The bank referred to its "consolidated" leadership and how this improves its ability to capture trade, investment and wealth flows between Greater China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

OCBC (Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation), parent of Bank of Singapore, has named a new chief executive for its Hong Kong business – Wang Ke. 

He is replacing Ivy Au-Yeung, who will be retiring at the end of December. Ivy Au-Yeung was appointed the CEO of OCBC Wing Hang Hong Kong in 2021, having joined the bank in 2019 as the deputy CEO. 

Wang will take up the post from 15 December, OCBC said in a statement yesterday. Wang was also appointed the head of Greater China on 1 November 2023. The Greater China region comprises the three banking subsidiaries in Hong Kong SAR, mainland China and Macau SAR. 

Ang Eng Siong, the CEO of OCBC China, and Kelvin Lou, CEO of OCBC Macau, will report to Wang.

“This consolidated leadership streamlines OCBC’s drive to solidify its collective strengths in this region, and capture the trade, investment and wealth flows between Greater China and ASEAN,” the bank said. 

The three banking subsidiaries in Greater China have more than 4,600 staff across 66 branches and offices. 

Before his latest appointment, Wang served as CEO of OCBC Wing Hang China from December 2019 to October this year.

(OCBC Wing Hang China is now known as OCBC China after obtaining the regulatory approval to change its legal name and brand on 24 November 2023.)

Wang joined the OCBC Group in 2012 as the head of IT in China and expanded his responsibilities to include operations in 2014. He was appointed the head of Pearl River Delta region in 2017, then assumed the position of CEO of OCBC Wing Hang China in 2019. 

Earlier in November, OCBC reported a rise in its wealth management income for the third quarter of this year. Separately, OCBC is building a generative artificial intelligence chatbot for its 30,000 employees globally in November to assist them with writing, research and idea creation. It is an example of how AI affects the bank and wealth management sectors. The rollout includes staff at Bank of Singapore.