the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (SGX-ST) and the Singapore Exchange Derivatives Trading Limited (SGX-DT).

As a leading stock and futures broking firms in Singapore, OCBC Securities services a large group of individual and institutional investors, including foreign banks, financial institutions, public-listed corporations, investment advisors, professional traders, as well as high net-worth and retail clients.

[edit] Great Eastern

Great Eastern has provided policyholders in Singapore and Malaysia with financial security and peace of mind for over 90 years. Great Eastern has seen many changes in the financial services industry, and has grown to become the largest asset-based life insurance company in Singapore and Malaysia. It has 32.4 billion SGD in assets and more than 2 million policyholders. It also has a market leading position reinforced by two successful distribution channels, namely the tied agency force and bancassurance.

[edit] Bank of Singapore Limited (BOS)

Bank of Singapore Limited (BOS) was formed in 1954 and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited (OCBC Bank). Transformed in 2000 into Singapore's first pure Internet bank with a purpose to aggressively pursue innovative e-Commerce initiatives in the buyer-advocate space. BOS attempts to be nimble and vibrant to forge ahead of market demands. It plays a strategic role within the OCBC Group as an innovative corporate team to make the Group a competitive force in global financial services.

Built on a buyer-advocate business model, BOS provides individual and business customers by understanding their needs and helping them fulfill these needs. This is done by providing innovative, value-added products and services coupled with good pricing and true online fulfilment, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. finatiQ, a key division of BOS, serves the needs of individual customers.

[edit] Lion Capital

In September 2005, two major players in Singapore's asset management industry, OCBC Asset Management Limited ("OAM") and Straits Lion Asset Management Limited ("Straits Lion") merged to create one of the largest asset management companies in Singapore. Known as Lion Capital Management Limited ("Lion Capital"), Lion Capital combines the asset management businesses of OAM and Straits Lion.

Lion Capital is a wholly owned subsidiary of Straits Lion, which is 70% owned by Great Eastern Holdings Limited and 30% owned by Orient Holdings Private Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of OCBC Bank.

[edit] Bank NISP

Founded in 1941 in Bandung, West Java, Bank NISP is the fourth oldest bank in Indonesia. With total assets of Rp 19.6 trillion (3.3 billion SGD) as of September 2005, Bank NISP is the 12th largest bank in Indonesia by assets. Supported by a distribution network of more than 185 branches and offices and also more than 15,000 shared ATMs nationwide, Bank NISP has a strong franchise serving small and medium enterprises as well as the consumer market in Indonesia. Bank NISP whose 72.29% shares are owned by OCBC Bank’s subsidiary OCBC Overseas Investments Pte Ltd.

[edit] Acquisition of Keppel Tat Lee Bank

In June 2001, OCBC merged with Keppel Tat Lee Bank. As a result, HSBC bought out Keppel Insurance for 154 million SGD and the takeover was completed in the first quarter of 2003, being renamed HSBC Insurance (Singapore) Pte Limited in the process. With the merger of OCBC Bank and Keppel TatLee Bank, keppelbank.com.sg and keppelcard.com have been integrated with ocbc.com.

[edit] Events of 2005

  • Shareholders of Indonesia's NISP bank have approved the sale of a 28.5 percent of stake to the Overseas-Chinese Banking Corporation Ltd. (OCBC), making the Singapore-based company the majority shareholder. Initially OCBCBank owned 22.5% of NISP Bank which was valued at $73.1 million. After the buy over, they controlled 51% OCBCBank, through its subsidiary OCBC Overseas Investment Pte. Ltd. (OOI) -- will spend about Rp 992.62 billion (US$107.89 million) for the acquisition of over 1.1 trillion shares at about Rp 842.5 each. It plans to buy another 44% of the Indonesian Bank leaving 5% for the Surjaudaja family

[edit] External link