OCBC shines at ABF Wholesale Banking Awards, Retail Banking Awards

Amongst other accolades, the bank bagged the China International Trade Finance Bank of the Year award as well as its 13^th consecutive ASEAN SME Bank of the Year award, attesting to the strength of its extensive ASEAN-Greater China franchise. 

Multinational banking corporation OCBC has been honoured at the recently held ABF Wholesale Banking Awards and Retail Banking Awards for its exemplary performance in 2022, as it won a total of six major awards in the esteemed awards programme for its business projects and initiatives.

ASEAN’s leader in SME banking

Amongst its achievements at the awards programme was being named ASEAN SME Bank of the Year for the 13th consecutive year. As the second-largest financial institution in Southeast Asia by assets, OCBC has consistently proven its commitment to nurturing and empowering SMEs in ASEAN to grow. 

In Indonesia, a core market for OCBC and one of ASEAN’s fastest-growing economies, the Bank launched the #ONPreneurship ecosystem programme to drive the expansion of SMEs in the country. It provides SMEs access to education, training, networking, awards, and financial activities. 

In 2022, the bank launched a new product named CPL Kendali. This solution addresses the loan concerns of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Indonesia that are price-sensitive, have excess funds, and require guaranteed flexibility over their cash flow. With the offset feature against funds in their current account, customers can enjoy the benefits of faster repayment than the original time period. Furthermore, the credit process is conducted through a streamlined and simplified process, enabling customers to make business decisions more swiftly.

These initiatives, coupled with the bank’s efforts in digital transformation, were recognised by the prestigious awards programme as it took home the SME Bank of the Year - Indonesia.

Trade finance and cash management excellence

The bank won the Singapore Domestic Trade Finance Bank of the Year award for its commitment to embed itself more deeply into customers’ cross-border trade flows, as well as its procurement and marketing activities. It offers a full suite of competitive trade products and services that can be selectively tapped to meet the specific needs of its customer segments. Today, it facilitates approximately $380b of trade volume globally.

Moreover, more than half of its trade transacting customers in Singapore who previously sent in paper applications are now applying via its digital business banking platform OCBC Velocity. Nearly 80% of trade loan applications from Singapore SME customers are submitted online, a clear testament to customers’ acceptance of its digital transformation.

OCBC also took home the Singapore Domestic Cash Management Bank of the Year for its continued innovation of its online transactional business banking platforms to support the transformative needs of customers and their businesses. This objective comes from elevating the banking experience through enhanced digital banking channels, driving seamless solutions for local and overseas payments, and helping customers drive sales with faster collections and streamlined reconciliation.

Well-placed to connect customers to opportunities across ASEAN and Greater China

For its strong business growth and outstanding trade capability developments in China, OCBC clinched the China International Trade Finance Bank of the Year award. The bank recorded 16% CNY Trade Finance Asset growth, 15% FCY Trade Finance Asset growth, 15% supply chain finance programmes growth, and 250% supply chain finance asset growth in 2022.

To promote a structured trade business as well, a middle office has been set up in China to review the LC terms, monitor commodity prices, and control fund flows to ensure a watertight end-to-end process.

True to the bank’s strong regional network in ASEAN, it also took home the title of Indonesia International Cash Management Bank of the Year for its digital banking solution Velocity@ocbcnisp. The platform allows users to conduct real-time banking activities in a safe, fast, and convenient manner, offering a complete suite of solutions. With this, 68% of customers are digitally active and use the platform, whilst 75% of transactions are conducted through it.

The bank also added new features in 2022 to focus on paperless digital self-services and multi-solutions. This includes blocking user access to self-service and letter of credit issuance, amongst others.

The ABF Wholesale Banking Awards and Retail Banking Awards are presented by Asian Banking & Finance Magazine. To view the full list of winners, click here. If you want to join the 2024 awards programme and be recognised for your company's innovative solutions, products, services, and deals that impacted the banking and finance industry, please contact Julie Anne Nuñez at [email protected].