OCBC share price to sustain explosive form?

Lifetime Membership The last time that I covered OCBC share price was in September 2024. Back then, I predicted the support level for this counter to be $15 and resistance level to be $16. Subsequently, 2025 saw OCBC charging past the pivotal level of $16 as the stock raced to a record high of $17.85 on 19 February 2025. Previously, I had also raised doubts on the sustainability of OCBC share price going forward. In this article, let’s see how OCBC share price will fare in 2025.

Year-to-date, OCBC share price has lost its supersonic form of 2024 and had so far declined by 1.9%. The bull run of OCBC share price in 2024 was remarkable as it was the share’s best run since 2005. While the drop does not necessarily warrant alarm bells to set off, it does somewhat vindicate the old saying that “what goes up must surely come down”. Evidently, OCBC share price have peaked.

Nonetheless, barring unforeseen circumstances, I doubt that a correction of OCBC share price, if it does occur, will be severe due to the strong fundamentals of the bank. Apart from this, OCBC has also resumed its share buybacks programme. As at 16 April 2025, the cumulative shares bought back amounted to 20.7 million. Following that, the bank continued its shares buyback. Notably, the shares buybacks were conducted when OCBC share price were trading at prevailing market prices. Previously, OCBC seldom buy back shares at levels above $13.

The key reason for the changed in the approach for shares buybacks should be largely because the Board has announced on 26 February 2025 a comprehensive approach to return $2.5 billion of capital to shareholders over two years via special dividends and share buybacks. The capital return comprises special dividends amounting to 10% of the Group’s net profit for FY24 and FY25, with the balance via share buybacks over two years. Against this backdrop, I anticipate OCBC share price to remain stable for 2025 even though the operating climate turns uncertain.

OCBC share price stormed to record high!

OCBC share price surged with Great Eastern offer

OCBC share price in Great Eastern windfall!

OCBC share price to boom with Great Eastern sale?

OCBC share price to rocket with Great Eastern Holdings exit?

Looking back, the explosive form of OCBC share price in 2024 was largely attributed to the voluntary unconditional offer (VGO) for Great Eastern Holdings (GEH). Investors of OCBC had reacted positively as the VGO was seen as a major coup for OCBC CEO given that the offer price was below the Embedded Value of GEH.

The privatisation of GEH would be a significant, yet a low-hanging fruit for the CEO Helen Wong. She would have achieved a feat not accomplished by previous CEOs – David Connor and Samuel Tsien. As Great Eastern has evolved to become a crown jewel for OCBC, the acquisition is definitely a strategic move. It would also cement OCBC as a leading financial powerhouse.

On the other hand, the privatisation of Great Eastern Holdings will represent a major coup for OCBC. Among the three banks, only OCBC has a dedicated insurance arm in the form of Great Eastern Holdings, which offers a full suite of insurance products that covers life, health and investment. In fact, Great Eastern is the largest asset-based life insurance company in Singapore and Malaysia. This led to Singapore government designating Great Eastern as one of the Big Four Insurance companies deemed as “Domestic Systemically Important Insurers in Singapore”.

Okay fair enough. UOB also has an insurance company, UOI, that is listed in SGX. However, UOI’s principal activities are only underwriting of general insurance business and reinsurance. General insurance covers fire, marine, motor, engineering, general accident and liability business. The scale of business and market capitalization of UOI pales in comparison to Great Eastern. DBS Bank sold off its insurance business, the Insurance Corporation of Singapore (ICS), to the UK’s CGU Insurance, as it was then known. ICS was later renamed Aviva Singapore.Note that this is an opinion article and not meant to be a financial advice. Please do your due diligence or engage financial advisors before investing in the stock market. I am not vested OCBC or Great Eastern shares at the moment. Whether OCBC share price of Great Eastern share price will surge or collapse has no impact on me. Thus, this article is not meant to induce readers to make any form of investment decisions.

OCBC share price’s next milestone

SGX has given Great Eastern a third extension to comply with the free float listing requirement by 8 June 2025. However, I do not think that the delisting of Great Eastern will move the needle for OCBC share price in the near term. In my opinion, the next milestone for OCBC share price should be [This is a premium article. The rest of the content is blocked and can be accessible by SG Wealth Builder Members only. To read the full content, please sign up as member.]