As Banker to the community, our Purpose is to help individuals and businesses across communities achieve their aspirations by providing them with innovative financial solutions.
In the same helping spirit, OCBCBank, as one of the key corporate members of the United Nations Global Compact and its affiliate in Singapore, the Singapore Compact for Corporate Social Responsibility, has a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme designed to support the community.
Our CSR programme which is centred on helping children and youths realise their full potential and promoting education, continues from the legacy of our founder, Lee Kong Chian, who in the 1950s actively made contributions to schools and libraries and helped many children and youths fulfil their aspirations through education. OCBC Bank continues to encourage and support academic excellence by awarding book prizes and scholarships to outstanding youths from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and China, to pursue higher education in Singapore, without any conditions attached.
We are committed to contributing to the community, in the geographies where we have a presence.
Singapore
In Singapore, the Singapore Children’s Society (“SCS”) has been our adopted charity since 2004. Established in 1952, SCS champions and promotes the welfare of children and youth of all races and religion.
In 2004, we committed to donate $2.5 million over a period of five years to SCS. We extended our support with an additional donation of S$2.5 million for the period from 2009 to 2013, bringing our total donation to SCS to S$5 million over 10 years. With the funding, SCS reaches out to about 66,000 children, youth and families in need.
Beyond cash contributions, our employees also offer their time and skills to enrich the lives of the children and youths in the key countries that OCBC Bank operates in. Launched on 23 December 2004 to initially support the Singapore Children’s Society, the OCBC Staff Volunteer Programme has grown to a pool of more than 1,000 staff volunteers from Singapore, Malaysia, China and Indonesia (including Bank OCBC NISP) who help less fortunate children and youths in the region realise their full potential through various activities and programmes.
In Singapore, our staff volunteers have enriched the lives of the children at SCS through various initiatives. These includeconducting computer workshops, reading programmes to arranging outings to various places of interest.
Other charitable organizations that we work with in Singapore include the NTUC Childcare Bright Horizons Trust Fund, the Straits Times (ST) Pocket Money Fund and the Business Times Budding Artists Fund. The ST Pocket Money Fund aims to provide needy children with pocket money for school while the Business Times Budding Artists Fund was initiated to level the playing field, because no child with strong interest and artistic potential should be deprived of the opportunity to develop his or her talents because of his or her family's financial background.
China
Our philanthropic heritage of supporting children and education extends to China where we had committed to donate RMB 1.5 million (S$300,000) over six years to the Soong Ching Ling Foundation since 2007, the year OCBC Bank was incorporated in China.
The funds, disbursed through the Soong Ching Ling Scholarship (“SCLS”) under the SCLS-OCBC Fund, help about 800 outstanding children across China who need financial assistance.Under the staff volunteer programme, our employees from OCBC China work closely with SCLS on a volunteer programme that brings volunteer teachers to rural schools in Shanghai to help children of migrant workers.
Indonesia
In Indonesia, we work with our subsidiary, Bank OCBC NISP to support a joint community development initiative in Bandung, in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity. The three year initiative, which began in 2009, is committed to build 20 houses and renovation of a school in the village of Banjaran, Bandung.
2010 marks the second year of the programme. In July 2010, more than 50 volunteers from OCBC Bank and Bank OCBC NISP returned to Bandung to continue the building project at the school. Other than donating items such as backpacks, water bottles, towels and caps to the students, they presented the school with 19 computers and fixed the internet connection for the computer lab we helped set up in 2009.
OCBC Cycle Singapore
In November 2008, our community engagement efforts took on a higher profile as we announced our support as the title sponsor of Singapore’s first mass participation cycling event on public roads.
OCBC Cycle Singapore was designed to promote an active lifestyle among people of all ages and fitness levels. Sponsoring the event is in line with our ongoing commitment to engage with the community. The inclusive nature of the activity event and its ability to bring people closer together, are consistent with our value of Teamwork as well as our business propositions aimed at families.
Through this event, we have seen a growing number of cyclists in Singapore take part in the event as the cycling course allows. We believe that the enthusiasm for, and participation in the event will only grow in the coming years.
In line with this sponsorship, OCBC Bank, the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) and the Singapore Amateur Cycling Association (SACA) also entered into a partnership agreement since 2008 to train and develop a pool of talented cyclists who will represent Singapore at major Games.
This significant partnership is the first structured talent identification and development programme involving a corporate organisation, the SSC, and the national sports association for cycling (SACA) in Singapore.
The programme helps cycling enthusiasts fulfil their dreams and have a taste of competing among elite cyclists in regional competitions. It also ensures that there is a steady pool of talented cyclists that SACA can work with and nurture for future events.
We are sponsoring this event for the long run. Following the success of OCBC Cycle Singapore 2009 and 2010, we have confirmed our participation as title sponsor in 2011 and 2012.
Helping in Times of Natural Calamities
We do our part to support the communities that we operate in when unfortunate natural disasters strike, such as earthquakes and floods.
In response to the calamity brought about by Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar on 2 May 2008 and the earthquake in Sichuan on 12 May 2008, we extended our helping hand in three areas: corporate donations, staff donations and/or opening up banking channels to facilitate public donations. We also donated RMB 1 million (S$200,000) to support rebuilding efforts in and contributed S$40,000 to the Singapore Red Cross Society to support the relief efforts in Myanmar.
In August 2010, we facilitated the collection of public donations by opening up our banking channels, to support relief and recovery efforts for the Pakistan Floods. Customers were able to make donations via our ATMs, mobile banking, internet banking and phone banking.
Scholarships
Helping bright and talented individuals develop to their full potential is a tenet OCBC Bank strongly believes in.
