OCBC Bank today announced the appointment of Mr Noel Gerald DCruz as Group Chief Risk Officer to succeed Mr Vincent Choo who will stay on as an adviser.

Mr DCruz, a OCBC veteran who has been with the bank for 33 years, will assume his expanded role from 1 January 2023.

Mr DCruz currently heads both the Group Risk Portfolio Management department as well as the Group Data Management Office. He has been closely involved in the reorganisation of the Bank’s credit risk management structure, the set-up of the Credit Risk Management Committee and various specialised risk management units. He has also been covering for Mr Choo in his absence as the Acting Chief Risk Officer over the years.

With the appointment, Mr DCruz will be made a member of the Management Committee and the Management Executive Committee.

Ms Helen Wong, Group CEO of OCBC Bank, said that promoting from within the Bank reflects the strength and depth of OCBC’s talent pool. In addition to Mr DCruz, two other senior managers were also earlier elevated from within the ranks to the C-suite, namely Ms Goh Chin Yee to Group Chief Financial Officer and Mr Sunny Quek as Head of Global Consumer Financial Services.

“Our talent management planning ensures that our businesses continue to run smoothly and without interruption even as our senior executives retire or move on to new opportunities in their career or in life.

“I am glad to expand Noel’s role. He has built and strengthened the Group’s portfolio risk oversight and management, and we are assured that he will continue to ably assess and mitigate a panoply of risks facing the Bank amid today’s increasingly uncertain environment.”

Mr DCruz joined OCBC Bank in 1989 after a stint in the Monetary Authority of Singapore. With the revision of the Basel Capital Management framework and later the International Financial Reporting Standards, he led the OCBC Group programme to implement ratings-based and modelling approaches for the Bank’s credit portfolios. These approaches are extensively used in the Bank’s credit processes, and in its assessment of capital adequacy and allowances. Since 2017 he also established the Group Data Management Office to drive implementation of a Group-wide data governance and management framework.

Mr Choo joined OCBC Bank in 2014 as Group Chief Risk Officer, bringing with him a wealth of experience and knowledge in the banking industry. He immediately steered the Bank through the plunge in oil prices from 2014 to 2016. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Mr Choo steadily led the Bank’s transition to hybrid work arrangements through strong operational risk controls as well as safeguarded its asset quality with robust risk monitoring and active customer engagement.

Ms Wong added: “I would like to thank Vincent for his invaluable contributions to the Bank as our Group CRO. He has skillfully navigated the Bank through several challenges during his tenure. Vincent has brought to the senior management team deep analytical insights and acumen which have helped shape several key decisions and strategic directions. I am glad that we will continue to benefit from Vincent’s extensive knowledge and experience as he stays on as an adviser.”