What It Does: UOB provides financial solutions such as insurance services, commercial banking, venture capital, corporate banking, private banking, wealth management, privilege banking, personal banking, foreign direct investment and investment management.
Mission: UOB is dedicated to building a better future for people and businesses in South-East Asia.
Size and Presence: UOB, a Singaporean bank, has a very strong presence in the country. UOB has a workforce comprising more than 18,000 employees across 68 offices in the country. Its head office is UOB Plaza at Raffles Place.
Best Known For: UOB has one of the largest networks of offices in the world and an extensive portfolio of services that it renders to individual and corporate clients. In 2021, its asset management arm, UOBAM, won the Asia Fund House of the Year three times at the Asian Investor Asset Management Awards.
The Good Bits: The employee benefits are generous. UOB is a good place for budding bankers to build their careers in the industry. The bank has an excellent culture.
The Not-So-Good Bits: The salary can be better.
In 1935, UOB came into existence as United Chinese Bank through the efforts of a group of seven businessmen, including Wee Kheng Chiang. They established the financial house after raising S$1 million in capital. The reason for the bank's name was to show its affiliation with the Chinese population in Singapore. Three decades later, the bank changed its name to United Overseas Bank to avoid clashing with another "United Chinese Bank" in Hong Kong. This location is also the site of its first international expansion efforts.
Five years later, the bank was listed on the Joint Stock Exchange of Singapore and Malaysia. After its listing, the bank went on an acquisition spree. After acquiring two banks between 1971 and 1973, UOB constructed a 30-storey building in place of the Bonham Building and named it UOB Plaza. In 1984, UOB purchased Far Eastern Bank. In 2001, it agreed to a merger with Overseas Union Bank Limited. The deal was worth S$10 million. The following year, it expanded into the Chinese market. Fast forward to 2019, UOB was listed on the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index.
UOB is an ideal workplace because it embodies four essential values: enterprise, honour, unity, and commitment. These values define the organisation and describe how life is for the average employee. UOB encourages employee collaboration as long as it gets the job done.
The working environment is inclusive and welcomes employee diversity in terms of age, socioeconomic status, gender, nationality, beliefs, employment background, and so many more. UOB is a people-oriented organisation, and its employees are treated with respect. As a corporate organisation, the bank’s dress code is business professional.
UOB is committed to investing in the professional development of its employees to retain a highly skilled workforce. This company offers several career development programmes to this effect. For the interns, the company offers its Summer Internship programme, which lasts for ten weeks at least and is a pathway to its Management Associate program when these interns complete their university education.
Its Management Associate Programme is an 18-month programme targeted at young graduates to transform them into the next generation of leaders in the banking industry. The company also offers its Technology Development Programme to young talents with learning agility and analytical skills to breed the next generation of technology specialists.
UOB's hiring begins with screening suitable applicants through a psychometric assessment. This is followed by a video interview, career forum, panel interview, and job offer.
A fresh graduate at UOB earns an average annual salary of S$45,000.
UOB is an ardent supporter of arts development in Singapore and other South-East Asian countries. Through the UOB Heartbeat Corporate Social Responsibility programme, the bank has donated over S$5.1 million to several regional communities.
In 2017, the Central Bank of Singapore fined UOB and Credit Suisse for violating anti-money laundering issues.