---
endpoint: analytics
pattern: Financial Services
status: done
latency_ms: 176357
conversation_id: 72227049-ed4d-4ada-8c59-49d4208515f3
citations: 3
created: 2026-05-31 18:13:39Z
---

# Who are the key shareholders of OCBC?

# OCBC (O39 SP) — Key Shareholders

OCBC is controlled by the **Lee family** (descendants of philanthropist Lee Kong Chian) via an interlocking web of family holding companies and the Lee Foundation. The remaining float is dispersed across global custodians/nominees (Citibank, HSBC, DBS Nominees), with no other strategic holder above the 5% Singapore Banking Act threshold. CLSA tags the combined "Lee and Tan" family stake at **~27.8%** of OCBC [1].

## 1. Substantial Shareholders (Register of Substantial Shareholders, as at 25 Feb 2026)

Singapore's Banking Act 1970 requires anyone holding ≥5% of a Singapore-incorporated bank to be disclosed on the Register of Substantial Shareholders. Only two names appear, both linked to the Lee family group:

| Substantial Shareholder | Direct Interest (shares) | Deemed Interest (shares) | Total | % of Issued Shares |
|---|---:|---:|---:|---:|
| **Lee Foundation** | 189,310,098 | 31,835,411 | 221,145,509 | **5.13%** [3] |
| **Selat (Pte) Limited** | 467,604,264 | 181,721,294 | 649,325,558 | **14.44%** [3] |

- **Lee Foundation** is the charitable arm established by Lee Kong Chian. Its deemed interest reflects shares held by **Lee Pineapple Company (Pte) Ltd** (29.2m) and historical attribution to Peninsula Plantations Sendirian Berhad (2.6m) [3].
- **Selat (Pte) Limited**'s deemed interest includes the **181.7m shares held by Herald Investment Pte Ltd** — i.e., Selat is the ultimate parent / co-controller of the Herald vehicle [3].
- Historically (FY2016), Lee Foundation was disclosed at a much higher 19.87% (831.3m shares) because its deemed-interest umbrella then included Selat's 462m shares and Singapore Investments' 157m shares. A 2018 corporate restructuring delinked those deemed interests, so today the Lee-family stake is reported across multiple separately-disclosed vehicles rather than aggregated under Lee Foundation alone [4].

## 2. Twenty Largest Shareholders (per OCBC FY2025 Annual Report disclosure, 25 Feb 2026)

| # | Shareholder | Shares Held | % |
|---|---|---:|---:|
| 1 | Citibank Nominees Singapore Pte Ltd | 729,054,051 | 16.23 |
| 2 | **Selat (Pte) Limited** | 467,604,264 | **10.41** |
| 3 | HSBC (Singapore) Nominees Pte Ltd | 299,755,402 | 6.67 |
| 4 | DBSN Services Pte. Ltd. | 288,998,173 | 6.44 |
| 5 | DBS Nominees (Private) Limited | 267,924,088 | 5.97 |
| 6 | **Lee Foundation** | 200,851,953 | **4.47** |
| 7 | Raffles Nominees (Pte.) Limited | 190,058,116 | 4.23 |
| 8 | **Herald Investment Pte Ltd** | 181,721,294 | **4.05** |
| 9 | **Singapore Investments Pte Ltd** | 157,007,526 | **3.50** |
| 10 | **Lee Rubber Company Pte Ltd** | 141,656,364 | **3.15** |
| 11 | United Overseas Bank Nominees (Pte.) Ltd | 53,213,857 | 1.18 |
| 12 | Kallang Development (Pte) Limited | 44,007,742 | 0.98 |
| 13 | BPSS Nominees Singapore (Pte.) Ltd. | 39,058,916 | 0.87 |
| 14 | OCBC Securities Private Limited | 31,216,985 | 0.70 |
| 15 | DB Nominees (Singapore) Pte Ltd | 31,036,171 | 0.69 |
| 16 | **Lee Pineapple Company (Pte) Limited** | 30,595,980 | **0.68** |
| 17 | **Kew Estate Limited** | 28,430,489 | **0.63** |
| 18 | Phillip Securities Pte Ltd | 26,433,710 | 0.59 |
| 19 | OCBC Nominees Singapore Private Limited | 22,977,781 | 0.51 |
| 20 | UOB Kay Hian Private Limited | 11,740,825 | 0.26 |
| | **Total Top 20** | **3,243,343,687** | **72.21** |

Source: OCBC Annual Report (latest disclosure dated 25 Feb 2026) [2].

