September Teller 1

MCI(P) 001/10/2017 Volume 33 No. 9 September 2018 

Innovate or Die: 

OCBC’s innovation journey blazes 

with the launch of The Open Vault in 

Malaysia. Also, read about how we can 

co-exist with Artificial Intelligence 

Pages 8 to 10

News 

Highlights from Q2 results 

By Adeline Wong 

Group Corporate 

Communications 

Our Second Quarter 2018 Net Profit up 16% year-on-year to a record S$1.21 billion. Half-year net profit grew 22% to a new 

high of S$2.32 billion. The strong results were driven by robust performance across our banking, wealth management and 

insurance businesses. The return on equity rose to 12.6% from 11.4% a year ago. 

Group CEO Samuel Tsien said: “Our record quarterly performance reflects the resilience and strong foundation for growth of our 

diversified banking, wealth management and insurance franchise. Yearly and quarterly revenue growth was driven by increases 

in both net interest and non-interest income. 2Q18 net interest income rose from a year ago, driven by robust loan growth and 

improved asset yields in both the Singapore and Malaysia markets. Non-interest income growth was broad-based, led by higher 

fees, trading income and insurance income. Operating expenses were well-managed and credit costs remained low.” 

Here are some of the key numbers: 

Net interest income 

Non-interest income 

Strong loan growth and higher net interest margin drove 

2Q18 net interest income to a new high of S$1.45 billion, 

which was 8% higher compared to a year ago. 

2Q18 

2Q17 

Customer loans 

S$1.45b 

S$1.35b 

Non-interest income climbed 2% year-on-year led by 

strong fee growth and higher insurance income. 

2Q18 

2Q17 

Customer deposits 

S$1.02b 

S$1.01b 

The 10% growth in customer loans was driven by broadbased 

growth across most industries and geographical 

segments. 

Non-bank customer deposits as at 30 June 2018 

were S$290 billion, up 10% from a year ago, led by an 

increase in fixed deposits, current account and savings 

deposits. 

2Q18 

S$252b 

2Q18 

S$290b 

2Q17 

S$229b 

2Q17 

S$264b 

Wealth management 

Operating expenses 

Wealth management income rose 3% year-on-year. As a 

percentage of group income, it was 31% compared to 32% 

from a year ago. 

Operating expenses increased 4%in 2Q17, reflecting 

an increase in staff costs, along with higher 

technology-related expenses as the Group continued 

to drive its digitalisation strategy. 

2Q18 

S$761m 

2Q14 2Q18 

S$1.04b 

2Q17 

S$741m 

2Q13 2Q17 

S$0.993b 

Allowances 

Asset quality 

Total allowances for loans and other assets in 2Q18 were 

significantly lower than a year ago when allowances were 

set aside for corporate accounts in the oil and gas support 

vessels and services sector. 

Non-performing loan ratio of 1.4% was marginally higher 

as compared to 1.3% a year ago. This means that the asset 

quality of the loan portfolio was largely stable. 

2Q18 

S$21m 

1.4% 2Q18 

1.4% 

2Q17 

S$169m 

2Q17 

1.3% 

2 TELLER September 2018 

To get the full results, go to http://www.ocbc.com/group/investors/ and click on ‘Second Quarter 2018 Financial Results’.

Spotlight 

“Selling” transaction banking is his passion 

By Linette Heng 

Group Corporate Communications 

In 1990, Melvyn Low was a young 

computer science graduate who joined 

OCBC’s technology department as an 

intern. 

The four-month stint left him curious 

about banking, and he left to pursue a 

Master of Business Administration (MBA) 

at the University of British Columbia. 

In February 2018, nearly 30 years later, 

Melvyn joined OCBC as its Head of 

Global Transaction Banking. He was 

recently appointed as a member of the 

Management Team. 

The 51-year-old speaks to Teller about 

how he convinces young people to pursue 

a career in the lesser-known genre of 

banking. 

The travel enthusiast (and a top-rated 

reviewer on Tripadvisor under the 

moniker “Mellowsg”) also tells us about 

his meticulously-planned annual holidays 

with his family and friends. 

You were in Citibank for 18 years, and a 

director of the Singapore Clearing House 

Association since 2010. How has it been 

at OCBC? 

Before I came to OCBC, everyone told me 

to be prepared, as the culture would be 

different from a foreign bank. There are 

some differences, but I have found them 

to be quite pleasing and surprising. OCBC 

feels like a family as everyone is downto-earth 

and friendly. There are many 

opportunities for interactions at workplace 

events as well as on a personal level. 

I also think our people are hardworking 

and focused. They think of OCBC as a place 

for a long-term career, which adds to the 

family environment. 

I am particularly impressed by our “assets”, 

which distinguish us from our competitors. 

For instance, we have strong local 

presence, not just in Singapore but across 

the network – in Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong 

Kong, and even China. We also have Bank 

of Singapore and Great Eastern, which 

are strong assets that we can leverage. 

I think this is something that we take for 

granted sometimes, and we should always 

remember to leverage them more. 

Continued on page 4 

September 2018 

TELLER 

3

Spotlight 

From page 3 

the course continues to garner interest. 

Many students who took this course 

have graduated, and are employed in 

the industry. There is however still a lot 

more that we can do, and is why I am 

still involved with the IBF to promote 

transaction banking to aspiring bankers. 

This remains one of my passions and how 

I want to give back to the industry. 

Melvyn and his family at the 

2,000-year-old Aqueduct of Segovia in 

Spain in December 2017 

From page 3 

How did you get involved in transaction 

banking? 

My very first job was an internship at OCBC. 

I had just finished National Service, waiting 

for my MBA programme to start. My office 

was at OCBC Centre South and my job was 

to programme reports for the credit card 

department. It was a great opportunity to 

interact with bankers and understand banking, 

and influenced my decision to go into banking 

instead of pure IT. 

After my MBA, I joined a bank as a relationship 

manager for large Asian corporates. In the mid 

1990s, I moved to cash management sales in 

transaction banking, just when the industry 

was up and coming. 

You created the world’s first full-credit course 

on transaction banking for undergraduates at 

the National University of Singapore. How did 

that come about? 


I was involved in campus recruitment 

for about 10 years at my previous job. 

One thing that I realised was that many 

students in university or business school 

would learn about corporate finance, 

investment banking, foreign exchange 

and asset liability management, but 

they would not know anything about 

transaction banking. 

I found this surprising because transaction 

banking is an exciting area of banking 

and it would be such a waste if our 

young talent were not exposed to this, 

or even know it exists. Part of the reason 

why transaction banking is relatively 

unknown compared to private banking 

or investment banking is because it is a 

fairly new business – it has been around 

for maybe 20 to 25 years. I wanted to 

promote transaction banking as a career 

of choice for young people who join the 

industry. 

It has been about five years now and 

Can you explain what transaction 

banking is in simple terms? 

Transaction banking is simply about 

helping customers move money, assets 

or securities within the country or across 

borders. If you look at it from a corporate 

perspective, it starts with a bank account. 

This account will be used to collect money 

from clients and pay suppliers each 

day. This is the cash conversion cycle. 

Throughout this cycle, the company may 

find it has surplus funds to invest in, or 

it may be in deficit and it has to draw on 

funds. (See graphic on next page). 

The business of transaction banking is 

selling solutions around how a company 

collects, makes payments and manages 

its liquidity. The advent of the personal 

computer and the internet made it 

possible for our customers to conduct 

banking electronically. With advances in 

mobile, APIs (Application Programming 

Interfaces), big data and block chain, 

transaction banking continues to morph 

as we deploy our services through 

these technologies. In fact, I always call 

transaction banking “the original fintech”. 

You were a key member of FAST (Fast 

and Secured Transfers, which allows 

customers of 20 participating banks 

in Singapore to transfer funds almost 

instantly. FAST is the foundation 

for PayNow, which the industry has 

launched last year. Tell me about your 

own cashless experience. 

For the past three years, I’ve been trying 

to go around without my wallet to test 

if I can make payments using my phone. 

I found that many places still require 

cards and even cash. This is different from 

China, where I could not pay for anything 

without Alipay or WeChat. Most places 

would not even take cash! 

With the launch of SGQR (a common QR 

code for Singapore) together with PayNow 

for Corporates, we are enabling a more 

ubiquitous electronic payment mode that 

is easy to use. I am hopeful that Singapore 

would truly become cashless one day. 

Tell us about your other passions. 

I like to write reviews on Tripadvisor 

to share my experiences with other 

travellers. I am an avid user of TripAdvisor 

and this is a way I can give back to others. I 

am among the top 3 per cent of reviewers

Spotlight 

in Singapore and only review places 

and activities that I like and want to 

recommend to others. I enjoy seeing my 

reviews read, knowing it may have helped 

others enjoy what I have experienced. 

My kids – I have a 13-year-old boy and a 

16-year-old girl – would say “that’s lame, 

dad”, when I am taking photos of my food. 

I really enjoy local food and I always try to 

find local food when I travel. I would look 

for say the best nasi padang in Jakarta, or 

the best roti chenai in Kuala Lumpur. It 

does not have to be fancy – when I was in 

Hong Kong, I found a small porridge place 

in a hole-in-the-wall. It was really good for 

HKD37 (S$6.50). 

