Here's how UOB plans to grow its wealth and wholesale units

For its wholesale banking business, UOB is touting its financing of supply chains as key for growth.

United Overseas Bank (UOB) is aiming to increase the proportion of its invested wealth management-related assets to 50% going into 2026.

The Singapore-based bank currently has S$76b or 39.8% of its assets under management (AUM) of S$191b deployed in investments, reported UOB Kay Hian (UOBKH) analyst Jonathan Koh in a 22 October 2025 report, based on UOB’s presentation during a recent conference.

Management aims to increase the proportion of its invested AUM to 50% through initiatives such as expanding its base of relationship managers and enhancing its digital wealth platform, Koh noted.

For its wholesale banking business, UOB is touting its financing of supply chains and intra-regional connectivity as key to its growth.

Transaction banking reportedly accounted for 50% of income from wholesale banking, with a 12% growth in trade loans.

UOB believes that direct impact from the reciprocal tariffs is manageable.

About 80% of UOB’s wholesale business relates to the domestic economy and intra-regional trade. Trade loans account for 10% of total loans, of which 20-30% are derived from companies exporting to the US.

Meanwhile, corporate customers exporting to the US market account for just 1.3% of UOB’s total loans.

“Management is more concerned about the second-order impact from a slowdown in business investment and domestic consumption,” Koh said.

UOB also intends to top-up general provisions from 80 basis points (bp) to 90bp of gross loans, which represents an additional S$343m. This meant that total credit costs for 2025 will be higher than the previous guidance of 25-30bp, UOBKH noted.