Singapore's OCBC Bank has entered into a 10-year strategic cooperation agreement with its associate company Bank of Ningbo.
The two institutions intend to deepen collaboration across a broad range of business areas, intensify knowledge sharing and scale up staff training, the Singaporean bank said in a media announcement.
This initiative accelerates the efforts of both banks in growing their businesses and serving the onshore and offshore needs of customers in «China’s Greater Bay Area» and Southeast Asia.
It will also build on a decade of partnership between the two since OCBC Bank first acquired a 12.2 percent equity holding in Ningbo Commercial Bank in 2006.
OCBC Bank subsequently raised its stake in the renamed Bank of Ningbo (BON) to 20 percent, the maximum allowed, in 2014.
Outward Chinese Investment
Over the last 10 years, OCBC Bank has supported BON’s growth through a structured training and development programme that covered areas such as consumer banking, treasury, risk management, information technology and internal audit.
This has contributed to the strong expansion of BON’s retail banking and cross-border lending businesses, and the development of its treasury and risk management capabilities.
At the same time, OCBC Bank has benefited from BON’s local market knowledge and insights, and is increasingly helping BON’s customers from Ningbo and other Chinese cities with their overseas financing needs.
