United Overseas Bank

United Overseas Bank Limited (Mandarin: 大華银行), abbreviated as UOB Bank (華行), was founded on 6 August 1935 by Kuching-born Datuk Wee Kheng Chiang, father of the present UOB Group Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Mr Wee Cho Yaw, and a group of seven Chinese businessmen.

Contents

1 Acquisition of Overseas Union Bank 2 Malaysia 3 Thailand 4 Philippines 5 Other News 6 External link

Acquisition of Overseas Union Bank

In 2001, the bank successfully acquired Overseas Union Bank Ltd with a US$5.7 billion offer which outbid rival DBS Bank's $5.2 billion bid. Legally one entity under the UOB name from 2 January 2002, it became Singapore's largest bank in terms of domestic customer loans, credit cards and market capitalisation.

Malaysia

United Overseas Bank (Malaysia) Bhd (UOB Malaysia) is a subsidiary of the United Overseas Bank Group, Singapore. Incorporated in Malaysia in 1993, UOB Malaysia took over the operations of Lee Wah Bank Limited (LWB) in 1994. LWB was incorporated in Singapore in 1920 and opened its first Malaysian branch in 1956. In 1973, LWB became a wholly owned subsidiary of United Overseas Bank Limited, Singapore.

In 7 June 1997 UOB Malaysia merged with Chung Khiaw Bank (Malaysia) Bhd (CKBM) and enlarged its paid up capital from RM210 million to RM470 million. United Overseas Bank (Malaysia) Bhd and Overseas Union Bank (Malaysia) Berhad merged into one legal entity on 2 February, 2002.

Thailand

Thailand's Financial Institutions Development Fund, or FIDF, has sold a 16% stake in UOB Radanasin Bank PCL to Singapore's United Overseas Bank Ltd. for THB2.90 billion, according to a source at the central bank Wednesday. Prior to the transaction, FIDF, the central bank's financial bailout fund, had a 21.14% stake in UOB Radanasin, while Singapore's UOB held a 78.83% interest. UOB in July last year bought an 80.77% stake in Bank of Asia from Dutch bank ABN AMRO (ABN) and later raised its stake in the bank to 96.8%. UOB is in the process of merging its two Thai units in an attempt to strengthen its presence in Thailand. The merger is expected to be completed by the end of 2005

Currently, the bank is operating under the Bank of Asia name. However, the name will likely be changed to include "UOB" later, he said. "UOB's strengths in the banking business are small and medium enterprises and consumer banking. Thailand is "a missing link" for UOB's plan to become a premier Asian bank as the group already has strong presence in Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

After acquiring Bank of Asia, the enlarged entity will be big enough to compete in the market, he said. Its capital adequacy ratio is around 14%, well above the central bank's requirement of 8.5%.The merged entity will become the eighth or ninth largest bank in the country with THB200 billion worth of assets and 3,700 employees.

Philippines

United Overseas Bank (Philippines) (UOB Philippines) is also subsidiary of the United Overseas Bank Group, Singapore. This subsidiary was formed in 1999, and has the largest branch network in the Philippines among all the foreign based banks in the country.

Other News

UOB is to sell a 34.74 percent stake in property arm United Overseas Land, worth about S$613 million. The divestment is to comply with Monetary Authority regulations that it pare down stakes in its non-core businesses to below 10 percent by 2006. Last year, UOL was caught in a takeover tussle between UOB and investment company Temasek Holdings, rejecting Temasek's overtures twice. In December 2005, when the property arm halved its shareholding in the parent company to just over 2 percent, UOB had still held a controlling 44.8 percent stake in UOL. Both UOB and UOL are controlled by billionaire banker Wee Cho Yaw and UOL owns several office blocks in Singapore and hotels in Asia.

External link

• UOB Group