Former OCBC chief Helen Wong’s pay falls 6.3% to $12 million in last year at bank
Sheila Chiang
The Straits Times
March 24, 2026
Former OCBC Bank chief executive Helen Wong, who retired at the end of 2025 after four years at the helm, took home less in her final pay package there.
Ms Wong earned $12 million in 2025, 6.3 per cent lower than the $12.8 million she received in 2024. It was also lower than the $12.1 million she earned in 2023, according to the bank’s annual report released on March 24.
Her pay package consisted of a $1.2 million base salary, a $6.3 million bonus and $4.2 million in deferred shares. Non-cash components such as club and car benefits worth $323,000 made up the rest.
OCBC also saw a decline in earnings in 2025. Net profit was 2 per cent lower at $7.42 billion, compared with a record $7.6 billion the previous year, after tax expenses rose 27 per cent.
Ms Wong passed the baton to Mr Tan Teck Long, who assumed the role of CEO on Jan 1. He had been OCBC’s head of global wholesale banking since joining the bank in 2022.
He launched a new corporate strategy on the back of the bank’s earnings results, as OCBC closed out its previous three-year strategy of unifying its brand across core markets and realising stronger synergies under the group.
The new strategy involves capturing rising Asia flows, deepening core market franchise, advancing technology-led and customer-centric capabilities through artificial intelligence, digital and data, and supporting the green transition.
In the annual report, Mr Tan said the new strategy reflects a world that is becoming more complex, more digital and more interconnected.
“Against this backdrop, our new strategy is designed to help OCBC ride these long-term waves and reposition the group for the future. It is built around four broad strategic shifts,” he said.
The strategy is expected to drive stable to improving return on equity, with a stronger focus on higher-returning businesses. It will also maintain cost discipline, with cost-to-income ratio – a key banking efficiency metric – at low- to mid-40 per cent.
The bank said it is on track to complete its $2.5 billion capital return plan, comprising special dividends and share buybacks, by 2026.
OCBC’s annual report followed those of DBS Bank and UOB earlier in March.
UOB CEO Wee Ee Cheong took home about the same pay as Ms Wong in 2025, but it was 20 per cent less than the $15 million he received in 2024. It was also lower than the $15.9 million he received in 2023.
DBS CEO Tan Su Shan was paid $9.64 million in 2025 for her first nine months in the role, as well as the period earlier in the year when she served as deputy CEO.
She took the helm in March 2025, when Mr Piyush Gupta retired after 15 years in the role. She had been appointed deputy CEO in August 2024.
Mr Gupta’s last-drawn full-pay package amounted to $17.6 million for 2024, when the bank achieved record earnings.
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