OCBC
OCBC’s Daniel Tan has carved out an inventive franchise in Myanmar, in spite of the retail and commercial limitations that foreign banks operate under in the country.
After doubling branch capital to $150 million in 2017, Tan, who is general manager, tripled the number of staff and stepped smartly into project and export finance, foreign exchange and the remittance market.
In 2018, OCBC underwrote the upgrade of equipment of a leading local telco to the tune of $62 million. In another deal, OCBC provided $13 million in long-term financing for a hydroelectricity plant, while in healthcare, OCBC lent $20 million to build a new 200-bed international private hospital backed by a Thai group.
Yet other deals include a $30 million, three-year term facility to finance a large property development in Yangon and a $40.2 million, seven-year syndicated loan facility, which it says was the first of its kind in the country, to Malaysia-backed OCK Yangon to build 900 new telecoms towers.
In 2018, OCBC says investments from customers reached $500 million.
Tan’s team handled almost 1,400 inward remittance transactions worth $815 million, while in forex, OCBC claims a 12% market share with one of the largest transaction volumes in the country.
OCBC’s business banking platform Velocity@ocbc, now almost four years old in Myanmar, experienced a 28% jump in users. The bank says 83% of its customers in Myanmar use the app, which processes 60% of their transactions.