I love planning for holidays. I am part of a 

group of four families who travel together 

every year and they generally leave the 

planning to me. I like meeting the needs 

of different people – I will ask them 

what they want to do and I will research 

experiences that are a little bit different, 

aside from the usual touristy spots. 

Last year, we went to Spain for three 

weeks, which was wonderful. Watching 

the sunrise on the hilltop town of Ronda 

in Andalusia and enjoying fresh mussels 

along the Costa Brava were the highlights. 

Fun facts: 

What do you do when you need a short 

break from work? 

I would go for my coffee fix at Maison 

Kayser. I usually get a skinny cappuccino 

because I am trying to cut sugar from my 

diet. 

Where do you go for lunch? 

I have not really explored the area and I 

seem to always head to the same places 

for business lunches. For Japanese 

cuisine, I usually go to Tamashii Robataya 

Restaurant at North Canal Road and 

Kiraku at Market Street. Pasta Fresca 

Da Salvatore at Boat Quay is my go-to 

pasta place. I have not eaten there in 15 

years since I last worked in this area. It is 

amazing that it is still around. When I do 

not have a business lunch, I would buy the 

economy rice at the coffee shop at Philip 

Street and just bring it back to eat in the 

office. 

What’s in your bag? 

I am probably one of the rare guys who 

bring a bag because I do not like to keep 

things in my pants pocket. It is a small 

brown pouch from Braun Buffel where I 

keep my wallet, keys and cards. 

T 


TELLER 

5

News 

Young Bankers go digital and regional 

By Kenneth Tan and Elouise Chin 

Group Human Resources 

As a child, Joey Goey wanted to be 

a teacher like her father and later 

dreamt of working in a Big Four 

accounting firm as she grew older. 

The accounting and finance graduate 

from Malaysia became interested in the 

banking industry after she starting auditing 

financial institutions. 

Others, like economics and finance 

graduates Kemal Caesar Sutama from 

Indonesia and Abraham Kwak from Hong 

Kong, always knew that they wanted to 

work in a bank. 

On 19 June 2018, Joey, Kemal and Abraham 

were among the 33 Young Bankers from 

OCBC Malaysia, OCBC NISP and OCBC Wing 

Hang Bank Hong Kong, who joined 40 

Young Bankers from OCBC Bank Singapore, 

Bank of Singapore and Great Eastern at the 

inaugural launch of the OCBC Young Talent 

Regional Week held at OCBC Campus. 

The regional week is the finale of the OCBC 

Graduate Talent programme (previously 

known as the Young Bankers Programme). 

The programme, which is available in OCBC 

subsidiaries in the region, offers customised 

job rotations and learning opportunities. 

The duration of the programme varies from 

country to country. 

We are the first local bank to merge two 

learning ecosystems — OCBC and Human 

Capital Leadership Institute (HCLI) — and 

leverage on internal and external networks 

to curate a Regional Learning Week to make 

learning impactful for our young talents. 

The learning week was weaved around 

four leadership capabilities that are key for 

our future leaders in the digital world: 

• Personal Leadership – Accepting feedback 

with an open mind and appreciating 

diverse strengths; being adaptable through 

continuous learning, unlearning and 

relearning. 

• Collaborative Ideation – The new way 

of working is to seek opportunities to 

collaborate and contribute constructively, 

building on each other’s ideas. 

• Ecosystem Mindset – Harnessing the 

power of established networks by tapping 

on various expertise and relationships to 

create big wins and sustainable outcomes. 

• Global-Asia Perspective – The ability 

to appreciate and work with people 

from multiple cultural contexts taking 

into consideration local regulations and 

customs. To be curious about what’s out 

there, what the mega trends are and their 

implications. An example of a mega trend 

is advancement in technology. 

6 TELLER September 2018

News 

One of the key highlights of the 

programme was the opportunity for 

these young talents to get up close and 

personal with Group CEO Samuel Tsien 

(photo on page 6). Besides hearing about 

OCBC’s corporate strategy, the young 

talents had a 90-minute fireside chat 

where they raised burning questions, both 

professional and personal. 

Besides Sam, the young talents had the 

chance to interact with business leaders 

across our core markets and entities as 

this week encouraged them to seek a 

global perspective. 

They were given the platform to 

engage industry leaders and speakers, 

from major companies such as Olam 

International and Schneider Electric, on 

mega trends impacting the banking and 

finance industry and understand how 

these companies are leveraging new 

technologies, and finding out ways of 

working and collaborations. 

Another key aspect of Regional Week 

was getting exposure to cutting-edge 

technology. Our young talents visited 

Accenture Innovation Centre (above), 

Mastercard Innovation Hub and our own 

OCBC Group Regional Data Centre at 

Tampines Centre 1, for an eye-opening 

experience of the latest innovations 

available in the finance industry. 

At the end of the programme, the young 

talents had to apply what they learnt 

through a Business Model Analysis 

Competition. They had to analyse how 

an innovative company had evolved to 

take advantage of new opportunities and 

respond to new forms of competition, 

then apply it to the OCBC context. 

Jason Ho, head of Group Human 

Resources, said: “The Regional Week is 

customised to enable you to navigate the 

VUCA environment. The organisation will 

take care of you by providing you with 

resources such as a learning ecosystem 

and our regional networks. You’ll need 

to own your development and growth in 

this organisation to be where you aspire 

to be.” 

Watch highlights of the OCBC Young 

Talent Regional Week and hear from some 

of our Young Bankers. 

Thoughts from a few of our Young Bankers 

“We had the chance to share our experiences 

with one another and, at the same time hear 

from our leaders, gain a broader perspective 

into the bank and the things we do together. 

This network and the friendships that we 

built is really what I found most meaningful 

during the regional week.” – Ong Jia Hui (Singapore), 

Group Financial Control & Advisory 

“Be the difference, we see you!” The theme of 

the regional week encouraged us to embrace 

our uniqueness and be courageous to make 

the first move. The fireside chat with Sam 

and other regional heads delivered the same 

message – step out your comfort zone, accept 

new challenges and most importantly enjoy 

life!” – Abraham Kwak (Hong Kong), Relationship 

Manager for small and medium enterprises 

“The heartfelt discussions with the leaders 

and participants across the regions, as well as 

their insights and conversations were priceless 

and extremely impactful.” – Joey Goey 

(Malaysia), Card Ops 

“I was so inspired by speakers who attended 

during the week, specifically the session 

delivered by Sam. I got to understand unique 

business strategies and experiences from different 

business leaders about their respective 

fields in and outside OCBC.” – Kemal Caesar 

Sutama (Indonesia), Market and Liquidity Risk 

Management 


TELLER 

7

News 

Spreading the “innovate or die” mantra 

By Julien Ng 

The Open Vault 

The “splinter” unit of The Open Vault 

(TOV) at OCBC has emerged across 

the causeway. 

TOV Malaysia was officially launched by 

CEO of OCBC Malaysia Dato’ Ong Eng Bin 

and CEO of OCBC Al-Amin Mr Syed Abdull 

Aziz Jailani on 5 July 2018. 

More than 70 invited guests from the 

various business units in Malaysia also 

attended the event at the Colony@ 

KLCC, a co-working space that seeks 

to revolutionise the traditional way 

of working by transforming the work 

environment with beautiful serviced 

office spaces and world-class amenities. 

This echoes TOV’s goal to redefine 

banking and change the way we approach 

innovation in the industry. TOV, which is 

the fintech and innovation arm of OCBC 

Bank, seeks to accelerate innovation as 

well as collaborate and co-innovate with 

fintechs to solve business problems. 

Pranav Seth, Head of E-Business, Business 

Transformation and the Fintech & 

Innovation group (far left on the second 

picture)shared plans for TOV Malaysia and 

about what they sought to achieve. He also 

encouraged OCBC Malaysia to keep their 

minds open to innovation and proactively 

share their challenges and opportunities 

with TOV. 

Fabian Lim, who would helm TOV Malaysia, 

and drive the foray into innovation, was 

also introduced. He is a veteran in the area 

of digital transformation and innovation 

with experience in diverse industries from 

consulting, banking, fintech, aviation and 

telecommunications. 

OCBC Bank’s innovation journey has had 

numerous breakthroughs this year – the 

most recent was our launch of the AI Lab 

in March 2018. TOV was launched in 2016 

with four members. It now has a team of 

10 brilliant minds (including the AI which is 

considered a brain too. 

The launch of TOV Malaysia is another 

step in reinforcing OCBC’s push towards a 

culture of open innovation. 

Fabian said: “Technology can be as 

impressive as you might imagine. However, 

innovation is about improving user 

experience with thorough understanding 

of both user journey and technology, and 

that’s where The Open Vault comes in. 

Together with all the business units, we 

hope to explore solutions which ultimately 

benefit the users, with technology as the 

key enabler.” 

T 

Read additional stories – only in Teller online 

• Funnyman Gurmit 

Singh stars in 

Roystan Tan’s short 

film for OCBC Life 

Goals 

• Over 100 attend a 

Cyber Risk Seminar 

that examines risks 

associated with 

Internet of Things 

devices such as 

Google Home and 

drones 

Innovate or Die 

OCBC’S innovation 

journey blazes with the 

launch of The Open Vault 

in Malaysia 

Click on the Teller banner on OCBC Intranet’s carousel to read these and more! 


