PUBLISHED ONJuly 11, 2025 10:53 AMBYSean LerOCBC will see a leadership change at the turn of the year with Tan Teck Long taking over from current Group CEO Helen Wong, who will retire on Dec 31, the bank announced on Friday (July 11).
Tan, 55, who joined OCBC in March 2022 as its head of global wholesale banking, will take on the additional role of deputy CEO effective immediately.
Following her retirement, Wong, 64, will remain as chairman of OCBC China and a director of OCBC Hong Kong. She joined OCBC in February 2020 as deputy president and head of global wholesale banking before becoming group CEO in April 2021.
She had informed the board last year of her intentions to retire for family reasons and has been spending more time in Hong Kong — where her family is based — since the start of 2025, the bank said.
"The board reluctantly accepted Helen's request to retire to spend more time with her family," said OCBC chairman Andrew Lee.
OCBC said that the bank delivered "record profits" for three consecutive years under Wong's leadership.
The bank saw "strong growth" recorded across its core pillars of banking, wealth management and insurance, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15 per cent for banking net profit, 13 per cent for wealth management income, and 34 per cent for insurance profit contribution from Great Eastern Holdings, added the bank.
Wong said that she is "very pleased to hand the baton over to Teck Long", adding that Tan's leadership style, sense of responsibility and vision will "steer OCBC confidently into the future".
Before joining OCBC, Tan was chief risk officer at DBS. He has more than 30 years of banking experience including at senior positions leading corporate lending business and risk management functions globally.
Since May this year, Tan has been chairing OCBC's Strategic Resilience Group, whose objective is to "calibrate OCBC's position given the continually evolving global paradigm, strengthening the bank's resilience, and improving the long-term sustainability of its business by seeking new growth engines", said OCBC.
It added that Tan also serves as a director on the boards of two affiliated companies in China — the Bank of Ningbo and Maxwealth Fund Management Company.
As the bank's head of global wholesale banking, Tan has global responsibility for all banking relationships with small- and medium-sized enterprises, large corporates and financial institutions, global transaction banking and the investment banking business.
OCBC said that Tan's division achieved a CAGR of about 20 per cent in total income and 25 per cent in net profit.
Thanking Wong for her contributions, Tan said that the bank's integrated approach — focused on the Asean-Greater China region — will "remain strategically critical".
"We are already differentiated from our peers in Asia as a diversified financial services group.
"We will now double down on pursuing strong sustainable growth, innovation and people development as we fulfill our purpose of enabling people and communities to realise their aspirations," said Tan.
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