OCBC has named Helen Wong as its new chief executive, replacing Samuel Tsien upon his retirement on April 14.
Wong becomes the first female chief executive of a Singapore bank, in an appointment that makes greater sense of her departure from HSBC in August 2019.
Wong, who rose to be chief executive of HSBC Greater China, started her career at OCBC in 1984 as a desk manager and her return bookends a career spent mainly in Hong Kong and China, including a spell as chair of the Hong Kong Association of Banks.
Her departure from HSBC, coming so close to the ousting of John Flint as chief executive, was closely watched.
At the time, HSBC was under exceptional scrutiny from every angle. It was worrying about China’s expected list of unreliable organizations, and the pressure that had been put on other Hong Kong-linked iconic corporates such as Cathay Pacific.
At the same time, it was being pushed to help the US Department of Justice in its investigation of Huawei. It was perhaps not the most stress-free place to earn a living as a China executive.
HSBC
