OCBC has announced plans to expand its support for women-led businesses across Asia, with a new goal of providing social loans to 10,000 women entrepreneurs by 2030. The figure is a sharp rise from the more than 2,000 women-owned SMEs that have already secured social loan commitments worth close to S$600 million as of June this year.
The commitment falls under OCBC’s Women Unlimited programme, which was first launched in Singapore in April 2024. The initiative offers financing of up to S$100,000 for startups led by women within their first two years of incorporation, while also waiving processing fees.
Since its introduction, the scheme has been extended to Hong Kong and Malaysia this year, in April and August respectively. In Indonesia, a similar scheme, known as Women Warriors, has been running since 2020.
The bank said the loans are intended to advance women’s socioeconomic participation and support the growth and resilience of women-owned companies. In Singapore, loan commitments to women entrepreneurs increased by more than 20 per cent year on year during the programme’s first year. Across the four markets, one in three of OCBC’s SME customers are women-owned businesses, with the figure reaching 36 per cent in Singapore.
Speaking at a media briefing, Linus Goh, head of global commercial banking at OCBC, said data shows that women typically take on fewer loans than men, which in turn limits revenue growth in the early stages of their businesses. According to the bank’s figures, women-owned SMEs in Singapore record sales turnover growth about 30 per cent lower than men-owned firms during their first three years.
However, Iris Ng, head of emerging business, global commercial banking at OCBC, pointed out that those women-led firms which did access financing were able to narrow the performance gap.
Goh added that loan sizes differ by market, noting that in Indonesia, where many micro-entrepreneurs operate, the amounts tend to be smaller than in Singapore or Hong Kong.
The media briefing also marked Goh’s final appearance before his retirement on 30 September, following 21 years with the bank.
