type holding company public limited company traded as sgx u11 otc pink uovey industry investment banking financial services founded july 6 1935 ; 81 years ago 1935 07 06 founder wee kheng chiang headquarters uob plaza raffles place singapore number of locations 500 offices across 19 countries 1 area served worldwide key people wee cho yaw chairman emeritus and adviser hsieh fu hua chairman wee ee cheong deputy chairman and ceo revenue s 8.050 billion 2015 2 net income s 3.210 billion 2015 2 total assets us 231.6 billion 2015 3 number of employees 12 142 website www.uobgroup.com united overseas bank s main branch located at the scenic uob plaza united overseas bank limited commonly known as uob ; simplified chinese ; traditional chinese ; pinyin d hu y nh ng y ux an g ngs ; is a singaporean multinational banking organisation headquartered in singapore with branches mostly found in most southeast asian countries . founded in 1935 as united chinese bank ucb by sarawak businessman wee kheng chiang the bank was set up together with a group of chinese born businessmen . the bank is the third largest bank in south east asia by total assets . 4 uob provides commercial and corporate banking services personal financial services private banking and other asset management services as well as corporate finance venture capital investment and insurance services . it has 68 branches in singapore and a network of more than 500 offices in 19 countries and territories in asia pacific western europe and north america 1 contents 1 history 2 international operations 2.1 asia pacific 2.1.1 australia 2.1.2 brunei 2.1.3 china 2.1.4 india 2.1.5 indonesia 2.1.6 japan 2.1.7 malaysia 2.1.8 myanmar 2.1.9 philippines 2.1.10 south korea 2.1.11 taiwan 2.1.12 thailand 2.1.13 vietnam 2.2 north america 2.2.1 usa 2.2.2 canada 2.3 western europe 2.3.1 united kingdom 2.3.2 france 3 subsidiaries and joint ventures 4 mobile banking 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit on august 6 1935 businessman wee kheng chiang together with six other friends established the bank after raising s 1 million . the bank was named united chinese bank ucb to emphasize its links to the chinese population in singapore . on october 1935 ucb opened for business in the three story bonham building . 5 in 1965 the bank was renamed to united overseas bank and opened its first overseas branch in hong kong . 6 in 1970 uob was listed on the joint stock exchange of singapore and malaysia at that time which singapore did not have its own stock exchange . after it was publicly listed the bank went through a series of targeted acquisitions . the bank first acquired chung khiaw bank in 1971 which expanded its domestic presence and also gave the bank offices in malaysia and hong kong . in 1973 uob then acquired lee wah bank which provided services in malaysia and singapore . in that same year the bank built a new 30 storey office tower in place of the bonham building which was named the uob building now known as uob plaza 2 . 7 the company continued with acquisitions with far eastern bank in 1984 westmont bank now known as uob philippines and radanasin bank now known as united overseas bank thai public company limited in 1999 . the bank then took over the overseas union bank limited oub in a takeover deal estimated to be worth s 10 billion in 2001 . in 2002 uob started expanding into the chinese market by opening a new full service branch office in shanghai and upgrading of its beijing office to a full service branch . 8 international operations edit uob has branches and offices located across asia pacific north america and western europe with most of their operations located mainly in southeast asian countries such as brunei malaysia indonesia myanmar philippines thailand and vietnam . asia pacific edit australia edit headquartered in the uob building in sydney uob australia opened its first branch in mlc centre as a merchant bank in 1986 to emphasize on trade and financing between australia and asia . 9 the bank now has offices in melbourne and brisbane in addition to the branch in sydney and currently offers merchant bank services comprising current accounts deposits lending asset finance trade finance structured finance cash management and cross border payments . 10 brunei edit uob s operations in brunei was originally started in 1974 under overseas union bank oub . when uob acquired the overseas union bank in january 2002 the operations of the branches in brunei was handed over to uob . on october 1 2005 the bank relocated its branch office in bandar seri begawan . 11 in 2015 uob sold its retail banking business to baiduri bank berhad for s 65.044 million . the bank currently provides a full range of commercial and corporate banking services through the branch located in the country . it also operates uob asset management in brunei which offers investment management expertise to individuals institutions and corporations . 12 china edit one of uob s branches in hong kong operations in china first started in 1984 with a representative office in beijing . incorporated on december 18 2007 as uob china and headquartered in shanghai uob has 17 branches and sub branches strategically located in major cities such as shanghai beijing shenzhen tianjin xiamen hangzhou chengdu guangzhou suzhou and chongqing offering retail and wholesale banking services . 13 hong kong uob opened its first overseas branch in hong kong in 1965 with the branch mainly focusing on trade financing and corporate banking . 