Singapore bank UOB aims to double wealth income by 2030

SINGAPORE – Singapore's United Overseas Bank, or UOB, is aiming to double its wealth income by 2030, the lender's chief executive officer said on Thursday (May 7), as it looks to strengthen its wealth arm as a key pillar of growth in the coming years.

"For this year, the next few quarters, you will start to see the wealth business picking up, because we are focusing on doubling our wealth," Wee Ee Cheong, who is also the bank's deputy chairman, said at its first-quarter results briefing. UOB posted a four per cent annual fall in first-quarter net profit, beating expectations.

The lender did not provide a specific target, though it used 2025 as a base.

"Increasingly, we are also paying a lot of attention to Hong Kong, to Greater China," Wee said, adding that the lender sees opportunities from Asean and North Asia, while wealth flows from the Middle East are "not so obvious at this point in time".

The bank – which derives roughly 58 per cent of its wealth AUM from overseas customers – would focus on organic growth, hiring relationship managers and capturing a larger share of existing clients' wealth.

UOB's wealth income rose six per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026, while net new money totalled $1 billion) for the period.

The move comes as global banks compete for a larger slice of Asia's fast-growing wealth market. Last week, UOB's larger rival DBS Group reported wealth management fees reached a record in the first quarter.

On Monday, Overseas-Chinese Banking Corp announced it has agreed to buy certain assets and liabilities of HSBC's wealth and premier banking portfolio in Indonesia.

Watching for second-order impact of Iran War

While UOB's net profit beat expectations, it reflected the impact a precarious market backdrop and rate headwinds have had on the lender.

Net profit declined to $1.44 billion from $1.49 billion a year earlier, though it was above the mean estimate of nearly $1.38 billion from three analysts polled by LSEG.

The lender reported year-on-year declines across all its income segments for the January-March period, in part due to lower benchmark rates and a moderation in investment banking and loan-related activities amid cautious and risk-off market sentiment, among other things.

"We are operating in a period of heightened global uncertainty. Energy prices are volatile, supply chains remain under pressure, and inflation risks have resurfaced," Wee said.

The prolonged US-Iran war has injected volatility into markets and disrupted global supply chains, clouding the global economic outlook particularly for Asia, which has been hard hit by the energy crisis.

While UOB's exposure to the Middle East remains limited, chief financial officer Leong Yung Chee said the bank was closely watching second and third order impacts from the conflict, which has implications on energy-vulnerable industries and Asia's growth outlook.

Companies with direct geographical exposure in the Middle East account for less than two per cent of the bank's loan exposures.

Shares of UOB last traded 0.3 per cent lower, underperforming Singapore's benchmark index.

Glenn Thum, research manager at Phillip Securities Research, said that while UOB delivered a "resilient" first quarter, "headwinds from further Sora cuts and the Middle East conflict's second-order effects on inflation, energy prices and trade flows are likely to weigh on full-year earnings, keeping us cautious on the rates outlook".

UOB maintained its previous guidance for its 2026 outlook, though it did not rule out potential adjustments to its general loan provisions down the line, depending on how the Middle East conflict pans out.

"The situation started end-February, we are monitoring. There's still a lot of uncertainties, and the impact is still yet to be fully transmitted through our economies," Leong said.

"So I don't think we are saying that there will not be any more, I'm saying that we need to be watchful and adjust accordingly."

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