Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation - History

History

OCBC Bank was founded out of the Great Depression with the merger of three banks in 1932 - the Chinese Commercial Bank (1912), the Ho Hong Bank (1917) and the Oversea-Chinese Bank (1919). The bank's name is often mistakenly thought to be incorrectly spelled, but is in fact a predominantly British usage of the word more commonly spelled as "overseas".

The combined entity prospered under the management of local business and community leaders, notably Dato Lee Kong Chian (1938–1964), Tan Sri Tan Chin Tuan (1966–1983) and Mr Lee Choon Seng (acting Chairman during the Occupation), eventually becoming one of the largest banks in Singapore and Malaysia. In 1942 all the local banks in Singapore closed briefly during the early days of the Japanese Occupation. By April 1942 most, including OCBC, had reopened. OCBC Bank was one of only four foreign banks to have branches in China in the 1950s.

The bank was criticized for not expanding fast enough to meet the needs of the post-war Chinese business community, especially in the smaller towns of Malaya. One of the critics was Tan Sri Khoo Teck Puat, who subsequent resigned to set up Malayan Banking. By 1970, the bank's total resources exceeded 1 billion SGD, making OCBC, then, the largest financial institution with the biggest deposit base in Singapore.

In 1972, the bank acquired Four Seas Communications Bank, the oldest surviving bank in Singapore. The bank had been founded in 1906 as the Sze Hai Tong Bank and its founders targeted the Teochew community. The bank had branches in Bangkok, where it became the first Chinese bank there when it opened its branch in 1909, and in Hong Kong.