Storytelling 

This month’s examples of effective storytelling, 

while very different, both make the same point: 

Whether we are talking about Powerpoint slides 

or software that ‘learns’, technology only delivers 

when we learn how to use it properly 

The Project e-Cruise Team 

comprising Celia Chong (Consumer 

Lifestyle Finance); Han Yee Mei 

(Branch Distribution & Premier 

Banking); Zulhelmy Bin Mohd Isha 

(Contact Centre) and Sonia Kuan 

(Cards Operations). 

Artificial Intelligence the OCBC way 

By Bernadette Yuen 


If you still doubt that the age of Artificial 

Intelligence (AI) has arrived, listen to 

Ken Wong’s (right) story about how he 

recently upgraded to the latest version of 

Gmail. 

AI has supercharged the ubiquitous email 

tool, he tells me. It helps him choose the 

most important emails and what to pay 

attention to, by ‘observing’ and taking into 

account his email-opening habits. It can 

even serve up templated reply options for 

his convenience. 

A common definition of AI is technology 

that can “learn and adapt” and is not 

constrained by specific rules. 

“The world is increasingly being run by 

AI,” Ken declares, vigorously sucking up 

Vietnamese pho like a bot vacuuming 

up Internet data. “These e-commerce 

companies shipping products that you 

purchased just two hours ago? Optimised 

by AI! All the tech companies are already 

using AI to embed themselves in our lives.” 

I laugh nervously – not for the last time – 

into my salmon rice bowl. 

This March, OCBC Bank became the first 

bank in Singapore to launch an in-house AI 

lab to accelerate the development of digital 

capabilities. As its head, Ken is charged 

with helping to make OCBC Bank an “AIfirst” 

organisation. 

“Our whole world is being influenced by AI 

– even the news we read. Whatever is on 

your social media feeds – that’s how I get 

my news nowadays – it’s all decided by AI. 

Yes, Facebook. I think some people are not 

comfortable with that. What if there’s an 

important piece of news but the AI just 

shoves it down the priority list?” 

I interrupt. So should we be afraid? What is 

his approach as OCBC’s AI point man? 

Ken unfurls his vision: “To me, the 

foreseeable future will be a collaboration 

between humans and AI. AI can automate 

and do tasks that humans don’t like to do, 

that you can just leave to the AI to do. AI will 

not ‘screw it up’.” 

“Leave the important matters to humans. 

From this perspective, AI will make our 

world a better world. Humans were not 

made to do repetitive tasks – so we can all 

now focus on doing the things we like to 

do.” 

OCBC AI, present and future 

The world already knows that OCBC is 

among the first financial institutions 

regionally to leverage AI (see next page – 

Our AI successes so far). 

I ask Ken for some of the exciting 

experiments he’s currently dabbling with at 

the AI lab. His face lights up. 

Continued on page 10 


TELLER 

9

Storytelling 

From page 9 

Gesturing animatedly, he describes an AI 

they are currently training (this is software 

that “learns”, remember?) that can now 

recognise images of damaged vehicles 

and identify exactly where a vehicle was 

impacted, whether bonnet, rear seat, doors 

or windows. The team is confident this can 

be applied to our insurance business in 

assessing motor claims. 

Other experiments in the AI lab include 

extracting information from policy 

documents, using AI to identify revenue 

opportunities or conduct know-yourcustomer 

checks. 

Then there is customer service. Enthuses 

Ken: “How do we reduce the number of calls 

coming into our Contact Centre that needs 

to be handled by a human? The technology 

needs to be quite advanced and I don’t 

know if customers are ready to speak to AI. 

So maybe we’ll look at customers’ email. If 

the AI we build is smart enough to analyse 

text, we can translate text to voice and 

then the AI could potentially reply directly 

to customers!” 

All this is wonderful, I say. My nervous laugh 

returns. But about people’s many fears and 

concerns? 

Missing empathy and replacing humanity 

Ken is unfazed. He starts with soothing 

words regarding the most obvious concern: 

Jobs (read his insights in Teller Online, page 

24) 

Besides, he says, AI is saddled with one big 

limitation. 

AI has a long way to go in terms of having 

empathy, understanding human emotions 

and applying social and cultural context 

before making a decision. Current AI 

technology still lacks that human touch. 

Then Ken goes philosophical. He admits 

that the fear of AI not just making specific 

jobs obsolete, but replacing humans 

altogether – by being “smarter” – is real. 

“You watch all these movies that imagine 

the bad side of AI, and there’s fear. While 

humans build algorithms, these don’t 

dictate exactly how the AI will behave. Most 

AI is self-learning – optimising its behaviour 

to produce the outcome you desire. This is 

why some people call it a ‘black box’: An 

Let me tell you a story... 

intelligence capability similar to humans’. 

Humans cannot explain how they think; 

we just know cognitively that we want 

something. If an AI can replicate that, that’s 

frightening.” 

What happens to our humanity then, I 

ask. Yes, that nervous laugh. How can we 

prevent AI from taking over? 

“At the end of the day, AI is still technology, 

like any other technology that has come 

and gone,” says Ken emphatically. “It is the 

human that makes technology good or 

bad. AI is no different. 

“I encourage staff to participate in the 

process of creating AI. How do you make 

something as cold and harsh as AI warmer, 

more human? You have to be part of 

technology’s co-creation. Participate in the 

development. AI will only be as good as we, 

humans, make it out to be!” 

Our meal over, we smile and part. The AI 

debate will continue. 

How this story adds value 

T 

‘AI could not have written this story 

told in its wittiest and honest form.’ 

- Dominic Ying 

Our AI successes so far 

• AI-powered chatbot ‘Emma’, answers 

website questions on home and renovation 

loans “just like a human” and has helped 

rake in over $150 million in loans since Jan 

2017 

• AI has been applied to voice banking 

services in helping customers to find out 

account and credit card balances, how 

much money they need to retire on and 

the nearest ATM 

• In partnership with fintech firm Thetaray, 

AI has been used to improve our accuracy 

in identifying suspicious transactions by a 

factor of four and cut compliance analysts’ 

workload by 35% 

• Our quasi-AI “robots”, Bob and Zac, have 

massively sped up delivery of sales reports 

and processing of home loan restructuring 

applications 

• Four other robots in various departments 

in consumer banking assist with repetitive 

tasks 

T 

Smart charts 

By Dominic Ying 


Y 

ou must have used diagrams and 

charts untold times in making 

presentations and telling your 

“stories”. 

How you use visuals could even make or 

break your career. Get it wrong and you 

confuse or distract your audience, or risk 

their thinking you are pitifully out of your 

depth. 

The folks at Group Customer Analytics 

and Decisioning (GCAD) know this well. 

A key part of their job is analysing the 

voluminous data that the bank collects 

in search of hidden patterns or useful 

correlations. However, presenting these 

learnings effectively – usually via charts 

that support and illustrate the story – is 

what ensures that the right insights are 

conveyed, and business decisions made. 

Said Donald MacDonald, Head of GCAD: 

“Analysing data, identifying problems, 

seeking business solutions, all of that is 

science. Putting it into a story and telling it 

is an art. It is tough.” 

As part of the OCBC Future Smart 

Programme, GCAD worked with Learning 

and Development on an online course 

called Data Visualisation. It teaches the 

art of using charts to sweeten – not sour 

– your story. Here are four tasty appetisers: 

How this story adds value 

I love the utility of this story. It’s visual 

story-telling of how to properly visually 

story-tell! The article offers expert tips 

which are a welcome reminder of what 

to do, and what not to do, in order to 

captivate a reading audience 

- Bernadette Yuen 

If you have an OCBC-relevant story that you wish to share, write to us – providing a 

brief of the story – at tellereditor@ocbc.com. 


the OCBC way 

Pies are best eaten, not looked at 

What is worse than the familiar pie chart? 

Two pie charts! (see right). Kasper Hansen, 

Head of Consumer Analytics, who helped 

design the course, said: “Pie charts are 

only good if you are showing parts of a 

whole and need to depict no more than a 

few parts.” If there are too many slices in 

your pie, it becomes cluttered and difficult 

visually to make comparisons. To make 

a static comparison, use a bar chart. To 

compare two periods, a slope chart works 

better (see far right). 

Don’t do this 

Very satisfied 

Satisfied 

Neutral 

Unsatisfied 

Very Unsatisfied 

Do this 

Be a legend, don’t use one 

Using a legend – that’s the little box that 

explains the different lines, colours or bars 

used in your chart – is a storytelling no-no. 

The audience has to move their eyes to and 

fro many times to check what that line, 

colour or bar represents: “Your audience 

has to put in some effort to interpret what 

the chart is showing. Make it as easy as 

possible for them to get your point,” said 

Kasper. As an alternative, create the chart 

first, then add labels (see far right): “It takes 

a bit more work, but it makes it much 

cleaner and easier to read.” 


