Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) (SGX:O39
) says it is establishing a dedicated securities financing unit to meet the growing demand of its institutional customers.
According to OCBC, the new unit will help its retail and corporate customers to earn fee income by loaning out their idle securities. OCBC’s customers, as well as clients from its subsidiaries OCBC Securities, Bank of Singapore and Great Eastern, will be able to tap on the service to lend out their equities and fixed income securities. OCBC says it is the first Singapore bank to set up a dedicated unit to focus on securities financing.
“The ability to access liquidity and deploy capital efficiently has become critical, especially in the context of elevated market volatility,” says Kenneth Lai, OCBC’s head of global markets.
According to Lai, OCBC has seen a rise in demand for securities financing from its institutional customers. “The establishment of a dedicated securities financing team is therefore timely and is a strategic milestone for us as we seek to grow our securities financing business in the region.”
The new unit will be a part of the bank’s global markets division and will be headed by new joiner Jansen Chua. OCBC’s global markets division has almost doubled its contribution to the bank’s operating profit on a y-o-y basis as of Sep 30.
Before OCBC, Chua was the senior managing director and head of financing solutions for the Asia Pacific at State Street Bank and Trust Company. Chua joined OCBC on Jan 2 and reports to Lai.
