OCBC’s excess capital may spark acquisition deals

More earnings: A man walks out of an OCBC Bank branch in Singapore. The bank could go on an acquisition spree, given its strong capital base and strategies. — Reuters

SINGAPORE: Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp’s (OCBC) high capital levels may give South-East Asia’s second-largest lender as much as S$7bil (US$5.2bil or RM21.7bil) in excess funds that could be used for acquisitions, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Rena Kwok.

Singapore-based OCBC has between S$5bil (RM15.5bil) and S$7bil (RM21.7bil) in potential dry power assuming the bank maintains its common equity tier-one (CET1) buffer in the range of 12.5%-13.5%, Kwok said yesterday in a reply to questions from Bloomberg News.