Do this 

It’s not a colouring contest 

People often use colours to make their 

charts pretty. But look (right) at how a 

distracting rainbow of colours dilutes the 

message. Don’t get the wrong message: 

Colours are an effective way to get a 

point across. But use colour only for what 

you want the reader to pay attention 

to. “Knowing when to use colours is as 

important as knowing when not to use 

them,” said Kasper. 

Average Spending 


Do this 

D for D’oh! 

D’oh is what cartoon character Homer 

Simpson famously grunts when he realises 

he has made a mistake. When it comes 

to 3D in charts, don’t be a Homer. “3D 

in charting software is useless. We have 

seen it used so often, but few realise that 

it doesn’t work. There is no good reason 

to use 3D in your pie chart or bar graph 

except to make it look stylish, and that’s 

not a good reason,” said Kasper. 3D does 

not add clarity. It is hard to read. It distorts 

the charts. Just forget it. 

T 


Very satisfied 

Satisfied 

Neutral 

Unsatisfied 

Very Unsatisfied 

Do this 


TELLER 11

Our Overseas Branches 

A roe that is changing over time 

By Maggie Lin 

OCBC Taipei Branch 

It might look unattractive at first 

glance, but the mullet roe is a delicacy 

that is unique to Taiwan and eaten 

with slices of fresh garlic (above left) 

during festivals like Chinese New Year. 

As mullet roe is expensive, it used to be a 

rare treat enjoyed only by the wealthy. 

Now, it is more common. For instance, my 

family buys mullet roe as gifts during the 

Chinese New Year. 

Currently, freshly cut mullet roe costs 

TWD900 (S$40) for 300g. After it is 

processed, it could cost up to TWD1,700 

for about 245g. 

We can buy mullet roe from Dihua Street 

about 20 minutes by car from Taipei 

Branch. 

Although it originates from a fish, it has 

a delicate taste with no hint of a “fishy” 

smell. 

Mullet roe is the egg of the mullet, a fish 

that is abundant along the southern coast 

of China. 

The mullets, which are usually between 

30 and 75cm in length, can also be found 

in warm waters of tropical areas around 

the world. Their main habitat is the sandy 

muddy waters along the coast. 

After winter solstice, or mid-winter, the 

mullets from the coast of mainland China 

will migrate south to Taiwan to spawn. 

When the mullets approach the coast 

of Taiwan, they are at their most mature 

stage before mating. This stage is the 

perfect time for harvesting roe. 

But this is not an easy task. 

First, the fish has to be cut open with care 

and the roe has to be taken out intact. The 

roe is then washed, massaged by hand to 

eliminate air pockets, and dried and cured 

in sea salt for a few weeks. 

The process of processing mullet roe has 

evolved over the years. 

The traditional method of drying the roe 

in the sun involves manually pressing the 

roe down using heavy bricks to remove 

excess water. 

Due to warmer weather in recent years, 

it is harder to catch wild mullet, and 

fishermen now breed the fish instead. 

Machines are used during the processing, 

which makes it simpler, although still 

challenging. 

This is because it requires experience to 

control the amount of salt and humidity 

applied to the mullet roe, the key factors 

that ensures its taste. 

In the past, the mullet roe had to be 

preserved by salt and eaten quickly after it 

is bought. Nowadays, it is usually packed 

in vacuum packs (above right) and can be 

kept for one year. T 

Did you know? 

Taipei Branch is located near the 

Minshen community, a residential 

area with many stylish coffee shops, 

bistros and gardens. 

You can find another famous 

Taiwanese snack – pineapple cakes 

– at Sunny Hill, a shop near the 

Branch. 


Our Overseas Branches 

Summertime treats in London 

By Amee Parmar 

OCBC London 

Inspired by popular UK television 

series The Great British Bake Off, 

OCBC London Branch took to the 

stage to present The Great OCBC Bake 

Off over five days in May. 

The baking extravaganza has been a hit 

with the Branch for the past three years. 

This year, we decided to mix the event 

up by asking colleagues to draw lots that 

would decide their baking challenge. 

The sports and social committee 

whipped up (no pun intended) five 

categories: Chocolate, savoury, fruity, 

no-bake and cookies or biscuits. 

Over 30 colleagues put on their baking 

hats and aprons to vie for the position 

of Star Baker. From 14 to 18 May 2018, 

we were treated to a whole variety of 

delicious confectioneries. Votes were 

cast daily so that prizes could be awarded 

for the “Baker of the Day”. 

Here is just a taster of what we were 

treated to each day: 

• Monday – Chocolate Day (Coconut 

Chocolate Tart, Chocolate coated Choc 

Chip Fairy Cakes, Chocolate Fudge Cake, 

Dark Chocolate Beetroot Muffins) 

• Tuesday – Savoury Day (Pesto 

Mozarrella Puffs, Madras Chicken Curry 

Puffs, Mini Quiche Lorraines, Savoury 

Muffins, Stuffed Vegetables) 

• Wednesday – Fruit Day (Lemon Yogurt 

and Blueberry Cake, Dorset Apple Cake) 

• Thursday – No Bake day (Ferroro Rocher 

& Nutella Cheesecake, Mutton& Veggie 

Rolls, Nutty Vanilla Pro Oats Smoothie) 

• Friday – Cookie/Biscuits Day (Banana & 

Choc Chip Pat Cookies, Sprinkly Freezer 

Cookies, Choc Chip Shortbread, Simply 

Shortbread) 

As you can imagine, our waistlines 

suffered. 

The daily awards were given to: 

• Monday – Coconut chocolate tart by 

Janet Card from Credit Admin 

• Tuesday – Madras chicken curry puffs by 

Jimmy Tang from CDDM Team 

• Wednesday – Lemon Yogurt and 

Blueberry cake by Tom Coupe from 

Human Resources 

• Thursday – Ferrero Rocher & Nutella 

Cheesecake by Kirti Hirani from Finance 

Team 

• Friday – Simply Shortbread by Paul Schit 

from Finance Team 

Kirti Hirani received the Star Baker 

award for her “Ferrero Rocher & Nutella 

Cheesecake”. 

We would definitely recommend this 

activity to those looking to bring out the 

competitiveness in people in the best way 

possible, with edible rewards. 

London Branch’s summer time fun did 

not end after the last slice of cake was 

eaten. After work on 19 June 2018, we 

hula-ed over to a Hawaiian hidden gem 

and found our very own private beach at 

the Montague Gardens Hotel in Holborn 

(above left), just 20 minutes away by train. 

The unexpected, yet welcome sunshine 

in the UK made the venue even more 

perfect. 

With sand under our feet and summer 

tunes playing, we kept the cocktails 

flowing (Singapore Slings, Mojitos, Piña 

Coladas and Pimms) and put on lei 

garlands and hula skirts., the evening was 

very relaxed as we chatted and caught up 

with our colleagues. 

Our tummies were filled with delicious 

nibbles – mini burgers, fish goujons and 

chips, arancini balls, lettuce burgers and 

pork meatballs followed by something 

for the sweet tooth: fruit kebabs and icecream. 

We are already looking forward to the 

summer party next year! T 

Did you know? 

We have 62 colleagues of 20 different 

nationalities, from countries such as 

Ireland, Nepal and Greece working in 

the London Branch, eight of which 

are in our Business Banking team. 


TELLER 13

OCBC. Collaborating As One. 

Processing loans made easier and faster 

By Joanne Tan 

Quality & Service Excellence 

OCBC Malaysia 

I 

n the competitive credit market, 

Pac Lease Berhad (PLB), which offers 

capital financing to businesses in 

Malaysia, has to ensure that it is able to 

process loans swiftly. 

To stay ahead, the subsidiary of OCBC 

Group which is based in Kuala Lumpur, 

embarked on two concurrent initiatives 

to transform their processes. 

The enhanced procedures improved PLB’s 

market competitiveness, and improved 

the customers’ experience. Customers 

got faster financing approval as the loan 

documents used in processing were 

error-free. Colleagues in the various 

departments also faced less frustration 

and got a better understanding of their 

own roles. 

Joe Chen, CEO of PLB and sponsor for both 

projects, said: “We want to encourage 

PLB staff to cultivate a quality culture by 

instilling a quality mindset in their daily 

work tasks. This will differentiate PLB 

from its competitors and bring PLB to 

greater heights.” 

Here are the details of their projects, 

named Project Credit 1 (left) and Project 

Twister, which aimed to improve the 

efficiency of the loan approval process. 

Who: PLB, Quality & Service Excellence 

and OCBC Malaysia 

When: From January to May 2018 

Where: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 

Why the need for improvement: It 

was observed that the lack of guidance 

available to the sales staff had resulted 

in a high rate of defects when they 

put up loan applications and relevant 

documents, to the Credit team for 

approval. After approval by the Credit 

team, the applications will be routed to the 

Marketing Support team for post-approval 

loan documentation which was also a 

laborious and error-prone process as the 

loan details are manually transcribed into 

various types of documents and formats. 

What was improved: Project Credit 1 

developed and implemented a singlepoint 

data entry file for the Sales staff 

to create loan applications. This means 

that sales staff would only need to key 

in the customers’ detail once in an Excel 

file. A pre-submission checking process 

and checklist were also developed so that 

the Sales staff can review and do a selfcheck 

to improve the accuracy and of the 

application before submitting it to the 

Credit team for approval. 

