Teck Long

Strengthening our regional franchise

We continued to support growing ASEAN-Greater China flows, and our customers showed strong interest in investing in Southeast Asia to access its young, expanding middle-class population and its rich natural resources. In 2024, we saw a nearly 30% year-on-year rise in new-to-bank customers that were Chinese companies entering the ASEAN market.

One Chinese company we supported in its set-up in ASEAN was CNGR. The global leader in battery material manufacturing established strategic nickel-related manufacturing projects in Indonesia. With abundant nickel reserves, Indonesia is a key source of essential material in lithium-ion batteries, which are critical components of electric vehicles.

We continued to actively help foster local business connections and networking opportunities for our customers through our signature OCBC One Connect event series. Our aim is to help them address their needs beyond financing. One notable event involved hosting 20 representatives from more than 10 Chinese healthcare technology companies in Jakarta and Singapore for business matching sessions and seminars with local health authorities and agencies.

Through such initiatives, we successfully achieved our goal of increasing our Greater China franchise revenue in ASEAN by 50% (from 2022) by 2025, surpassing our target ahead of time for the second consecutive year.

The Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (JS-SEZ) is poised to further boost our regional ambitions. We have set up dedicated teams on both sides of the Causeway, comprising 25 experienced bankers and 4 dedicated branches within the JS-SEZ. They will support our customers with the appropriate advisory services and link them up with local business partners to capture potential economic opportunities in the JS-SEZ.

In collaboration with the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA), we also co-organised a roundtable discussion in December 2024 for 28 mid-sized enterprises from Singapore and China in the manufacturing sector. During the event, MIDA provided valuable insights and information about investment opportunities and the business landscape in Malaysia.

OCBC and MIDA co-organised a roundtable discussion on Malaysia's investment opportunities and business landscape in Johor Bahru in December 2024, for 28 Singapore and Chinese mid-sized enterprises in the manufacturing sector.

By the end of 2024, we saw approximately a 15% increase in income from our business in Johor. Building on this growing interest, we are well positioned to assist customers across the region in establishing themselves in the JS-SEZ, supported by our strong regional network.

Another highlight of 2024 was our continued effort to optimise our processes, enhancing our digital capabilities to better serve our customers in our core markets. In Hong Kong, we launched digital account opening for SMEs, achieving a turnaround time of just one working day. Other best-in-market features included no minimum balance requirement and no monthly maintenance fees. As a result, we saw an 18% increase in the number of new SME customers we onboarded across our core markets.

Enabling a more inclusive, low-carbon future

By the end of 2024, our sustainable finance loan commitments totalled $71 billion, reflecting our commitment to supporting clients in their transition to a low-carbon economy. We reported good progress in our net zero financed emissions targets for six key sectors, keeping us on track to meet our 2030 interim targets.

We continued to offer customers innovative financing solutions to support their net zero journeys. We extended our OCBC 1.5°C loan to lodging trust Capitaland Ascott Trust and agriculture conglomerate COFCO International. The OCBC 1.5°C loan reflects our dedication to supporting customers on their net zero decarbonisation goals, with market-leading transition advisory and innovative financing solutions.

Supporting SMEs on their sustainability journeys and ambitions remained a strategic focus for us. As at end-Dec 2024, we supported close to 4,000 SMEs in the region with sustainable financing commitments of over $9 billion.

In this area, one of our priorities has been to avail simple, low-cost tools to SMES that make it easier for them to measure, manage and finance their sustainability efforts. We rolled out the online energy performance self-assessment solution – the SME Energy Efficiency Assessment (SMEEA) tool – to the Hong Kong and Malaysia markets in 2024. Jointly developed with Singapore's Building & Construction Authority and launched in Singapore since 2021, it assesses the energy performance of property projects and facilities within minutes. The SMEEA was recognised as one of the Steward Leadership 25 winning projects in 2024, an annual listing of 25 projects in Asia Pacific that are considered to have a positive impact on society, future generations, or the environment.

Aiming to support women entrepreneurs with their business growth and ambitions, we launched the OCBC Women Unlimited Programme in April 2024. Even in a developed market like Singapore, women-owned SMEs account for only about 30% of all businesses. The Programme enables women entrepreneurs to access financing and other resources such as educational workshops and networking and mentorship opportunities more easily, and helps to accelerate their growth plans. By the end of 2024, the Programme supported close to 300 women-owned businesses in Singapore with over $50 million in loan commitments. It builds on a similar programme launched by OCBC Indonesia in 2020 which, at end-2024, was supporting over 1,300 women entrepreneurs with loan commitments of over $480 million.

Our work in sustainability earned us the Best Bank for Sustainable Finance Singapore award by The Asset, and Best Bank for Sustainable Finance Hong Kong award at the Global Finance Sustainable Finance Awards 2025. Additionally, we ranked first in LSEG's ESG Loans league tables for Mandated Lead Arranger in both Southeast Asia and Asia-Pacific in 2024.

Doubling down on innovation

Partnering Land Transport Authority of Singapore (LTA), we piloted a next-generation blockchain-based conditional payments solution that enables LTA to disburse mobilisation advance payments. This innovative approach helps main contractors defray heavy upfront capital expenditures at the start of construction projects, enhancing efficiency, transparency and governance. At end-2024, about $24 million had been disbursed to LTA's contractors.

We also established a strategic partnership agreement with Ant International to facilitate around-the-clock cross-border real-time payments between Singapore and Malaysia. This leverages Ant's Whale treasury and liquidity management platform, and utilises our combined blockchain capabilities.

Outlook for 2025

The operating environment in 2025 is expected to remain uncertain given macroeconomic developments and ongoing geopolitical tensions.

Despite these challenges, we remain committed to building on the solid foundations we have established. We are on track to achieve our goal of securing 500 new regional cash management mandates by 2027, and expect to reach this target ahead of schedule this year. Enhancing One Group collaboration will remain a priority as we seek to deepen synergies across the Group and leverage the Group's comprehensive capabilities and financial solutions to meet our clients' diverse needs.

Opportunities continue to emerge from the mega trends of digitalisation, sustainability, supply chain diversification and the growing use of generative AI. We will stay focused when it comes to seizing these opportunities, utilising our extensive regional network and strong customer relationships. At the same time, we will continue to strengthen our digital, product and innovation capabilities. This will help us serve our customers better and assist them in navigating the challenges ahead.