July 5, 2023: CEO Helen Wong stated that Singapore’s Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation had focused on “longer-term opportunities” in Greater China and Southeast Asia and expects the strategy to bring additional revenue of $2.2 billion by 2025.

On Monday, Southeast Asia’s second-largest bank announced that it would unify its brand across its core markets in Greater China, including Hong Kong, Macao, and Southeast Asia.

“If you look at macro trends, Greater China and ASEAN together are going to continue to contribute more to the world’s GDP growth,” Wong told, referring to the 10-nation Association of South East Asian Nations bloc.

“If you look at the trade numbers for the last four years, China and ASEAN are growing at a CAGR of 13%,” she added. A compound annual growth rate measures annualized returns for investors over time, assuming profits are reinvested at the end of each year.

In a media release, Wong said, “the effects of China’s reopening post-pandemic, the rise of ASEAN for the China plus one strategy and other geopolitical factors” have amplified the potential business flows between the two regions.

As such, while the OCBC has seen hindering economic growth in some countries in the region, Wong said she’s confident it will capture growth as it “puts our act together.”

She said this will be done by improving how it deals with customers digitally and how the bank captures customers and businesses without offering more details.

She also pointed out that OCBC and its attendants service the top seven markets in ASEAN and can rely on a presence in 17 cities in the Greater China region, including Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, as well as its association with the Bank of Ningbo.