On Friday, OCBC announced that Tan Teck Long, the current head of the wholesale banks, will take over on January 1, 2026 as CEO and replaced Helen Wong. “After a strict global search, the board unanimously agreed that Teck Long was the best candidate to take over the helm,” said OCBC chairman Andrew Lee in one opinion. “There will be no disturbance in the strategic instruction of OCBC to become an integrated power package for financial services,” he added.
OCBC, No. 13 on Assets’S Southeast Asia 500Would like to use financial rivers between Southeast Asia and China that are expected to grow when the second largest economy in the world is looking for new trading partners. While all three large banks in Singapore – DBS, OCBC and UOB – have a presence in China, OCBC may concentrate the most on the current CEO Wong to tie its companies together in China and Asean.
Chinese companies invest strongly in Southeast Asia, both as a possibility to diversify their supply chains as well as to find new markets for their goods and services. China and Asean are now the largest trading partners of the other.
The future OCBC CEO has a wealth of experience in China, including a five -year stay that runs DBS’s institutional banking business in China. At the moment he is also the board director for two OCBC-connected financial institutions on the Chinese mainland, the Bank of Ningbo and the Maxwealth Fund Management Company.
OCBC’s shares rose by 0.7%on Monday, the first trading day since Tan Bank to CEO.
Who is Tan Teck for a long time?
Tan came to OCBC in 2022, just a year after his future former boss had taken on the role of the CEO. He is currently heading his global wholesale banking business, which contributed to the largest proportion of OCBC income in 42%last year.
After almost three decades, he jumped at the Rival Bank DBS, where he most recently worked as a Chief Risk Officer.
The global wholesale control turnover of OCBC rose by 35%as part of Tan. OCBC also reported an increase in new customers a year compared to the previous year that Chinese companies were who wanted to enter the Asean market, according to his last annual report.
Helen Wong’s legacy
Helen Wong was the first woman to head one of the most important banks in Singapore for her appointment as CEO in 2021. After her term, OCBC reported record profits for three years, with strong growth in his banking business, asset management and insurance transactions.
Wong worked in 1981 as a management trainee for OCBC. Then she moved to HSBC and finally climbed to Greater China Ceo of the British Bank in 2015.
During her tenure, she also tried to take great Eastern stocks privately. OCBC currently has a share of 94% in the company, but the remaining shareholders of the Great Eastern rejected A take-privacy plan last week.
Wong “Shecbc’s competitive advantage as an integrated financial service group by setting up a well -defined corporate strategy,” said OCBC Chairman Lee in his explanation.
The OCBC shares have risen over 40% since Wong was appointed CEO, with a large part of the improvement taking place last year. However, the OCBC shares delayed the rival DBS, whose shares rose over 70% in the same period.
Wong has gave family reasons for their retirement, but will continue to act as chairman of OCBC China and CEO of OCBC Hong Kong.