Concurrently, Project Twister simplified 

and standardised the post-approval 

loan documents, which used to come in 

different types and formats. They also 

eliminated manual transcription of case 

details by leveraging Excel files created 

by Sales staff when preparing loan 

applications. This improved efficiency and 

reduced defects and errors T 

Learning about fair dealing and language 

What fair dealing means to me 

“We must ensure that customers are 

provided with relevant information, in a 

manner easily understood by them.” 

Language tip 

We will preceed proceed with the transfer 

of funds unless we hear from you before 30 


T 

To “precede” is to come before something else. To “proceed” is to 

go on or continue. 

Sophia Bte Samad, 

Consumer Credit 

Risk Management – 

For more language tips, check out the Language Usage 

Guide on the GCC Intranet page. 


Foiling a parcel scam together 

By Jaspal Sidhu 

Branch Operation Department 

OCBC Malaysia 

B 

ank officer Elaine Lee (far right) 

noticed something amiss when a 

regular customer requested for an 

interbank giro (IBG) transfer of RM20,000 

(S$6,700) to a local bank account. 

The normally mild-mannered customer, 

34, looked nervous and kept asking for the 

transaction to be done quickly. 

Elaine, from Batu Maung Branch in 

Penang, decided to probe further as she 

suspected the customer had fallen prey 

to a scam. 

She was right, and her vigilance, along 

with the collaborative efforts of her 

Operations Service Centre Manager Carol 

Chang (far left) and regional operations 

office manager Koay Tian Teik, helped the 

Branch to foil the plans of a fraudster for 

the first time on 29 June 2018. 

After Elaine’s probing, she discovered that 

the customer wanted to remit funds to 

pay a fine as a parcel containing jewellery 

and cash from a friend overseas was stuck 

at the Customs Department in KLIA. She 

said she needed to transfer the amount 

quickly to the local bank and had already 

sent RM5,000 to another local bank 

account. 

Sure by now that this was a scam, Elaine 

brought the matter up to Carol. But 

Madam Tan was insistent on making the 

transfer, and even requested for a cash 

withdrawal so that she could make the 

transfer on her own despite Carol’s advice 

and warning to the customer. 

At this point, Carol knew she should 

escalate thie matter. She called regional 

operations manager Koay Tian Teik, who 

was away for an external engagement at 

the Penang Main Branch at Beach Street, 

20 km away from the Batu Maung Branch. 

Realising the severity of the situation, 

Tian Teik instructed the team to delay 

the transaction for as long as possible as 

he made his way to the branch. To stall 

for time, the branch members informed 

Madam Tan that information concerning 

the beneficiaries needed to be captured in 

the bank’s system before the transaction 

can take place. 

When Tian Teik arrived, he and Carol took 

the customer aside and warned her that 

she would be the next victim of a parcel 

scam if she made the funds transfer. 

They spent 30 minutes counselling her, 

and told her three similar horror stories 

of people who had lost money to such 

scams. In addition, they highlighted that 

the Bank needed supporting documents 

before allowing such a significant IBG or 

cash transaction to go through. 

At this point, Madam Tan relented and 

asked Tian Teik to text her friend using her 

phone. The scammer, as expected, was 

reluctant to give any documentary proof 

to Tian Teik and merely said: “Madam Tan 

is my long-time sister and she is sending 

me money for investments.” 

Madam Tan came to her senses after 

seeing the text. She then confided that 

she had known the man for only two 

months and realised this was definitely 

a scam upon recollecting all the earlier 

communication with the fraudster. 

Following this, she agreed, at Koay’s 

behest, to make a police report. She also 

wrote a note to compliment the team, 

thanking them for their help. 

Tian Teik said: “It never hurts to know our 

customers and to genuinely look after 

them. And it never hurts to call on each 

other when seeking to resolve a difficult 

situation.” 

T 


TELLER 15

People 

Revealing secrets of good service and writing 

By Carrie Soh and Sarah Ghani 



Personal financial consultant 

Charmaine Liew (fourth from left) 

once helped a customer count 

$1,000 worth of $1 coins as the customer 

said she trusted her more than the 

machine. 

Bank teller Jessie Leong (second from 

left) once arranged a house visit to help a 

customer who had lost her passbook and 

needed a replacement but could not go 

down to the Branch because she had just 

suffered a stroke. 

Jesse was one of the six frontline staff 

members who were recognised as 

OCBC Bank’s Stars of Stars at the Service 

Excellence Council meeting on 26 July 

2018. 

Charmaine, a member of last year’s crop 

of Stars, who met her tough targets in the 

July-December period before leaving her 

service role for sales was also honoured. 

This award aims to encourage exemplary 

front-line staff members. To be named a 

Star, hopefuls must win the top monthly 

compliments award at least six times 

over a 12-month period. Thereafter, our 

Stars no longer compete against their 

colleagues, but must strive to maintain 

the average number of compliments they 

had achieved in the previous six months 

for at least four out of six months. 

Other Star of Stars that were awarded this 

year include: Eunice Kueh (second from 

right) and Tan Ying Ying (third from right) 

from SMU FRANK store, Derry Tan from 

Orchardgateway FRANK store (far right), 

Michelle Lim from CompassOne Branch 

and (third from left) Kelvin Ng from Global 

Enterprise Banking (far left). 

Jessie who has been with the Bank for 

more than three years now works as a 

Bank teller at Choa Chu Kang Branch. She 

serves an average of 70 to 80 customers 

daily, helping with the processing of cash 

transactions and assisting in making 

changes to customers’ particulars. 

Jesse’s advice to aspiring “Stars” is simple 

— genuinely engage the customers and 

always serve with a smile. 

She said: “Working in the service front 

line requires a lot of patience and 

understanding. I have to remain polite 

and professional even if the customer is 

overly rude and demanding. But the desire 

to provide a pleasant experience for every 

customer and to fulfil their needs to the 

best of my ability keeps me going at my 

job.” 

Charmaine, who is from Woodlands 

Branch, was named a Star of Stars for 

the second time. She encouraged aspiring 

“Stars” to deliver high service standards as 

it will retain loyalty among customers.

People 

“The best advertisement is a customer 

who spreads the word that your service is 

incredible,” added Charmaine. 

Acknowledging the challenge in choosing 

the right approach to handle a wide range 

of customers, she added: “Customer 

service standards are rising all the 

time. I have to keep up with the pace 

and consistently upgrade my skills and 

knowledge to meet their expectations.” 

Bank’s writers recognised 

At the same ceremony, OCBC Bank’s best 

writers were also recognised for their 

skills. 

Every other month, Certified 

Correspondence Writers (CCW) from 

identified writing units submit samples 

of their written or vetted responses 

to customer feedback to the Group 

Corporate Communications’ Editorial 

Team (ET) for review. 

There are over 30 CCWs in the bank. 

These writers, who vet or write letters 

for the Bank, must ensure that such 

correspondences adhere to the OCBC 

Editorial Style Policy & Guidelines, and are 

of high standard in areas like language, 

customer centricity and clarity. 

To maintain her command of English, 

CCW Cecilia Martin (above, six from right) 

from Contact Centre prefers British and 

Irish authors and listens to the British 

Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) regularly. 

Her efforts have paid off. Cecilia, who 

received the highest average store during 

the bi-monthly review, was named the 

Most Consistent CCW for the second year 

in a row. 

Andy Tay from Customer Assurance 

(above, far right) was the Most Improved 

CCW. This new award recognises the CCW 

who has shown the greatest improvement 

in his/her average score in 2017 compared 

to 2016. Andy was the Most Consistent 

CCW in 2014. 

Contact Centre won both the Best Writing 

Unit and Most Improved Writing Unit. This 

is the first time that a writing unit has won 

both awards. 

Cecilia, who became a CCW seven years 

ago, now conducts training sessions twice 

a week to help her colleagues who wish to 

become CCWs. 

To become a CCW, a member of staff must 

attend a course comprising a three-hour 

training component and a written test 

administered by ET. 

On how to write for the customer, Cecilia 

said: “Understand the scenarios well 

before planning your replies. The message 

that you convey has to be meaningful. It 

has to be grammatically correct, customercentric, 

concise, well-organised and 

consistent with our house-style. Do make 

time to proof-read a few times to ensure 

that you have got everything covered.” 

Terrence Wu (fourth from left), a strategist 

from the GT Research and Strategy team 

(above, right), was the first in the Bank 

to be appointed a Certified Writer of 

Speeches. 

On how to write accurately, clearly and 

in an engaging manner, he said: “I believe 

content is at least as important as style. 

For a start, one should have good content 

to share with the audience. Following 

that, structure the content in an easy to 

consume manner and then deliver it with 

precision and clarity.” 

T 


TELLER 17

People 

Lessons from our childhood stories 

By Darren Tan 

Chief Financial Officer 

Darren gave this speech to the graduating 

class of the Bachelor of Accountancy, 

Nanyang Business School on 25 July 2018. 

In the age of internet where the best 

speeches are easily available on 

YouTube, it is a daunting task to prepare 

an original commencement speech that 

could capture your attention, much less 

inspire you. 

So you may ask “why” then did I take up this 

challenge to address you? And I will answer 

you “why not” as one of my key messages 

from the stories that I am going to share 

with you today. 

