OCBC BANK IS RANKED STRONGEST BANK IN THE WORLD FOR THE SECOND CONSECUTIVE YEAR

Singapore, 3 May 2012 – Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited (“OCBC Bank”) tops the list in Bloomberg Markets magazine’s annual ranking of the world’s strongest banks for the second consecutive year. Other banks in the top three positions are BOC Hong Kong Holdings and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.


Mr Samuel Tsien, CEO of OCBC Bank, said, "We are pleased to be ranked as the World’s Strongest Bank by Bloomberg Markets for the second time. It is an accolade that is only made possible because of the loyal support of our customers and the dedication of our employees. Being so recognised for a second consecutive year affirms the strength of our customer franchise, which has been built on product innovation, quality and differentiated customer experience, as well as our disciplined credit management practices and robust risk management capabilities. The solid foundation that we have established puts us in good stead to reach an even higher level of accomplishment.”

Using information from Bloomberg’s database, Bloomberg Markets magazine drew up a list of the world’s strongest banks, comprising top 78 global banks with total assets of US$100 billion or more as of mid-March 2012. The team then assessed the banks using weighted criteria which included their Tier 1 capital ratio, ratio of non-performing assets to total assets, ratio of reserves for loan losses to non-performing assets, ratio of deposits to funding and efficiency ratio. The banks were scored on each criterion and the scores of each bank were totaled. The overall score achieved by a bank determined its position in the ranking where banks with a lower score were ranked higher on the list.