Oversea-Chinese Bank (OCB) was founded in 1932 during the Great Depression, with the merger of three banks – Chinese Commercial Bank (1912), Ho Hong Bank (1917) and Oversea-Chinese Bank. By 1970, the bank’s total resources exceeded 1 billion SGD, making OCBC, then, the largest financial institution with the biggest deposit base in Singapore. In 1972, the bank acquired Four Seas Communications Bank, the oldest surviving bank in Singapore. The next major acquisition occurred in 2001 when OCBC Bank acquired Keppel Capital Holdings and all its subsidiaries, including Keppel TatLee Bank, Keppel Securities, and Keppel TatLee Finance. The next year OCBC operationally and legally integrated Keppel TatLee Bank. In 2003, OCBC merged OCBC Finance into OCBC Bank.