I have always enjoyed reading and from 

time to time, I would pour over books that 

I bought for my children. Over the years, 

I’ve come to realize that children’s books 

contain some of the most important and 

beautifully crafted advices. So, in preparing 

for this speech, I decided to draw upon 

three stories that we have read as children. 

These are the stories of the “Holy Cat”, the 

“Golden Eagle” and the “Wizard of Oz”. 

Holy Cat Ask —“Why?” 

Let me start with the story of the Holy 


Cat. The story of “why”? The story goes 

as follows: in an Ashram in ancient India, 

when the guru sat down to worship each 

evening with his disciples, a cat would 

come and distract them by making a lot of 

noise. Hence the guru ordered his disciples 

to tie the cat up during their prayers. After 

the guru died, the cat continued to be tied 

up during worship. And when the cat died, 

another cat was brought into the Ashram 

to make sure that the guru’s order was 

faithfully observed. As the years went by, 

the habit hardened into a religious ritual 

without anyone asking why the cat was 

tied up in the first place. 

You may laugh at the silliness of the 

disciples in the story or even dismiss that 

such follies could only happen in ancient 

society. But trust me, there are many holy 

cats that are tied up today, and an equal 

number of people who have not asked 

“why?”. 

Let me give you an example. My team 

used to spend two weeks each month 

to produce a market share report for the 

Bank. I noticed that we never received any 

questions after the report was emailed 

to the bank’s management team. Why? 

Either the report was perfect, hence no 

questions, or the report was unread, and 

hence no questions. So, I encouraged the 

team to analyse the relevance of the report, 

rather than continue with the routine of 

producing the report. We discovered that 

some data in the report were no longer 

relevant or necessary. Furthermore, the 

report was too complicated and provided 

no meaningful insights. No wonder there 

were no questions! Hence, we worked to 

simplify the report, eliminate unnecessary 

information and synthesise key insights 

from the data. We moved away from the 

task of merely reporting the numbers to 

telling the stories behind the numbers. 

When the revamped report was circulated, 

we started getting questions, and received 

positive feedback on the usefulness of the 

report. All these from just asking “why?”. 

My team felt appreciated and became more 

motivated to release more Holy Cats. 

So, as you embark on your career, I 

encourage you to be passionately curious, 

take a step back every time, and ask “why”. 

You will be amazed at what you can achieve 

with this very simple question. 

Golden Eagle — “Why Not?” 

Next – the story of the “Golden Eagle”. The 

story of “why not?”. This is the story of an

People 

“... as you embark on your career, I encourage you to be passionately 

curious, take a step back every time, and ask “why”. You will be 

amazed at what you can achieve with this very simple question.” 

eagle that was raised in a chicken farm. It 

mimicked the actions of the other chickens 

and grew up thinking it was a chicken. 

Years passed. One day, the eagle, now older, 

saw a magnificent bird soaring gracefully, 

high up in the sky. Spell-bound, it asked 

“Who’s that?”. “That’s the eagle, the king 

of the birds,” said his neighbour, a chicken. 

“We will never be like the eagle”, lamented 

the chicken. So the eagle lived and died, 

thinking it was a chicken. 

The truth is I am an accidental CFO. I never 

dreamt that I will become a CFO having 

started my career as a portfolio manager in 

the Government of Singapore Investment 

Corporation. I joined OCBC Bank in 2007 

to manage the bank’s balance sheet, only 

to encounter the Global Financial Crisis 

in 2009. It was a difficult period as I was 

caught in the centre of the liquidity and 

credit crisis. I managed the bank’s balance 

sheet reasonably well which probably 

explained why Mr David Conner, the CEO 

of OCBC then, offered me to step into the 

role of the CFO in 2011. 

While it was a great opportunity, it was also 

a daunting one as I had no prior working 

experience in accounting. Wouldn’t that be 

the minimum pre-requisite for the CFO of a 

major bank like OCBC? And I had to step out 

of my comfort zone as a portfolio manager 

and into unchartered waters of a CFO. But, 

I said — “why not” — to David, on the spot. 

Well, if David was comfortable to give me 

a chance to be the CFO, why should I deny 

myself? Why should I be a chicken when I 

can be an eagle? It was an offer I could not 

refuse. 

That was all back in 2011. And here I am 

speaking to you in 2018. In between, I 

helped the bank acquire Wing Hang Bank 

in Hong Kong, set up a new Corporate 

Treasury function that steers the Bank’s 

balance sheet. Today, I lead a group of close 

to 500 finance professionals globally. So 

when others, or even yourself, tell you that 

you cannot be an eagle, remember to tell 

yourself, “why not?” 

Wizard of Oz – Courage, Brain & Heart 

Last story - the “Wizard of Oz”. The story of 

courage, brain and heart. This is a timeless 

classic that many of you may have read. 

The story about Dorothy who wants to go 

home, the Lion who wants courage, the 

Scarecrow who wants a brain and the Tin 

Man who wants a heart. 

In a way, we are all Dorothy one way or 

another, aren’t we? Looking for our home, 

our destiny. And to find where we belong, 

we need courage, to use our brain and 

have our heart in the right place. Let me 

elaborate. 

Courage 

Courage is having the conviction to stay on 

a course of action and follow it to an end, 

even when it means having to put up a 

fight. 

Peer pressure does not stop after you 

graduate. In fact, you will likely face 

tougher situations and be asked to make 

difficult decisions. These will require a lot 

of courage, both to say yes and to say no. 

The recent collapse of Carillion, a major 

outsourcer of government work in the 

UK, brought back memories of the Enron 

scandal, and the subsequent collapse of 

Arthur Anderson. Several public reports 

are again calling for increased scrutiny of 

auditors, citing the lack of independence 

and the declining standards of audit. 

As some of you move on to become 

accountants or auditors, you might be 

caught in situations that will put you at 

cross roads. Due to time constraints or 

blurring client relationships, you might 

be pressured to compromise – perhaps 

beginning with instances of less thorough 

compliance testing. But over time, they 

may grow into something more severe — 

so beware of the slippery slope. 

What I painted is probably stretched, 

but certainly plausible and definitely not 

unique to the accounting profession. 

When confronted by these challenges, you 

will struggle, but it is important to do the 

right thing, and stand firm. You may say it 

is “easier said than done”. And I say “yes, it 

is never easy”. In fact, doing the right thing 

and not the easy thing requires courage. 

Can you be a Lion without courage? 

To read about the other two lessons from 

the Wizard of Oz, go to page 25 of Teller 

Online. 


TELLER 19

People 

(From left) A copy of Teller from 1970 (then known as Berita), an issue from 1990 (then 

known as OCBC Teller) and a June 2013 issue, the first since the revamp of our layout 

Saying goodbye to Seng Printing 



Want to see how Teller is printed? Go to 

Teller Online for video footage and more. 

T 

his is the last issue of Teller 

that is printed by Seng Printing 

& Company, which has been 

publishing OCBC Bank’s internal 

newsletter since the 1970s. 

The company, which has been in business 

for 46 years, ended its operations on 31 

August 2018 as its managing partner 

Chionh Say Yow will be retiring. 

Liew Mee Peng, graphic artist and 

photographer of Teller, has been working 

closely with the company since she joined 

the bank in January 1989. 

Over the past 29 years, she has worked 

on three different publishing platforms 

— Page maker, Quad Express and Adobe 

Indesign (the software that we are 

currently using). 

In recent years, Seng Printing has been 

helpful in accommodating our special 

requests — a wraparound cover featuring 

the OCBC arena in December 2013 and 

a four-page pull-out cover for readers to 

colour in. 

Mee Peng said that Seng Printing has been 

obliging in meeting our deadlines and lastminute 

changes. They are also in charge 

of the delivery of Teller, ensuring that the 

copies reach the various departments ontime. 

She said: “Over the years, Seng Printing 

have been professional and patient with 

us. They have always gone the extra mile, 

and will even help to look out for errors 

before we go to print.” 

In a letter to announce the closure of 

the company, Mr Chionh said: “The Seng 

Printing & Company has been operating 

since 1972 in Singapore. During the 

past 46 years, we are gratified that we 

have been able to participate and carry 

out major printing projects in the local 

printing industry... 

“However, good things will always come 

to an end and this business closure is one 

of great regret.” 

T 

TELLER EDITORIAL TEAM: 

Dawn Chia (Supervising Editor), Linette Heng (Teller Coordinator), Angeline Shee, Brenda Tay, Caber Anna Maria Abon, Chen Guan You, Chew Xian Pei, Desmond Seah, Geraldine Chew, 

Jessie Chew, Jone Renier Flores Flores, Josephine Tan, Kemmy Tay, Kooswardini Retno, Pandora Ng, Josephine Mary Dawson, Peng Wei Lun, Tan Xian Ling, Wallace Goh, 

Wong Wei Han, Zhang Meng, Liew Mee Peng (Photographer) 


teaser482September 2018 

Unscramble these words 

Rearrange these words as they appear in this issue of Teller. The page numbers on which the words are found 

are given in brackets. Hint: They are found in the headline! One has been done for you. 