## 3. Mapping the Lee Family Bloc

Several of the top-20 names are interlinked Lee family vehicles. Aggregating disclosed Lee-controlled lines:

| Lee-family vehicle | Stake (%) |
|---|---:|
| Selat (Pte) Limited | 10.41 |
| Lee Foundation | 4.47 |
| Herald Investment Pte Ltd | 4.05 |
| Singapore Investments Pte Ltd | 3.50 |
| Lee Rubber Company Pte Ltd | 3.15 |
| Lee Pineapple Company (Pte) Limited | 0.68 |
| Kew Estate Limited (Lee-affiliated) | 0.63 |
| **Visible Lee-family direct stake** | **~26.9%** |

Plus shares held via Peninsula Plantations Sendirian Berhad, Island Investment Company, South Asia Shipping Company, Kallang Development, Lee Plantations Pte Limited, Lee Latex Pte Limited — all named in historical deemed-interest disclosures linked to Lee Foundation / Selat [4].

CLSA's "Major shareholders" summary in its May 2025 OCBC note rounds the consolidated Lee-and-Tan family interest to **27.8%**, with Vanguard at **3.2%** as the largest passive institutional holder [1]. CLSA also notes free float ≈ **72.1%** and foreign shareholding ≈ **50%** [1].

## 4. Key Takeaways

- **Family-controlled, family-dispersed**: Unlike DBS (Temasek-anchored) or UOB (Wee family-led), OCBC's controlling bloc is spread across ~8+ named Lee-family vehicles, with Selat (10.41%) the single largest disclosed line and Lee Foundation (4.47% direct / 5.13% on the substantial-shareholder register) the philanthropic anchor.
- **No state ownership**: Temasek does not appear on OCBC's substantial shareholder register, unlike DBS where Temasek is the dominant holder.
- **Custodian-dominated visible holders**: 5 of the top 6 line items (Citibank Nominees, HSBC Nominees, DBSN Services, DBS Nominees, Raffles Nominees) are nominees/custodians representing pooled institutional and ADR/foreign holdings — i.e., 55%+ of disclosed top-20 lines is held via custodial accounts, consistent with OCBC's high foreign institutional ownership.
- **Stable bloc, no recent activism**: The Lee-family aggregate stake has been stable at ~27–28% across reporting periods; the 2018 reorganisation of deemed-interest reporting did not change underlying economic control.
- **Banking Act constraints**: The Banking Act 1970 imposes 5%/12%/20% control thresholds requiring Ministerial approval — this provides a structural barrier to any single holder accumulating above 5% without regulatory consent [3].

---
**Sources**
[1] OCBC – HLD (Business update first thoughts) — CLSA (9 May 2025) — 607958690LinqAlpha.PDF — major-shareholders summary (Lee and Tan 27.8%, Vanguard 3.2%, free float 72.1%, foreign shareholding 50.0%)
[2] OCBC Annual Report (FY2025) — Twenty Largest Shareholders disclosure as at 25 February 2026
[3] OCBC Annual Report (FY2025) — Substantial Shareholders disclosure as at 25 February 2026 (Lee Foundation 5.13%, Selat (Pte) Limited 14.44%)
[4] OCBC Annual Report (FY2016) — Substantial Shareholders disclosure showing Lee Foundation's then-aggregated deemed interests in Selat, Singapore Investments, Lee Pineapple, and Peninsula Plantations (subsequently de-aggregated post-2018 restructuring)

## Citations

- [2] **Annual Reports and Related Documents** · external
- [3] **Annual Reports and Related Documents** · external
- [4] **Annual Reports and Related Documents** · external

