United Overseas Bank Limited (commonly known as UOB; simplified Chinese: 大华银行有限公司; traditional Chinese: 大華銀行有限公司; pinyin: Dàhuá Yínháng Yǒuxìan Gōngsī;) is a Singaporean multinational banking organisation headquartered in Singapore, with branches mostly f
United Overseas Bank Limited
United Overseas Bank Limited (commonly known as UOB; simplified Chinese: 大华银行有限公司; traditional Chinese: 大華銀行有限公司; pinyin: Dàhuá Yínháng Yǒuxìan Gōngsī;) is a Singaporean multinational banking organisation headquartered in Singapore, with branches mostly found in most Southeast Asian countries. Founded in 1935 as United Chinese Bank (UCB) by Sarawak businessman Wee Kheng Chiang, the bank was set up together with a group of Chinese-born businessmen. The bank is the third largest bank in South East Asia by total assets
UOB provides commercial and corporate banking services, personal financial services, private banking and asset managementservices, as well as corporate finance, venture capital, investment, and insurance services. It has 68 branches in Singapore and a network of more than 500 offices in 19 countries and territories in Asia Pacific, Western Europe and North America.
On August 6, 1935, businessman Wee Kheng Chiang, together with six other friends, established the bank after raising S$1 million. The bank was named United Chinese Bank (UCB) to emphasize its links to the Chinese population in Singapore. On October 1935, UCB opened for business in the three story Bonham Building. In 1965, the bank was renamed to United Overseas Bank and opened its first overseas branch in Hong Kong.
In 1970, UOB was listed on the Joint Stock Exchange of Singapore and Malaysia, at that time the stock exchange have office in both Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. After it was publicly listed, the bank went through a series of targeted acquisitions. The bank first acquired the controlling stake of Chung Khiaw Bank in 1971, which expanded its domestic presence and also gave the bank offices in Malaysia and Hong Kong. A new logo for both United Overseas Bank and Chung Khiaw Bank was launched in January 1972.
In 1973, UOB then acquired Lee Wah Bank, which provided services in Malaysia and Singapore. In that same year, the bank built a new 30 storey office tower in place of the Bonham Building, which was named the UOB Building (now known as UOB Plaza 2). The company continued with acquisitions, with Far Eastern Bank in 1984, Westmont Bank (now known as UOB Philippines) and Radanasin Bank (now known as United Overseas Bank (Thai) Public Company Limited) in 1999. The bank then merged with the Overseas Union Bank Limited (OUB) in a deal estimated to be worth S$10 billion in 2001.
In 2002, UOB started expanding into the Chinese market by opening a new full service branch office in Shanghai and upgrading of its Beijing office to a full-service branch.
UOB has branches and offices located across Asia Pacific, North America and Western Europe, with most of their operations located mainly in Southeast Asian countries such as Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
In December 2011, United Overseas Bank launched its free mobile UOB Mobile application. Mobile Cash, a key feature of this application, allows all UOB customers to send cash to any registered recipient who can withdraw the money from more than 600 UOB ATMs in Singapore. Initially only available on the Apple Appstore, the application soon became available to users of Android and Blackberry smartphones.
