OCBC Hires Veteran Banker Heazlewood From CBA for Commodities

Sharon Klyne, Bloomberg News

Signage for Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. (OCBC) in Singapore, on Friday, Aug. 4, 2023. OCBC slightly raised its outlook for lending margins for the year while sounding caution on the economic outlook and the impact of higher interest rates. Photographer: Ore Huiying/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. hired a senior resources banker from Commonwealth Bank of Australia to lead its expansion into commodities lending, according to people familiar with the matter.

Jeff Heazlewood started this week in OCBC’s Sydney office as executive director for corporate and project finance, the people said, asking not to be identified as the matter was confidential. He previously spent almost two decades with Australia’s largest bank, according to his LinkedIn profile. He’ll report to Zac White, the people said.

The firm is pushing to build out coverage on the resources sector in addition to industries it is already in, such as real estate, infrastructure, energy and utilities, health care, as well as media and telecommunications, said the people.

A spokesperson for OCBC confirmed the hiring.