Chinese companies are investing heavily in Southeast Asia, both as a way to diversify their supply chains and find new markets for their goods and services. China and ASEAN are now each other’s largest trading partners.
OCBC’s CEO-to-be comes with a wealth of China experience, including a five-year stint leading DBS’s institutional banking business in China. He also currently serves as a board director at two OCBC-affiliated financial institutions in mainland China, the Bank of Ningbo and Maxwealth Fund Management Company.
OCBC’s shares rose by 0.7% on Monday, the first trading day since the bank announced Tan’s appointment as CEO.
Tan joined OCBC in 2022, just a year after his soon-to-be former boss took over the CEO role. He currently leads its global wholesale banking business, which contributed the largest share of OCBC’s income last year, at 42%.
He jumped ship after nearly three decades at rival bank DBS, where he most recently served as its chief risk officer.
OCBC’s global wholesale banking revenue grew by 35% under Tan’s tenure. OCBC also reported a nearly 30% year-on-year rise in new customers that were Chinese companies hoping to enter the ASEAN market, according to its latest annual report.
Helen Wong became the first woman to lead one of Singapore’s major banks upon her appointment as CEO in 2021. Under her tenure, OCBC reported record profits for three consecutive years, with strong growth across its banking, wealth management, and insurance businesses.
Wong first worked for OCBC as a management trainee in 1981. She then moved to HSBC, eventually rising to become the UK bank’s Greater China CEO in 2015. She returned to OCBC to serve as its head of global wholesale banking, the role her successor now holds.
Wong “sharpened OCBC’s competitive edge as an integrated financial services group by ushering in a well-defined corporate strategy,” OCBC chair Lee said in his statement.
OCBC’s shares have risen over 40% since Wong’s appointment as CEO, with much of the improvement happening in the past year. Yet OCBC’s shares have lagged rival DBS, whose shares rose over 70% over the same period.
Wong has cited family reasons for her retirement, but will continue to serve as chair of OCBC China and a board director of OCBC Hong Kong.
