United Overseas Bank Ltd. has earmarked about S$800 million ($627 million) to turbocharge growth of its private bank over the next five years in areas including headcount and technology, as it aims to keep pace with rivals.
Singapore’s third-largest lender plans to add 50 relationship managers a year over the period, the firm’s private bank head Chew Mun Yew said in an interview. It is also looking to open a booking center in Hong Kong, and expects to attract more offshore wealth clients from there as well as Japan and South Korea, Chew said.
UOB’s investment signals the ambition to narrow the gap with its larger Singapore and international competitors in terms of assets managed. Wealth is now a key business for banks in Asia that are all vying to woo the growing ranks of the rich, thanks to economic growth and capital markets gains.
Assets under management at UOB’s private bank makes up close to half of its overall AUM of S$204 billion, which is less than what local rivals DBS Group Holdings Ltd. and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. manage for their rich clients. UOB’s wealth income, derived from the assets, stood at S$1.28 billion as of December 2025 and the bank wants to double this in five years.
"As part of the bank’s overall strategic initiative, wealth is one of the key pillars,” said Chew, who previously worked at Julius Baer Group Ltd and UBS Group AG. "Doubling the business is only one aspect. It’s also about increasing client engagement.”
High-net-worth clients invest on average about 62 cents of each dollar parked at UOB, an increase from 40 cents five years ago, Chew said of the business, which is profitable.
UOB is leaning on its strength in corporate banking services for small and medium-sized enterprises in its wealth expansion plans. Business owners and entrepreneurs become key customers of the private bank, which also offers services in family offices and succession planning. The lender’s billionaire Chief Executive Officer Wee Ee Cheong is a third-generation banker himself, with his family a significant shareholder in UOB and one of the richest clans in Asia.
The headcount of relationship managers is expected to increase to around 450 by 2030, after adjusting for estimated attritions, according to Chew. Hiring will also be in support functions from compliance to investment solutions, he said. Chew has already recruited bankers from UBS, DBS and OCBC’s private banking arm.
Chew, who joined UOB in 2021 from Julius Baer, has just completed a reorganization of the private bank in which he created four market sectors: Singapore, Greater China and North Asia, Southeast Asia, and strategic client coverage. The Southeast Asia sector is the largest among the four in terms of asset size, and will be led by Dominique Boer, who started this week after leaving UBS.
Another recent senior hire is Dennis Hong, who joined in August as regional market head of Greater China & North Asia, which includes Japan and Korea. While UOB has had Japanese and Korean clients before, they have now become part of the focus, given their rising affluence and business interests in Southeast Asia, Chew said.
He is also upbeat on its prospects in Hong Kong, even if other banks have already deepened their presence there. "It’s never too late because the wealth creation continues,” he said, referring to the planned booking center. Currently, UOB has a team of relationship managers in Hong Kong, with clients booking assets in Singapore.
Hong Kong narrowly overtook Switzerland to become the world’s largest cross-border booking center for the first time last year, according to Boston Consulting Group’s 2026 Global Wealth Report.
UOB is also spending more on technology including digitalization and artificial intelligence to help boost relationship managers’ efficiency and productivity, Chew said. There’re no plans to replace them with AI, he said.
"A good relationship manager is for us today still the best technology that we have to serve and to advise clients,” he said. - Bloomberg
