UOB focuses on business ties between China, Southeast Asia

United Overseas Bank reiterated its focus on strengthening connectivity and collaboration ties between China and Southeast Asia to help companies internationalize and expand across the region, where the bank has an established and extensive network. The bank recently shared this commitment in discussions with top officials in China.

Wee Ee Cheong, Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of UOB, led a bank delegation to Shandong Province, meeting Liu Jiayi, Party Secretary of the CPC Shandong Provincial Committee, and Liu Qiang, Vice Governor of Shandong Province. Wee also met Wang Zhonglin, Party Secretary of the CPC Jinan Municipal Committee at his invitation. A meeting also took place with Zhou Liang, Vice Chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.

The meetings last week were held on the back of the deepening bilateral relations between Singapore and Shandong Province and their joint commitment to help more companies in the province use Singapore as a launch pad for their overseas expansion to Southeast Asia. Since 2017, UOB has been working with partners such as Qingjian Group Co Ltd and Shanghai Qilu Industrial (Group) Co Ltd to support Shandong-based businesses in their regional expansion.

At the meetings, Wee said UOB is stepping up its strategic collaborations to help businesses benefit from Shandong’s economic progress and financial liberalization. This is part of the bank’s ongoing focus on providing regional connectivity and building ecosystem partnerships to enable its customers to seize business and investment opportunities opening up across the region. In doing so, it will continue to deepen its expertise to meet the changing needs of its customers.

"The demands and preferences of our customers develop in tandem with the increasing cross-border cooperation between China and ASEAN. Against this backdrop, our emphases on providing businesses with seamless connectivity to opportunities across the region and helping them benefit from the ecosystem partnerships we have created are even more relevant now and into the foreseeable future. In upholding our long-term commitment to China, our sharpened focus on these priorities will enable us to stay ahead in anticipating our customers' needs and aspirations and keeping their interests in mind," Wee said.

UOB's roots in China trace back to 1984 with the establishment of a representative office in Beijing. Over the last 35 years, the bank has been offering its unique combination of regional scale and local market capabilities in China and ASEAN to help customers seize business and investment opportunities within and outside the country.

"A year ago, we officially opened our China headquarters building in Shanghai, reaffirming our long-term commitment in China and to serving the needs of our customers there," Wee said. "Looking ahead, we will continue to draw on our strengths and stability and remain steadfast in placing our customers' interests at the center of all we do."