SINGAPORE (October 24): OCBC Bank has been named Global Finance’s World Best Consumer Bank.
The longest-established Singapore bank, formed in 1932 from the merger of three local banks, is now the second largest financial services group in Southeast Asia in terms of assets.
DBS was also named the best bank for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) - a category that was introduced for the first time this year.
In a statement, 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,” he added.
He also said that customer satisfaction can only be derived from being customer-centric, and that means placing customers at the centre of OCBC’s culture, products and value proposition.
See also: Sembcorp issues $350 mil of guaranteed notes due 2036 at 3.65%
“From design to implementation of our products, policies, processes and services, we must think of our customers first. We pursue innovation not for the sake of becoming first, but to bring value to our customers, embedding services and products into things customers regularly do, rather than starting a banking journey only from a bank’s platform,” he added.
OCBC Bank was formed from the merger of three banks – the Chinese Commercial Bank Limited (incorporated in 1912), the Ho Hong Bank Limited (incorporated in 1917), and the Oversea-Chinese Bank Limited (incorporated in 1919).
Over the years, it also acquired and integrated with Keppel Capital Holdings Ltd and all its subsidiaries, including Keppel TatLee Bank Limited, Keppel Securities Private Limited, and Keppel TatLee Finance Limited. OCBC also holds an 87.1% stake in Great Eastern Holdings.
In 2010, OCBC acquired ING Asia Private Bank as a wholly-owned subsidiary of OCBC Bank and renamed it Bank of Singapore Limited. In 2014, it made the largest acquisition in its history by acquiring the formerly Hong Kong-listed Wing Hang Bank for $6.2 billion, rebranding it in Hong Kong and Macao as OCBC Wing Hang. This was followed by a merger of its subsidiaries in China, OCBC China and Wing Hang China to become OCBC Wing Hang China in 2016.
For DBS, Global Finance highlighted how it “treats the smallest businesses like corporate giants, knowing that someday they may well be just that”.
“Leveraging its digital-banking know-how for SMEs, DBS has created a fast-growing business of its own,” it added.
