OCBC's Tsien gets biggest 2014 raise among Singapore bank CEOs

[SINGAPORE] The head of Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp received the biggest pay rise last year compared with his counterparts at Singapore's two other major banks.

Chief Executive Officer Samuel Tsien's total compensation rose 12 per cent to S$9.89 million in 2014, with gains mostly driven by increases in his bonus and share package, according to the bank's annual report released Monday. Mr Tsien's annual salary remained unchanged at S$1.24 million.

Despite the larger increase, Mr Tsien's compensation package for 2014 remained slightly smaller than those received by his counterparts at United Overseas Bank Ltd and DBS Group Holdings Ltd, the country's two other large banks.

UOB CEO Wee Ee Cheong saw his total package rise 11 per cent to S$10.2 million, while DBS CEO Piyush Gupta's compensation rose 10 per cent to S$10.1 million, according to the two banks' annual reports.

OCBC's net income rose 25 per cent to S$3.45 billion in 2014, excluding one-time items, as the US$5 billion purchase of Hong Kong's Wing Hang Bank grew OCBC's presence in Greater China. DBS net income advanced 10 per cent to S$3.85 billion while UOB saw an 8 per cent advance to S$3.25 billion.

DBS's share price rallied 20 per cent last year to S$20.6 apiece, compared with OCBC's 5.5 per cent gain and UOB's 15 per cent advance.

BLOOMBERG