Hi, I’m Nakul Kurup. I joined the Bank in 2013 through the Management Associate (MA) programme. I was in tech and media, but I really wanted to move into banking and the MA programme was the perfect way to do so. I now lead Digital Payments for Consumer Financial Services (CFS) in Singapore. This year will be my 10^th year with OCBC.

The five Cs of OCBC

When I was interviewing for jobs, most people aspired to the five Cs of Singapore: cash, condo, car, country club and credit card. However, OCBC Bank communicated an alternative five Cs that made a lot more sense to me: control, confidence, community, career and a can-do-attitude. It was inspiring that a bank would communicate with their customers about gains that were aspirational and not only material. Most banks focused only on wealth accumulation. It was refreshing! It made such a positive impression on me that I wanted to work with a bank that would make that promise. Our current brand campaign, “Simply Spot On”, is an evolution of the five Cs. Our branding promise demonstrates our commitment to help customers achieve their aspirations with just the right solutions to meet their needs.

Rotating and learning

The best part of the MA programme was the rotations across various business products and support functions in retail banking. During the 18-month programme, I had stints in branch banking, finance, group data office, wealth management—bancassurance and investment, credit cards and digital business. Not only was it a crash course in retail banking. I learned how various functions work together to serve our retail customers, from babies to premier private clients and even SMEs. We were also given “stretch projects” such as launching new products and developing ideas with partners like GE and AXA.

The beautiful sound of heartstrings

I was put on the CSR committee during the MA programme. OCBC’s philosophy is that no one should be left behind—and that extended beyond their people and customers. I was inspired by the Bank’s bigness of heart. Truth be told, I didn’t volunteer, but after being introduced to CSR, I discovered I had a heart! I worked with various beneficiary organisations which cared for children, the elderly, youth at risk and the environment. I started as a committee member and then served as the chairperson. As I served with my fellow CFS colleagues, I witnessed their softer sides which I did not see during day-to-day work. I felt closer to the people and the Bank.

My experiences with CSR made me a better person. It has redefined who I am and who I want to be. I learned to empathise rather than sympathise with those whom I had the privilege to serve. We treated them as we would our valued customers. We also created opportunities for members of the Bank to volunteer. CSR tugged at heartstrings which I didn’t even know I had! It was very rewarding.

Finding love in the right place

Let me share an incident I’ll remember for the rest of my life. We ran a programme for AWWA (Asian Women’s Welfare Association). Despite its name, AWWA serves various communities and demographics. One day, we visited an AWWA care centre for the elderly with no next of kin or who had been abandoned by their children. Besides providing medical facilities, they brought cheer and joy to strengthen the elderly mentally so that they wouldn’t become depressed.

We designed a programme with group activities such as charades and bingo. After the games, we provided a meal which the volunteers could eat with the elderly in their own rooms. Three residents usually shared a room. My teammate and I were assigned to a room with only two residents. This was considered a luxury and even more intriguing, one was male and the other female. This was unusual as the rooms were always shared between residents of the same gender. The two were very hospitable and warm, almost like our grandparents. They gave us each a packet of Ribena from the top shelf of their cupboard. This was a great honour because Ribena was expensive for them. They were giving us part of their treasure—and a lot of their heart. We later found out that they were staying in the same room because they were a couple. They came to the centre as elderly singles. They found love in the most unlikely place—or perhaps the perfect place—when they were in their 80s. It moved me to tears. It was amazing and something I’ll remember forever.

Expanding a child’s world

CFS CSR started an education programme for children from less privileged homes whose parents were often not around. These kids could easily fall through the cracks and get left behind. With no support at home and no means for tuition, many don’t make it through PSLE. Early development is super important or it’s likely a lost cause.

We didn’t simply give money—we didn’t believe this was the answer. It’s not even enough to visit the kids occasionally. The kids must learn to trust and bond with their educators for their confidence to grow. This means the volunteers must be committed to give their time every single weekend for the entire academic year.

Thankfully, we found super committed volunteers to teach for an hour and a half each Saturday. To help them, we arranged taxis to reduce their commute time from an average of one hour to less than 20 minutes. In the first year alone, about 70% of the children showed improvement in literacy and numeracy. We also organised excursions and holistic development programmes outside academics. We provided every opportunity to inspire them to think big and to aspire to so much more than they could have previously imagined.

RIP red plastic bottles

I represented CFS on the climate sustainability task force working on our climate change strategy. The goal was for CFS to develop products and services that help our customers become more sustainable, which involved a lot of customer education and awareness. We had hoped that they would eventually become proponents of change by advocating sustainable investing, financing and lifestyle.

If you had visited an OCBC branch before 2017, you would have noticed the very pretty red bottles of water which we gave to customers who loved it because it was small enough to fit in a bag. This was good for brand awareness, but we knew the problem of plastics pollution. We wanted to show that we had the will to change. We decided to make the red OCBC bottles extinct! Taking them off the shelves was easy, but not serving customers water when they asked was a big no-no. It would have been a customer experience disaster. In our Asian culture, if a guest asks for water, we cannot refuse. We quickly came up with an environmentally friendly biodegradable paper cup that was branded with OCBC doodles. Our customer service standards did not fall, and we also eliminated plastics.

About 300,000 plastic bottles were used a year, which was seven tonnes of plastic. In half a year, we reduced this to zero. I felt delighted to achieve something this great. Within a few months, the entire CFS no longer used plastic. What was even better was that later, the entire Bank adopted the paper cups. That spelled the end of the red plastic bottles. Rest in peace and thank you for your past service.

A Bank with heart

OCBC has a lot of heart. Not just for the people we serve but also the staff. And the Bank in turn empowers us to care for those around us and in our societies. While the culture is very caring, it is still progressive and inspires high performance. Still, I can’t use phrases like super-professionalism or cut-throat competitive to describe us. If anyone faces trouble, there is always help around the corner. We are family-oriented and look out for one another to ensure that no one is left behind.