OCBC has become the first Singapore bank to set up an ethics and conduct board committee.

It said the new committee aims to ensure that the group's core values of trust and integrity continue to anchor the way it conducts its business.

"Given the environment today where several financial institutions - including top international banks - have been mired in controversies involving ethical misconduct, the setting up of the committee is timely to ensure that responsible banking is rigorously enforced across the group," it said yesterday.

The board is chaired by OCBC chairman Ooi Sang Kuang and includes directors Lee Tih Shih and Christina Ong.

The committee, which held its first meeting yesterday, oversees a new culture and conduct management committee chaired by group chief executive Samuel Tsien.

The management committee will implement initiatives to enhance existing policies and programmes on ethics and conduct, and roll out new ones.

Mr Ooi said: "The banking industry is transforming rapidly due to technological advancements, and customers' expectations have also changed.

"However, what has not changed is that our customers still expect us to be utterly worthy of their trust. That is why amid so much change in the banking industry, our underlying values of integrity and honesty must never change.

"Trust in financial institutions is not just critical to a bank's success. Without such trust, a country's financial system will not be able to productively serve the country and society."