UOB Outlines Growth Priorities

Amid rising global trade tensions and concerns over a synchronized global slowdown, UOB wants to focus on three areas for growth. UOB wants to focus on regional connectivity, ecosystem partnerships, and strong balance sheet/quality earnings to harness growth, the bank said at its Corporate Day held in Singapore on Wednesday.

In such an environment, it is even more important that we focus on the fundamentals and not lose sight of our main objectives, UOB’s chief executive Wee Ee Cheong underlined.

In his keynote address, he added that with rising global trade tensions and concerns over a synchronized global slowdown, it was essential that the bank focused on its key priorities.

At UOB, this rests on our consistent approach of putting our customers at the center, he said. The Corporate Day covered how UOB will continue to build on its regional operating model, to invest at scale in digital and new technology, to equip its people for the future and to drive productivity and performance.

Currently, the bank has more than 40 percent of group operating profit derived outside of Singapore. Of this, close to 80 percent comes from operations in Southeast Asia and Greater China. «We expect these numbers to go up as we strengthen our regional connectivity, collaborate in win-win partnerships to tap intra-regional flows and the region’s rising affluence for growth,» Wee added.

Southeast Asia has the third largest population globally, after China and India. The region also has a young population, with 384 million people below 35 years old.

Given Southeast Asia’s prospects, the bank will continue to make significant investments in developing its digital capabilities to make banking simpler, smarter and safer across all its network. «Throughout the region, we have invested in an omnichannel approach: engaging our customers across a range of touchpoints that best suit them – offline or online, physical or digital or a combination. This is because we know that digital is not the only way that our customers want to be served,» Wee said.

The impact of UOB’s omnichannel approach is enhanced by the ecosystems which the bank has forged with like-minded partners for the customer’s benefit.