Singapore, 9 April 2015 – Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited ("OCBC Bank") today announced the official opening of its securities subsidiary, PT OCBC Sekuritas Indonesia ("OCBC Sekuritas") demonstrating its continued commitment towards deepening its presence in Indonesia, one of its core overseas markets. The opening was also marked by the unveiling of OCBC Sekuritas' new headquarter office in the heart of Jakarta’s central business district.

A member of the Indonesia Stock Exchange, OCBC Sekuritas is equipped with both a stockbroking license and an underwriter license, enabling it to provide securities trading services as well as onshore debt and equity financing solutions in Indonesia. OCBC had acquired an 80% shareholding in PT TransAsia Securities in November 2012, renaming the subsidiary to OCBC Sekuritas a month later. In December 2014, OCBC’s shareholding in OCBC Sekuritas was increased to 95.1%.

Located at the Indonesia Stock Exchange Building at Jl. Jend. Sudirman Kav, 52-53, OCBC Sekuritas' new office spans 1,128 sq m, an increase of about 70% over its previous premises at Lingkar Mega Kuningan. This provides room for the development of trading infrastructure and business expansion going forward. Apart from its new head office, OCBC Sekuritas has another branch in Surabaya which was opened in November last year.

From the time of its inception, OCBC Sekuritas has been registering steady growth in both its securities trading and investment banking businesses. In particular, it has been able to grow its securities trading active customer base by about 160% since December 2012. As at February 2015, its market ranking improved to 32 out of 120 brokerages from 93 a year ago. OCBC Sekuritas has also made inroads into Indonesia’s capital markets. Notably, OCBC Sekuritas was one of the underwriters in the US$202 million Initial Public Offering (IPO) of PT. Blue Bird Tbk, which was the largest IPO in Indonesia in 2014.

OCBC Sekuritas' progress has been supported by OCBC Bank's product and service capabilities and network strength. For example, by leveraging the securities trading capabilities of OCBC’s regional securities firm, OCBC Securities Pte Ltd, customers of OCBC Sekuritas are able to gain access to the award-winning iOCBC system which features multiple mobile trading platforms, direct market access to 14 key securities exchanges worldwide, and an end-to-end security encryption. These allow customers to trade in listed securities with ease and convenience. Through OCBC Bank's extensive network presence in the region and capital markets expertise, OCBC Sekuritas is able to assist its corporate clients to capture new business opportunities and gain access to funding in order to achieve sustainable growth.

Mr Lim Kim Siah, President Director of OCBC Sekuritas, said: "We recognise the strong potential in Indonesia's securities space given the growing number of affluent individuals and the increasing sophistication of investors here. As the country embarks on initiatives to spur growth in its economy, the capital financing needs of its corporates in both emerging and established industries will also rise in tandem. OCBC Sekuritas, which is able to leverage OCBC’s product capabilities and extensive regional presence, is well placed to serve the needs of both these groups of customers." 

Outside of Singapore, Malaysia and the Greater China region, Indonesia is one of four core markets that have been earmarked by OCBC for expansion and growth. OCBC's presence in Indonesia dates back to 1996 when it set up PT OCBC Indonesia with PT Bank NISP Tbk as a joint venture partner. In March 2004, OCBC acquired a 22.5% stake in PT Bank NISP Tbk ("Bank NISP") to capture the growth opportunities in the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) segment and consumer banking business. Over the years, OCBC increased its shareholding in Bank NISP, and renamed it Bank OCBC NISP in 2008 to reflect the close connectivity and synergies shared between OCBC Bank and Bank NISP. Today, Bank OCBC NISP is Indonesia's eighthlargest private sector national bank in terms of assets, serving customers across Indonesia with a network of 337 branches and offices and over 6,000 shared ATMs.

Taken together, the capabilities of OCBC's subsidiaries - OCBC NISP and OCBC Sekuritas - translate into a fuller suite of services that OCBC is able to offer both individual and corporate clients in Indonesia – from consumer and SME banking, to securities services and debt and equity financing. Indonesia accounted for about 4% of OCBC Group's pre-tax profit or about 6% of total core income in 2014.

Held in Jakarta today, OCBC Sekuritas' official opening ceremony was witnessed by officials from the Indonesia Stock Exchange, Indonesian Securities Clearing & Underwriting, Indonesian Central Securities Depository, board members and senior management of Bank OCBC NISP, as well as senior management of OCBC Bank.