OCBC shares rise even as MAS slaps on $330m additional capital requirement

OCBC shares closed 0.34 per cent higher at $11.70 on Friday. ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG

SINGAPORE - OCBC Bank shares climbed on Friday (May 27) even as the financial regulator slapped a $330 million additional capital requirement on Singapore's second-largest bank the day before.

The move means that OCBC has to set aside more funds, which could have instead been used for the likes of investments and hiring, to buffer against operational risks. However, the bank already maintains capital buffers that exceed the minimum level for Singapore banks.

OCBC shares closed 0.34 per cent higher at $11.70 on Friday, following the announcement on Thursday evening. 

Its peers DBS Bank and UOB rose 0.23 per cent and 0.93 per cent respectively, while the Straits Times Index gained 0.67 per cent.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) imposed the requirement on OCBC in the light of deficiencies in the bank's response to a wave of spoofed SMS phishing scams last December in which 790 victims lost $13.7 million.

OCBC has since arranged goodwill payouts to those affected and put in place measures such as a "kill switch" that lets customers freeze their bank accounts if they suspect that they have been scammed.

MAS' move will affect OCBC's common equity tier 1 (CET-1) ratio - which measures a bank's core equity capital compared with its total risk-weighted assets. The ratio indicates a bank's financial strength and ability to withstand risks.

Banks here are required to maintain a CET-1 ratio of at least 9 per cent, including a capital conservation buffer, but most of them have ratios that are well above the regulatory requirement. 

OCBC's first-quarter CET-1 ratio stood at 15.2 per cent, while DBS' was 14 per cent and UOB's was 13.1 per cent.

OCBC now needs to apply a multiplier of 1.3 times to its risk-weighted assets for operational risk until MAS is satisfied that all deficiencies, which were identified in an independent review, have been addressed.

According to OCBC, which had a first-quarter net profit of $1.36 billion, the requirement will have a 0.21 percentage point impact on its group capital ratios. It added that its dividend policy will not be affected.

Phillip Securities Research analyst Glenn Thum noted that the penalty means OCBC’s CET-1 ratio will be 14.99 per cent, which is still the highest among the three local banks. 

“There is a likelihood that OCBC will still be able to raise dividends in the future,” he told The Straits Times. 

This is not the first time MAS has imposed such a requirement on banks here. In February, it ordered DBS to set aside another $930 million in regulatory capital following the widespread outage of its digital banking services last November - its worst disruption in a decade.

The amount was four times higher than the $230 million DBS had to set aside for a similar disruption of its digital banking services in 2010.

Mr Thum said the recent penalties mean that local banks have to be more stringent about how they deal with scams and external threats, while ensuring that their core banking system remains secure. 

“MAS is making sure that the banks are penalised without putting a major handicap on their growth,” he added. 

Maybank research head Thilan Wickramasinghe said banking is built on trust. “As the sector becomes increasingly digitalised, the trust aspect becomes equally important in the physical world as well as online. So we expect regulators to be more proactive.” 

He added: “This is needed in ensuring systemic stability and regulators will use the tools at their disposal to encourage banks to ensure the safety and resilience of their systems and services. Cyber security will play an ever more important role in risk management and also feature more in investments going forward.” 

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