OCBC still the world's strongest bank: Bloomberg Markets

It topped the annual list for the second straight year while its two Singapore rivals slid further down the Top 10.

Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp beat out BOC Hong Kong Holdings (2nd) and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (3rd) for the top spot, based on Bloomberg Markets' five selected criteria, which include comparing Tier 1 capital with risk-weighted assets and nonperforming assets with total assets.

Two other Singaporean lenders landed in the top 10, with United Overseas Bank Ltd. placing 7th and DBS Group Holdings, 8th.

“Singapore’s economy has performed quite stably and quite well, and for the Singaporean banks, we have real economic activities to finance,” OCBC CEO Samuel Tsien said in a release, crediting the bank’s strength partly to its "disciplined" credit management practices and "robust" risk management capabilities.

Overall though, Canadian banks dominated the list, clinching four of the Top 10 spots. CIBC was No. 3, followed by Toronto-Dominion Bank (No. 4), National Bank of Canada (No. 5) and Royal Bank of Canada (No. 6), the country’s largest lender.

"Canadian banks invoke their strong capital levels, the country’s conservative lending culture and strict regulatory oversight under a single supervisor as reasons for their showing. The supervisor requires Canadian banks to hold a higher level of capital than do international standards," said Bloomberg Markets in its report.

How did the US and EU banks fare? Not as well as their Singaporean and Canadian counterparts:

"Only three U.S. banks -- JPMorgan Chase (No. 13), PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (No. 17) and BB&T Corp. (No. 20) -- made the top 20. Four European banks were included: two from Sweden and one each from the U.K. and Switzerland," said Bloomberg Markets.

Follow the link for more news on

OCBC Bank

If you've been wondering whether SBR could work for your company — yes, probably.

A lot of the companies we partner with started as readers. They'd been following our coverage for a while, saw their own customers and competitors in it, and eventually asked the obvious question: could we do something with you? The answer is usually yes. The shape of it depends on what you're trying to do.

The options are broader than most people assume — thought leadership articles, sponsored content, industry summits across Southeast Asia, regional awards programmes, podcasts, and media placements in print and digital. Some partners use one channel; most use a mix. We figure out the right combination by starting with your brief, not with our rate card.

So if the question has been on your mind, here's the easy way to ask it.

We'll tell you honestly whether we can help, and how. It's a better use of everyone's time.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia