{"id":1687305,"date":"2022-10-12T23:06:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-13T03:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1687305"},"modified":"2022-10-12T23:06:20","modified_gmt":"2022-10-13T03:06:20","slug":"singapores-ocbc-scouting-for-indonesian-acquisitions-ceo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/singapores-ocbc-scouting-for-indonesian-acquisitions-ceo\/","title":{"rendered":"Singapore\u2019s OCBC scouting for Indonesian acquisitions \u2013 CEO"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsingapores-ocbc-scouting-for-indonesian-acquisitions-ceo%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1687305&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>By Anshuman Daga, Yantoultra Ngui and Xinghui Kok<\/p>\n<p>SINGAPORE (Reuters) \u2013     Singapore-based Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp Ltd is hunting for acquisitions in Indonesia to speed up its growth, aiming to leverage a strong capital buffer built up in recent years, the head of Southeast Asia\u2019s second-biggest bank said.<\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1663871513696-art-1\">\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cIndonesia offers a lot of potential. Would I look at inorganic? Yes, I will, when the right thing comes along,\u201d Helen Wong, who took over as CEO of the lender in April 2021, told Reuters in an interview.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe think our capital is now good for us to enter a quick phase of growth,\u201d said Wong, a former HSBC Greater China CEO and the first woman to head a Singapore bank.<\/p>\n<p>Wong noted that OCBC\u2019s capital buffer got a further lift this year from a 7% rise in first-half net profit to a record S$2.84 billion ($1.98 billion), adding to last year\u2019s robust recovery from the COVID-19 related slump.<\/p>\n<p>Analysts have said it would make sense for OCBC to use its capital for an acquisition and some expected it would instead target China, where it already has a substantial presence in the Greater Bay Area comprising Hong Kong, Macau, and nine major cities of southern China\u2019s Guangdong Province.<\/p>\n<p>OCBC\u2019s biggest ever acquisition was its $5 billion purchase of Hong Kong-based Wing Hang Bank in 2014, which gave it a gateway to Greater China.<\/p>\n<p>And while OCBC earned nearly half of its operating profit from Singapore, Greater China was the next-largest contributor, followed by Malaysia.<\/p>\n<p>Wong said potential targets had come up in Indonesia, Southeast Asia\u2019s largest economy, and that her group would make an attractive suitor given its financial strength, especially compared with digital banks, which have a much smaller capital base and lack a physical presence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome of the banks think that we have the capability to buy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are strong enough to acquire the whole business where it suits us but equally we\u2019ll be happy to buy a portfolio, but it has to complement,\u201d Wong said. She added that OCBC benefited from having both a brick-and-mortar and a strong digital footprint.<\/p>\n<p>ACQUISITIONS<\/p>\n<p>In recent years, acquisitions in Indonesia\u2019s banking sector have focused on consumer tech groups including Grab Holdings and Sea, which bought stakes in small banks, and Gojek, now part of GoTo, which acquired a stake in a midsized bank.<\/p>\n<p>Indonesia, the world\u2019s fourth-most populous country, remains relatively underserved by a fragmented network of 107 commercial banks spread across its sprawling archipelago.<\/p>\n<p>The government is keen to spur consolidation, and OCBC already has an 85%-owned unit that, since its founding in 1997, has grown into one of the country\u2019s 10 largest banks, although Indonesia still only accounts for 7% of OCBC\u2019s operating profit.<\/p>\n<p>OCBC\u2019s domestic rivals, meanwhile, have this year been active in acquisitions.<\/p>\n<p>United Overseas Bank agreed to buy Citigroup\u2019s consumer business in four Southeast Asian markets for about S$5 billion, while DBS Group snapped up Citigroup\u2019s Taiwan retail unit for S$956 million.<\/p>\n<p>DBS has also in recent years bought a stake in a Chinese bank and acquired an Indian lender.<\/p>\n<p>This has increased attention on OCBC, which has the strongest capital position among Singapore banks.<\/p>\n<p>OCBC\u2019s Tier 1 risk-adjusted capital ratio, a measure of its financial strength, is the highest among Singapore\u2019s three major banks at 15.7% as of June, versus 14.9% for DBS and 14% for United Overseas Bank, Refinitiv data shows.<\/p>\n<p>Sanford Bernstein analysts said in a report in June that OCBC had S$4.8 billion that could be used for acquisitions without the need to raise capital.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe do talk to investment banks from time to time to see what is coming along. Of course it has to be complementary,\u201d Wong said.<\/p>\n<p>($1 = 1.4362 Singapore dollars)<\/p>\n<p> (Reporting by Anshuman Daga, Yantoultra Ngui and Xinghui Kok; Editing by Edmund Klamann)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oann.com\/uncategorized\/singapores-ocbc-scouting-for\/attachment\/helen-wong-group-ceo-of-ocbc-bank-poses-for-a\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/c3.oann.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Reuters_Direct_Media\/USOnlineReportBusinessNews\/tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXMPEI9C01Y-BASEIMAGE.jpg\" alt=\"tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXMPEI9C01Y-BASEIMAGE\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oann.com\/uncategorized\/singapores-ocbc-scouting-for\/attachment\/helen-wong-group-ceo-of-ocbc-bank-speaks-during-an\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/c3.oann.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Reuters_Direct_Media\/USOnlineReportBusinessNews\/tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXMPEI9C029-BASEIMAGE.jpg\" alt=\"tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXMPEI9C029-BASEIMAGE\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Anshuman Daga, Yantoultra Ngui and Xinghui Kok SINGAPORE (Reuters) \u2013 Singapore-based Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp Ltd is hunting for acquisitions in Indonesia to speed up its growth, aiming to leverage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1687305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1687305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1687305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1687305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1687305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1687305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1687305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}