1) TSLSURE (page 2): 

Results 

2) INTCAOSRNTA (page 3): 

3) OIANGREL (page 6): 

4) NVITNNOIOA (page 8): 

5) EENILGCNILTE (page 9): 

6) NONDLO(page 12): 

6) MTIE (page 13): 

7) TFARES (page 14): 

Rules and Regulations 

1. All staff of OCBC Group in Singapore, Malaysia and Overseas are eligible to 

participate except staff of Group Corporate Communications. 

2. Each staff member is allowed only one entry. Multiple entries will be disqualified. 

3. Prizes of S$20 each will be given to the first 10 correct entries drawn. 

4. All participants are required to fill in their Savings/Current account number. 

5. Participants have to fill in their entries and submit them to: 

The Editor 

OCBC Teller 

c/o Group Corporate Communications 

65 Chulia Street #32-02, Singapore 049513 

by 20 September 2018. 

6. Colleagues based outside of Singapore can scan and email their entries to 

tellereditor@ocbc.com or fax to The Editor, OCBC Teller at 65357477. 

September teaser 482 

Name ___________________________________________________________________ 

Bank/Subsidiary*________________________________ Employee No. _______________ 

Branch/Division/Department _________________________________________________ 

OCBC/BOS/OBMB Savings/Current Account No. _________________________________ 

*Delete where not applicable 

Congratulations to the 

10 lucky winners for 

TEASER 479! 

Awyong Liang Rou (O&T), Gan Tze Jin Crystal (OBMB), Lam Woon Hui (Kallang Branch), Lee Yeng Ling (OCBC 

Centre Branch), Li Weizhi Kevyn (Global Commercial Banking), Mohd Zaidi Bin Zainal Abidin (OCBC Bukit 

Damansara), Siti Nurbayah Binte Mohamad Amin (GQSE Divisional Office), Tan Chai Lian Jasmine 

(Global Commercial Banking), Tay Hui Lin Joanne (Toa Payoh Centre Branch), Yap Yik Yen (Quality &Service 

Excellence) 

*The answer for Teaser 479 can be found in Teller online.

Online Extra 

Choosing banking as a career 

From page 5 




What skill sets are needed for someone 

who is interested in transaction banking? 

First of all, you need to have an affinity 

with technology. You cannot be afraid of 

technology, because we are in the business 

of fintech. You also need to understand 

corporate clients and their needs. Lastly, 

you need to be creative in order to craft 

solutions and develop new products 

that will help meet the clients’ needs. So 

you have to be innovative, very processminded, 

understand operations and again, 

be able to use technology to come up with 

solutions. That said, I think our education 

system produces good transaction bankers 

because we are trained in the sciences and 

process thinking. 

Do you think there is still an interest in 

banking? 

I think a little bit of the shine came off 

after the global financial crisis (in 2008). 

Before the financial crisis, the focus was 

on financial engineering creating complex 

financial structures to sell to clients. It 

was great to be in banking. Post crisis, the 

focus has shifted back to core banking, and 

many left the industry. 

I think it is better now, compared to 10 

years ago (during the financial crisis). But 

young people have a lot more choices 

today and are rightly selective. Having said 

that, I think there are few jobs as stable as 

banking, especially if you are in Singapore. 

The financial sector is still a major employer 

and one can make a decent living. 

The question, then, is which part of 

banking should you go into? I always ask 

this rhetorical question: “Do you want 

to be an area where there is growth, get 

involved with exciting products or roll 

out the newest innovation, and where 

you can add value to clients – big or small 

– who will listen to you because you are 

providing solutions for them?” Then I share 

with them what I do and how transaction 

banking can be a meaningful and exciting 

career path for them. This is what I’m 

passionate about. T

Online Extra 

Knowing the risks of smart devices 

By Wayne Weng 

Group Technology Information Cyber Risk 

Operational Risk Management 

The thought of getting your cat to 

hack into your neighbor’s Wi-Fi, or 

that your spanking new smart fridge 

could be a cyber attacker in disguise might 

sound like science fiction. 

However, the line between reality and 

fiction is becoming progressively blurred 

in this increasingly connected world of 

rapid technological advancements, and 

these were some real examples of the 

risks associated with Internet of Things 

(IoT) devices. 

Over 100 colleagues from various 

departments across OCBC Bank attended 

a lively and eye-opening seminar at 

Campus@OCBC on 27 July 2018 to learn 

about the risks associated with IoT devices 

such as Google Home, smart fridges and 

drones. 

Pets are not spared either – in the case 

of the Wi-Fi-hacking cat, its owner had 

reprogrammed its smart collar to use it 

as a vulnerability sniffing tool to identify 

which of his neighhour’s Wi-Fi neworks 

were unprotected or could be easily 

breached. 

Ivan Lee, Deputy Director of the iTrust 

Centre for Research in Cyber Security, 

Singapore University of Technology 

and Design (SUTD), shared examples of 

how everyday devices and household 

appliances could lead to unauthorized 

surveillance and information loss or even 

be seized by cyber criminals for illegal 

means. 

On how the adoption of technology needs 

to be delicately managed in a heavily 

regulated industry like the banking sector, 

Thomas Kok, Head of Group Technology 

Information and Cyber Risk, said: 

“Adoption of new technologies creates not 

just immense value but also underlying 

risks. In our pursuit to continue providing 

innovating and cutting-edge services to 

our customers, we must be mindful of the 

potential risks that are created to provide 

a safe and secure environment for both 

our customers and our colleagues.” 

Dr Ong Eng Hong, SUTD Director of 

Academics, said: “We are very pleased to 

have the opportunity to share with OCBC 

colleagues some of the latest research 

that our institution is developing in the 

IoT domain. I look forward to a great 

partnership with an industry leader 

like OCBC, be it in the co-creation of 

knowledge or addressing the industry’s 

upskill and reskilling needs, so that we 

can harness emerging technologies to be 

future ready.” 

Since its introduction in 2017, many 

industry experts have shared their insights 

at the Cyber Risk Seminars (CRS) organised 

by Group Technology Information and 

Cyber Risk (TICR) They have spoken on 

a range of trending topics such as the 

risks associated with Robotics Process 

Automation, the evolving cyber threat 

landscape and recent cyber regulatory 

developments. 

As one of the key pillars of the Future 

Smart initiative, risk and governance in 

the digital era will continue to be an area 

that generates a keen level of interest 

across the Bank. With a series of seminars 

and symposiums covering similar cyber 

risk topics in the upcoming months, 

colleagues can look forward to further 

elevating their knowledge in this exciting 

new domain. T 


TELLER 23

Online Extra 

How AI can make OCBC jobs better 

From page 9 

By Bernadette Yuen 


Y 

es, employees may see robots and 

AI as a threat, but OCBC Artificial 

Intelligence unit chief Ken Wong 

(second from left) thinks the reverse 

should be true. In a sense. 

And he is ready with concrete examples, 

as we shall see. 

Passionate in defending his role and the 

technology he wants to embed in much 

of what OCBC does, he said: “The view I 

currently take is this – AI will not 100 per 

cent replace humans.” 

He notes that “yes, some jobs can be done 

by AI in the future”. But with Singapore’s 

ever-improving education levels, and 

stresses caused by slow population 

growth, many such jobs will go begging in 

the future anyway. 

There is also an irony here. 

“On the one hand, some people want their 

menial, repetitive tasks to be automated, 

but then they worry about what would 

happen to them and their jobs once this 

begins to happen. I hope people can see 

this positively instead. AI is not here to 


replace them, it’s here to help them do 

higher-value work!” 

He first cites the instance of OCBC Bank’s 

bonds analysts, and how they have to 

monitor the news on all the bonds issuers 

in the market. This is done manually 

today, but this whole process can be fully 

automated – from the monitoring of the 

news, to understanding whether the 

news is positive or negative, to identifying 

if the issuer involved is related to OCBC 

Bank’s products. 

Applying AI to this process means our 

bonds analysts can now take a step back 

from the daily grind of monitoring the 

news and consolidating reports, and 

instead simply review a consolidated 

report put together by the AI, then 

provide insightful recommendations 

to customers on how to manage their 

investments. 

Ken’s next example is how AI can be 

used to help our compliance analysts 

in the fight against money laundering 

and terrorism financing. This is done by 

searching for information on individual 

profiles, and mapping how suspicious 

transactions may be linked to one 

another to see if they are indeed 

fraudulent or illegal. 

Today, this process is carried out 

manually by an internal compliance 

analyst, with the total time required 

lasting between one hour and a few 

days. AI speeds things up significantly – 

for instance, the “desktop” component 

of the research can be reduced from 

one hour to just one minute – and can 

increase the overall productivity of an 

analyst by 100 per cent. 

Said Ken, enthusiastic as ever: “With 

the help of AI, our colleagues will have 

the ability to process more information, 

and can do so in double quick time!” T

The brain and heart of success 

From page 18 

By Darren Tan 

Chief Financial Officer 

Brain 

But, of course, you can never fight all 

battles. You must pick the right battles 

to win the war. This requires you to be 

smart, to use your brain. Here I am going 

to quote Professor Neo Boon Siong and 

Professor Geraldine Chen from their book 

Dynamic Governance, “Think ahead, Think 

again and Think across”. 

