Singapore-based OCBC will hand out a one-off payment to junior employees globally for the second consecutive year to cope with inflationary pressures.
OCBC will hand out a one-off payment of S$7.5 million ($5.5 million) to 11,000 junior employees globally across the group, including its subsidiaries Bank of Singapore and OCBC Securities, according to a statement. The junior workers account for 40 percent of the bank’s total workforce.
In Singapore, 4,000 employees will receive S$1,000 each while payments to workers in other markets will be based on local conditions. The payouts will be received from February to April 2025.
Inflationary Pressures
According to OCBC, core inflation is expected to decline in 2025 to a forecasted rate of 2 percent, though it remains higher than the 1.1 percent seen during the pre-pandemic years from 2015 to 2019. Price levels also remain high due to earlier increases in inflation.
«While inflation is forecasted to moderate in 2025, we acknowledge that cost-of-living concerns persist. The well-being of our people remains a top priority, so we hope that this one-off payment will ease concerns over the high living costs faced by our junior colleagues,» commented Lee Hwee Boon, head of group human resources at OCBC.
This is the second consecutive year that OCBC will be making payments to cope with inflation. Earlier this year, the bank announced that it had delivered S$9 million to junior employees.
