Guided by its purpose and values, OCBC Bank helps individuals and businesses across communities achieve their aspirations by providing innovative financial services that meet their needs. The values they embrace are encapsulated by the acronym LIFRR – Lasting Value, Integrity, Forward Looking, Respect and Responsibility. OCBC Bank believes that putting its purpose and values at the heart of everything it does will lead to good business outcomes.

Moving from funding coal power plants to sustainable finance

As Southeast Asia’s second-largest financial institution, OCBC Bank has been at the forefront of various efforts that support climate action. It became the first bank in Southeast Asia to make a bold commitment to stop financing new coal-fired power plants on 16 April 2019. This created a positive momentum – Singapore’s two other local banks, which are key regional players, made the same commitment within the same month.

This commitment by OCBC Bank was the catalyst of a renewed green push and expedited its efforts to play a leading role in Asian sustainable finance to accelerate change. In October 2019, shortly after committing to not financing new coal-fired power plants, OCBC Bank became one of the first banks in the region to make a public commitment to build a sustainable finance portfolio worth S$10 billion (US$7 billion) by 2022.

OCBC Bank eventually surpassed this target two years ahead of schedule in the first quarter of 2020. A new sustainable finance target of S$25 billion by 2025 was set and again eclipsed ahead of schedule – it achieved S$34 billion in sustainable finance commitments by the end of 2021. In February 2022, it doubled its 2025 target to S$50 billion. As of June 2022, its commitment had grown to S$37 billion. The bank has funded sustainable projects in the region, from wind and solar farms to electric cars, hybrid buses and solar panel installations.

Apart from its sustainable finance commitments, the bank is committed to achieving carbon-neutral banking operations in 2022. To that end, more than S$25 million will be invested in decarbonisation efforts in Singapore, Malaysia and Greater China.

Weaving sustainability into its strategy

The bank’s commitment to sustainability has been formalised into its strategies – namely its corporate strategy to “Excel for Sustainable Growth,” of which environmental sustainability is a key pillar, and its Climate Strategy, a five-year roadmap with three priorities: moving towards net-zero emissions in alignment with Paris Agreement goals, expanding sustainable financing and the bank’s sustainability-themed product portfolio, as well as growing a bank-wide ecosystem of sustainable solutions and partnerships.

OCBC Sustainability Innovation Challenge, October 2022. (L-R) Lin Qing Yao, Close-The-Loop Manager, Tria; Bryan Sim, Sales Director, Tria; and Spencer Low, Chief Data and Sustainability Officer at SATS

A recent initiative under the Climate Strategy was the OCBC Sustainability Challenge, launched in June 2022 to identify sustainability-related challenges faced by its corporate customers and source for global solutions that can be commercialised.

The financial industry may be competitive and ever-changing, but OCBC Bank will always make it an imperative to be a responsible banker to society and remain resolute in its commitment to sustainability and climate action so that it can do well and do good.