OCBC can find China sweet spot in Asean

WHEN the S$6.3 billion acquisition of Wing Hang Bank was first announced by OCBC in 2014, there was disquiet in certain quarters then that this was an expensive gamble.

The oft-cited criticism was that using Wing Hang - among the last of the small family-owned banks in Hong Kong - to break into the Chinese market by using Hong Kong as the main gateway would be a tough sell.

That analysis is well-meaning, but incomplete in today's context. It misses out how Chinese investment flows are currently coursing through South-east Asia, and how a Singapore bank can capitalise on the overseas expansion of Chinese companies to tap into the rising prowess of the world's second-largest economy.

This is certainly how OCBC hopes to play its cards, as it commands the largest South-east Asian presence among the top-four foreign banks in the Greater Bay Area - comprising Hong Kong and Macau, grouped with several cities in Guangdo…