OCBC Chief Favors Internal Candidates for Next Leader

(Bloomberg) -- Samuel Tsien, in his eighth year as chief executive officer at Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp., signaled he favors internal candidates over external ones to succeed him when the time comes.

“We have internal candidates who are strong candidates, who have moved around in different functions, who are able to take over the bank in the event of a need,” Tsien said in an interview, without giving names.

Shanghai-born Tsien, 65, is known for pursuing acquisitions that led to the Singapore lender’s expansion in Hong Kong and made it a top-10 private bank in Asia. OCBC’s local rivals have also given insights into management succession, with United Overseas Bank Ltd.’s boss recently expressing an openness to considering people from outside the founding family and DBS Group Holdings Ltd. grooming leaders from within the bank.

There are no immediate plans for Tsien to step down, he said. OCBC won’t rule out an outsider taking the reins but it’s “not actively looking” externally and the focus now is on its own people, he said. “We are looking at internal candidates, but we do not want to exclude external candidates.”

The bank’s executive suite includes Chief Operating Officer Ching Wei Hong, 60, and Chief Financial Officer Darren Tan, 49, both of whom were promoted around the same time Tsien was elevated to CEO. Tsien’s predecessor, David Conner, spent 10 years in the post after previously working at Citigroup Inc.

Made Acquisitions

Under Tsien’s leadership, OCBC spent $5 billion in 2014 to take over Wing Hang Bank in Hong Kong. Two years later, it bought the Singapore and Hong Kong wealth operations of Barclays Plc, helping OCBC’s Bank of Singapore become the sixth-largest private bank by assets in Asia excluding China.

More recently, OCBC was considering a bid for Jakarta-based PT Bank Permata, a move that would have made it Indonesia’s fifth-largest lender by assets. However, the bank walked away after considering Permata not a good fit, people with knowledge of the matter said earlier this month.

While declining to comment on any specific transactions, Tsien said Indonesia remains a “very attractive market” for the bank. “We do look at opportunities beyond organic growth, as long as those opportunities are complementary to our strategy,” he said.

The potential for further acquisitions is among factors that have weighed on OCBC’s shares, which have trailed those of its rivals during Tsien’s reign. The stock has fallen more than 2% this year, versus gains at DBS and UOB.

Tsien also has ambitions to further expand in insurance, which OCBC counts as its third pillar alongside banking and wealth management. While its Great Eastern Holdings Ltd. insurance arm is well established in Singapore and Malaysia, Tsien said he sees more room for growth in Indonesia and Greater China.

Last year, Great Eastern bought PT QBE General Insurance for $28 million in Indonesia, and Tsien said he would look at other opportunities to grow, including acquisitions. In Hong Kong, the bank has a 33% stake in Hong Kong Life Insurance Ltd., which it decided against selling last year.

Asked about the effect of Hong Kong’s protests on business, Tsien said he has yet to see major flows of wealth assets from the city into Singapore. Trade flows, however, “may skip Hong Kong for a while and come directly. In that sense, therefore, Singapore may benefit.”

“I think Hong Kong’s domestic investment will probably take a few years for them to come back to the previous level,” he said. “Our medium-term outlook for Hong Kong and for that region continues to be positive.”

--With assistance from Anand Menon.

To contact the reporters on this story: Chanyaporn Chanjaroen in Singapore at cchanjaroen@bloomberg.net;Juliette Saly in Singapore at jsaly1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Marcus Wright at mwright115@bloomberg.net, Russell Ward

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