OCBC Bank

Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited provides financial services in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Greater China, the rest of the Asia Pacific, and internationally. The company's Global Consumer/Private Banking segment provides products and services to individual customers, including checking accounts, and savings and fixed deposits; housing and other personal loans; credit cards; wealth management products consisting of unit trusts, banc assurance products, and structured deposits; and brokerage services. This segment also offers investment advice and portfolio management, estate and trust planning, and wealth structuring services for high-net-worth individuals. 

Its Global Wholesale Banking segment provides project financing, short-term credit, working capital, and trade financing; customized and structured equity-linked financing products; cash management and custodian services; capital market solutions; corporate finance and advisory banking services; and treasury products. This segment serves corporates, the public sector, and small and medium enterprises. 

The company's Global Treasury and Markets segment is involved in foreign exchange activities, money market operations, and fixed income and derivatives trading, as well as the provision of structured treasury products and financial solutions. Its Insurance segment provides fund management services, and life and general insurance products. The company's Others segment is involved in property and investment holding activities. 

The company operates approximately 430 branches and representative offices in 19 countries and regions. Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited was founded in 1912 and is headquartered in Singapore.

On 31 October 1932, three banks – Chinese Commercial Bank, Ho Hong Bank, and Oversea-Chinese Bank, merged to form the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation under the leadership of Hoklos Tan Ean Kiam and Lee Kong Chian. 

In the subsequent decades, the bank expanded its operations and became the largest bank in South East Asia. In 1942 during World War II, all the local banks in Singapore closed briefly during the early days of the Japanese Occupation. By April 1942 most banks, including OCBC, had resumed normal operations. In Indonesia, the Japanese occupation authorities closed OCBC's branches in Sumatra. During the war, the bank moved its head office to Bombay, India and only re-registered back in Singapore after the war ended. 

OCBC's branch in Xiamen survived the war and in the 1950s, OCBC was one of only four foreign banks to have branches in China. After the war, OCBC re-established its branches in Jambi, Jakarta, and Surabaya. However, the 1963 conflict between Indonesia and Malaysia resulted in the closure of OCBC's branches there. That same year the revolutionary government in Burma nationalized OCBC's two branches there, which became People's Bank No. 14. 

The bank was criticized for not expanding fast enough to meet the needs of the post-war Chinese business community, especially in the smaller towns of Malaya. One of the critics was Tan Sri Khoo Teck Puat, who subsequently resigned to set up Malayan Banking. By 1970, OCBC's total assets exceeded 1 billion SGD, making OCBC the largest financial institution with the biggest deposit base in Singapore.

In 1972, OCBC acquired Four Seas Communications Bank, the oldest surviving Chinese bank in Singapore. The bank had been founded in 1906 as the Sze Hai Tong Bank and its founders had targeted the Teochew community. 

On 9 May 1989, OCBC took on a new corporate identity by changing its logo and its name to OCBC Bank. The bank had branches in Hong Kong and in Bangkok, where it had become the first Chinese bank there when it opened its branch in 1909. The next major acquisition occurred in 2001 when OCBC Bank acquired Keppel Capital Holdings and all its subsidiaries, including Keppel TatLee Bank, Keppel Securities, and Keppel TatLee Finance. The next year OCBC operationally and legally integrated Keppel TatLee Bank. In 2003 OCBC merged OCBC Finance into OCBC Bank. The official opening of e2 Power's Cyberjaya Office occurred in 2004. The same year saw the unofficial opening of OCBC Bank's new corporate HQ in Kuala Lumpur and announced the merger of asset management operations of OAM with Straits Lion Asset Management. OCBC opened an off-shore branch in Brunei. In 2008, acquired 67% shareholding in PacificMas Berhad.

In March 2020, OCBC announced its partnership with Xero, a New Zealand-based cloud accounting software, to help clients digitize their operations. In July 2020, OCBC launched HealthPass, a healthcare mobile application that aims to connect patients with medical doctors in Singapore via online consultation.

“We help individuals and businesses across communities achieve their aspirations by providing innovative financial services that meet their needs.”

“To secure individual interests and provide them a safe platform for their money.”