You might be wondering whether what 

you have studied in accountancy over the 

past few years are still relevant given the 

rapid changes that are taking place in the 

industry. Or whether you will be made 

obsolete by technology – if not now, soon 

enough. Unfortunately, I won’t be able 

to tell you that you are still relevant or 

whether you will get a job or whether you 

will get to keep your job. 

Why? That’s because I am not you! The 

answers to these questions - whether 

you remain relevant, get a job, keep a 

job, be promoted, and become a CFO 

or a CEO – solely depends on you. You 

must think ahead to prepare yourself for 

the future. Think again whether you are 

doing the right thing, and doing things 

right. And think across to have a broader 

understanding, and be open to new 

experiences. 

Don’t settle. Don’t stagnate. Only then, 

can you become better, and remain 

relevant. If you apply your brain to think 

ahead, again and across, you will not be a 

Scarecrow. 

Heart 

And to do things really, really well, as we all 

know, we need to have heart. And having 

heart is to have passion and compassion. 

You would have heard of many who 

advocate that success is often attained by 

following your passion. The truth is that it 

takes time and commitment to develop 

your passion. Fully immerse yourself in 

every opportunity and be wholehearted in 

all that you do. Only then can you discover 

what fits. 

Many people fail to find their passion not 

because of lack of desire, but because of 

lack of commitment. We often hear of 

people who changed the world, but what 

we don’t see is the commitment that 

made them who they are today. So make 

a promise today to commit to your passion 

and never give up. 

Finally, bring compassion with you 

wherever you go. Looking back, I have 

personally benefitted from the guidance 

of many mentors in my career. And now, I 

feel deep satisfaction each time I help my 

colleagues to grow and succeed. 

Nelson Mandela once said: “What counts 

in life is not the mere fact that we have 

lived. It is what difference we have made to 

the lives of others that will determine the 

significance of the life we lead.” So kudos 

to the tutors, lecturers and professors of 

Nanyang Business School, especially those 

who are here with us today. 

And to repay their dedication and 

guidance, you must commit to something 

that makes you tick. And as you pursue 

your passion, layer it with compassion. 

Pay it forward – You are in a privileged 

position to share and to contribute. 

Embrace every opportunity to do so. 

Ultimately, what differentiates us as 

homo sapiens from a robot or Tin Man is 

our heart. 

Down the road, you may be envious of 

friends who seem to be achieving so much 

in their lives and living out their dreams, 

while you struggle to play catch-up. Don’t 

be anxious. Each one of us has our own 

timeline. Jack Ma started Alibaba when 

he was 35 and renowned fashion designer 

Vera Wang, did not design her first dress 

until she was 40. 

Be patient, and run your own race. 

To close, I urge you to create meaningful 

and fulfilling lives for yourselves and use 

that to make an impact on others. Have 

courage to take a chance, broaden your 

thinking. Be passionate about whatever 

you do. Be compassionate and help those 

around you grow. 

Don’t just aspire to make a living; aspire to 

make a difference. Life is a journey, and I 

thank you for letting me be a part of yours 

today. 

Congratulations, Class of 2018. Good luck 

and bon voyage. 

T 


TELLER 25

Online Extra 

Keeping Yeli Island beautiful 

By Grace Peng 

Zhuhai Branch 

OCBC Wing Hang (China 

Yeli Island, a small island in Zhuhai 

with beautiful scenery, is a popular 

destination among the locals. 

On July 7 2018, seven volunteers from 

OCBC Wing Hang (China) Zhuhai Branch, 

including Jane Liang, head of Zhuhai 

Branch, made a trip to Yeli Island to do our 

part to protect its beautiful environment. 

After distributing the tools needed for 

litter picking – gloves, pliers and garbage 

bags – volunteers (above, right) picked up 

garbage found near the coastline. 

We found a wide range of items, such 

as beverage bottles, food packages, 

disposable polystyrene boxes which 

would seriously affect the marine 

environment. 

Some of our colleagues also brought 

their children to join the activity. The 

two kids (above, left) were enthusiastic 

and helped to pick up many cigarette 

butts and beverage bottles. Through this 

activity, they recognised the effects of 

irresponsible littering on the environment. 

Although the weather was hot, no one 

complained as we were glad that we were 

able to make a small contribution to the 

environment. 

Jane said: “This island cleaning activity 

underscores the need to protect our 

environment. Everyone has a part to play 

in protecting the environment, so that we 

can live in a beautiful and clean city.” T 


Online Extra 

A fruitful day with the elderly 

By Ng Joan 

Consumer Secured Lending 

On 28 June 2018, at a regular 

quarterly update of our 

department’s progress and 

performance, 148 Consumer 

Secured Lending (CSL) colleagues were 

dressed to the “Aloha” theme (above) to 

pack goodie bags and 130 fruit baskets 

for elderly beneficiaries from South East 

Community Development Council (CDC). 

Each basket contained a colourful variety 

of fruits – apple, kiwi, pear, papaya, 

persimmon, banana, plum and peach. 

Besides engaging in team bonding 

activities, we had a common goal – that 

our gifts, including the variety of fruits 

that were specially selected for the 

elderly beneficiaries, would bring joy to 

them. 

The next day, on 29 June 2018, 54 

volunteers from CSL gathered at 

CARElderly Seniors Activity Centre at 

Merpati Road (right) to distribute our 

trolley of “happiness” (the fruit basket 

and goodie bag packed the night before) 

to the residents. 

It was raining heavily, but it did not 

dampen our spirit of giving. We sheltered 

100 trolleys and 130 fruit baskets from 

the rain to make sure the residents 

received them in the best condition. 

To us, this was not just another 

distribution exercise but a chance to 

meet and interact with the people 

behind each door that was opened for us. 

Through these activities, we got to do our 

part to assist the needy, bond with them 

and connect with the community. 

This is not the first time CSL is giving back 

to society as we would make it a point to 

engage in Corporate Social Responsibility 

(CSR) related activities every year. 

Last year, we collaborated with South 

East CDC and participated in the NTUC 

FairPrice Walk for Rice. For every 200 

metres that we walked, NTUC FairPrice 

would donate one bag of rice to a needy 

family living in the South East District. 

Over six weeks from October to 

December 2017, the department walked 

a total of 2,600 kilometres together. At 

the last walk, we invited stakeholders 

from the various divisions (such as 

Group Human Resource, Group Risk and 

Management) to join us. 

With the distance clocked as a department, 

we managed to donate 2,100 packets of rice 

which benefitted 1,055 needy households. 

We held a separate session to distribute 

goodie bags filled with necessities like 

toothpaste, toothbrush, tissue paper, soap, 

body lotion, and liquid detergent to 500 

needy families and seniors at Kembangan- 

Chai Chee area on 27 December 2017. 

Product manager Sherlyn Sim said that she 

is looking forward to the next CSR activity 

with her colleagues: “It was meaningful to 

incorporate our quarterly update with a CSR 

cause for the first time. Seeing the smiles 

of the beneficiaries made all our efforts, 

especially braving the rain, all worthwhile! 

It was a great session for bonding, and 

opportunity to give back to the society.” T 


TELLER 27

Online Extra 

Walking together to support autism 

By Mohd Zhafran Bin Mohd Zulkafli 

Business Development 

OCBC Al-Amin 

T 

he usually busy roads of central 

Kuala Lumpur were car-free on 15 

July – perfect for 30 children with 

autism and their parents to explore the 

area. 

More than 300 people, including members 

of the public, were led by staff members 

from OCBC Al-Amin as they walked handin-hand 

with the children in a scenic 3km 

route that passed famous roads like Jalan 

Raja Laut and Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman. 

The event was held in conjunction with 

OCBC KL Car Free Morning at Dataran 

DBKL, which takes place on the first and 

third Sunday of the month. 

Our colleagues raised a total of RM20,000 

(S$6,650) through the walk, which aimed 

to raise funds and create awareness 

about autism. These funds went to IDEAS 

Autism Centre to provide care, support 

and education to these children. 

The walk was flagged off at 7.30am by 

the Chairman of the Implementation 

Committee of OCBC KL Car Free Morning, 

Datuk Naim Mohamad, OCBC Malaysia 

CEO Ong Eng Bin, OCBC Al-Amin CEO Syed 

Abdull Aziz Syed Kechik, and Principal of 

the IDEAS Autism Centre Sharifah Salleh. 

As a token of appreciation, all participants 

received a goodie bag and breakfast. 

Syed Abdull Aziz said the Bank was happy 

to host the walk for the children and their 

parents. “It was a pleasure to see the 

cheery faces of these children as they 

walked along the route. This made the 

walk a memorable one.” T 

Royston Tan’s short film for OCBC Life 

Goals will appear in the next issue of 

Teller. 

Look out for it then! 


Online Extra 

The answer to 

teaser479July 2018 

Find the tile! 

Match the puzzle pieces on the right to their corresponding image tile in the photo below. Fill in your answers in the 

boxes provided. One has been done for you. 

A B C D E F 

Answer: 

1 

C 6 

2 

A4 

3 

4 

F8 

5 

E3 

6 

F2 

7 

8 

B3 


TELLER 29

Knowing the risks of smart devices 

T 


TELLER 31

September Teller 1

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