OCBC acquires National Australian Bank's private wealth business in Hong Kong

The move seeks to boost the bank’s mortgage and deposit books.

OCBC Wing Hang Bank Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of OCBC, has completed the acquisition of National Australia Bank’s (NAB) Private Wealth business in Hong Kong on November 24, according to a filing at the SGX.

The amount was not specified in the announcement.

OCBC entered into an agreement to acquire NAB’s business in Singapore and Hong Kong last May.

The addition of NAB’s mortgage portfolio boosts OCBC portfolio by 4%.

As of February, NAB’s mortgage portfolio has $2.29b (US$1.7b) of residential mortgage loans and a deposit portfolio of $4.11b (US$3.05b) deposits in a mix of currencies.

“OCBC Bank will immediately derive interest income from the acquired mortgage loans upon completion. More than half of the mortgage loans are booked in Hong Kong and will be transferred to OCBC Bank’s wholly-owned subsidiary OCBC Wing Hang in Hong Kong. The remaining, booked in Singapore, will be transferred to OCBC Bank,” a press release said.

The acquisition also allows OCBC to gain access to NAB’s 11,000 customer base – primarily from the affluent sector.

“The mortgage portfolio to be transferred to us is a high quality and well-supported one. And the customers are in the affluent segment that we have been building. We are therefore pleased to acquire this base of customers that we can extend additional banking services to,” said OCBC COO Mr Ching Wei Hong.