OCBC Bank

Is OCBC safe?

Yes. Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, which counts itself the second-largest financial services group in Southeast Asia by assets, had a CET1CET1 ratioA bank's highest-quality capital (mainly shares and retained profits) as a share of its risk-weighted assets. Higher means more room to absorb losses.More in the glossary capital ratio of 15.7% at 30 June 2026, more than six points above its 9.3% requirement, and Moody's rates it Aa1. Singapore dollar deposits are insured by the Singapore Deposit InsuranceDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary Corporation (SDIC) up to S$100,000 per depositor. We score it 80/100, level with DBS. The black mark is the December 2021 SMS phishing wave. Scammers took S$13.7 million from 790 OCBC customers, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) made the bank hold about S$330 million of extra capital for 17 months because of how slowly it responded.

What SDIC covers at OCBC

SDIC insures Singapore dollar savings, current and fixed deposit accounts, plus Supplementary Retirement Scheme money, up to S$100,000 in total per depositor at each member bank. CPF Investment Scheme and Retirement Sum Scheme monies get a separate S$100,000.

The gaps:

• Foreign currency deposits. OCBC's US dollar and other currency accounts depend on the bank alone.
• Structured deposits and investments. Unit trusts, shares, and insurance from Great Eastern, OCBC's insurance arm, are outside the scheme.
• Overseas subsidiaries. OCBC Malaysia, OCBC Hong Kong and OCBC NISP in Indonesia fall under their own countries' schemes.

S$100,000 is less than Australia's A$250,000 guarantee at Commonwealth Bank. OCBC is not a global systemically important bankG-SIBA global systemically important bank: one of the large banks the Financial Stability Board lists each year because its failure could harm the world economy.More in the glossary, but MAS treats it as a domestic systemically important bank and sets a minimum CET1 ratioCET1 ratioA bank's highest-quality capital (mainly shares and retained profits) as a share of its risk-weighted assets. Higher means more room to absorb losses.More in the glossary of 6.5% before buffers, two points above the Basel minimum.

Capital and liquidity

The ratio fell 1.3 points in the second quarter because of the dividend and a jump in risk-weighted assets, but the buffer stays very wide. Even on the stricter basis that applies when the Basel III output floor is fully phased in, OCBC has almost five points to spare. Liquidity is solid if a little lower than at DBS. Just under half of deposits sit in current and savings accounts, which tend to be stable.

The 2021 phishing scam

Between 23 and 30 December 2021, scammers sent text messages that appeared in the same thread as genuine OCBC messages, using a spoofed sender ID. The links led to fake sites that looked almost exactly like OCBC's, where victims typed in their login details and one-time passwords. The scammers used them to take over accounts and transfer money out. MAS said the bank should have acted faster: it had picked up the first signs in early December, and its call centre was overwhelmed. In February 2022 the government told Parliament that 790 OCBC customers had lost S$13.7 million, and called it by far the most serious phishing scam it had seen involving spoofed SMSes impersonating banks. OCBC apologised and reimbursed every affected customer in full as a one-off goodwill gesture.

In May 2022 MAS ordered OCBC to apply a 1.3x multiplier to its operational risk-weighted assets, about S$330 million of extra capital. An independent review had found gaps in risk controls before and after transactions, incident management and complaints handling, which delayed containment and customer response. OCBC says MAS lifted the requirement on 26 October 2023.

The case changed Singapore banking. Banks removed clickable links from emails and texts to retail customers and now notify customers whenever their registered phone number or email is changed. Since December 2024 the Shared Responsibility Framework sets out when banks and telecom firms must cover phishing losses. OCBC has since added anti-scam tools such as Money Lock and authenticated in-app calls.

Conduct record

OCBC's other recent case is small. In June 2023 MAS imposed a S$600,000 composition penalty on it for failing to look into unusual transactions and the real ownership of one corporate customer, one of several banks penalised over links to Wirecard. When MAS fined nine institutions S$27.45 million in July 2025 over Singapore's S$3 billion money laundering case, OCBC was not among them.

How to keep your money safe at OCBC

1. Keep Singapore dollar deposits at OCBC within S$100,000 if you want them fully insured, and spread larger sums to another SDIC member such as DBS or UOB.
2. Treat foreign currency accounts, structured deposits and insurance policies as uninsured.
3. Put savings you do not need day to day behind Money Lock, so a stolen login cannot empty them.
4. Never log in through a link in a text message. Open the app or type the address yourself, and call OCBC at once if you think you have been tricked.

How we scored it

Capital (90) and stability history (88) are OCBC's strongest factors: a CET1CET1 ratioA bank's highest-quality capital (mainly shares and retained profits) as a share of its risk-weighted assets. Higher means more room to absorb losses.More in the glossary buffer of more than six points, an Aa1 rating and no record of a state rescue in either the Asian or the global financial crisis. Digital security (62) is the weakest, reflecting the 2021 phishing losses and the MAS capital charge, though OCBC refunded customers and MAS has lifted the charge. Deposit protectionDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary (80) is held back by the S$100,000 limit and the exclusion of foreign currency deposits.