14 the bank currently has 3 branches with a main branch offering full personal and corporate banking services . india edit indonesia edit uob indonesia branch head office in jakarta . japan edit malaysia edit myanmar edit philippines edit south korea edit taiwan edit thailand edit uob thailand branch headquarters located at the robot building in bangkok . vietnam edit north america edit usa edit canada edit western europe edit united kingdom edit france edit in france uob has another company ubs bank and uob also operates in switzerland subsidiaries and joint ventures edit all subsidiaries are headquartered in uob plaza singapore subsidiaries far eastern bank limited uob bullion and futures limited uobbf clearing limited united overseas insurance limited uob asia investment partners pte. ltd. uob asset management ltd uob sm asset management pte. ltd. uob venture management private limited joint ventures united orient capital pte. ltd associates uob kay hian holdings limited mobile banking edit in december 2011 united overseas bank launched its free mobile uob mobile application . mobile cash a key feature of this application allows all uob customers to send cash to any registered recipient who can withdraw the money from more than 600 uob atms in singapore . initially only available on the apple appstore the application soon became available to users of android and blackberry smartphones . 15 see also edit companies portal business and economics portal uob plaza list of banks in singapore references edit a b our corporate file . united overseas bank limited . retrieved 2010 12 04 . a b http www.uobgroup.com assets pdfs investor financial 2015 newsrelease 4q fy15 results.pdf the world s biggest public companies . forbesg2000 . retrieved 5 july 2015 . united overseas bank heritage trails singapore . retrieved august 31 2012 . lim richard a few good men straits times august 12 2002 . retrieved november 15 2015 it s always the next deal south china morning post may 13 2002 . retrieved november 15 2015 montlake simon singapore bankers take the plunge banker august 2002 p. 45 . retrieved november 15 2015 uob chairman opens sydney merchant bank today . the business times 29 july 1986 page 6 . newspapersg . 1986 . retrieved november 16 2015 . company overview of uob australia limited . bloomberg . brunei office re locates to serve you better pdf . uob group . october 2005 . retrieved november 16 2015 . singapore uob sells brunei retail banking business to baiduri bank for 46.6 m . deal street asia . october 2015 . about uob china . uob . lee 2003 p. 162 ; tai 2010 pp. 471 472 ; steady growth hallmark of the uob story . 2003 october 20 . the business times p. 3 . retrieved from newspapersg . uob launches mobile banking app . financial news publishing limited . december 19 2012 . retrieved september 1 2012 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to united overseas bank . uob group v t e banking in singapore list of banks in singapore ministry of finance monetary authority of singapore local banks bank of singapore1 dbs bank posb bank3 far eastern bank2 the islamic bank of asia defunct 3 oversea chinese banking corporation singapore island bank1 united overseas bank foreign banks qualifying full banks anz bank of china bnp paribas citibank singapore hsbc bank icici bank industrial and commercial bank of china maybank standard chartered state bank of india full banks bangkok bank bank negara indonesia bank of america bank of east asia bank of india the bank of tokyo mitsubishi ufj cimb bank citibank n.a. cr dit agricole corporate and investment bank hong leong bank indian bank indian overseas bank jpmorgan chase mizuho corporate bank rhb bank sumitomo mitsui banking corporation uco bank wholesale banks abn amro agricultural bank of china banco bilbao vizcaya argentaria banco santander bank julius baer morgan stanley bank of communications bank of nova scotia barclays bank bnp paribas wealth management china citic bank china construction bank chinatrust commercial bank commerzbank commonwealth bank of australia cr dit industriel et commercial credit suisse deutsche bank dnb nord bank dz bank ag singapore branch emirates nbd first commercial bank first gulf bank habib bank hsbc private bank suisse ing bank kbc bank korea exchange bank landesbank baden w rttemberg macquarie bank mega international commercial bank national australia bank national bank of kuwait natixis norddeutsche landesbank northern trust portigon qatar national bank rabobank the royal bank of scotland soci t g n rale soci t g n rale bank & trust state street bank and trust company ubs unicredit vtb capital wells fargo bank westpac offshore banks arab bank bank hapoalim bank of baroda bank mandiri the bank of new york mellon bank of taiwan bank sarasin & cie canadian imperial bank of commerce chang hwa commercial bank clearstream banking s.a. cr dit agricole hana bank hang seng bank hsh nordbank hua nan commercial bank korea development bank krung thai bank land bank of taiwan lloyds bank mitsubishi ufj trust and banking corporation nordea bank finland norinchukin bank philippine national bank raiffeisen bank international royal bank of canada shinhan bank siam commercial bank skandinaviska enskilda banken standard bank sumitomo mitsui trust bank svenska handelsbanken toronto dominion bank union de banques arabes et francaises woori bank interbank networks and payment systems atm5 nets ez link 1 subsidiary of ocbc bank . 2 operates under uob s brand name . 3 subsidiary of dbs bank . v t e s & p asia 50 companies aia group boc hong kong holdings cathay financial holding china construction bank china life insurance china mobile china petroleum & chemical china steel chunghwa telecom ck hutchison holdings clp holdings cnooc limited ctbc financial holding dbs group delta electronics formosa chem & fibre formosa plastics fubon financial holding galaxy entertainment group hang seng bank hon hai precision industry hong kong and china gas hong kong exchanges and clearing hyundai heavy industries hyundai mobis hyundai motor industrial and commercial bank of china jardine matheson kb financial group keppel kia motors kt & g lg chem li & fung lippo group mediatek nan ya plastics oversea chinese banking corporation petrochina ping an insurance posco power assets holdings samsung electronics sands china shinhan financial group singapore telecommunications sun hung kai properties taiwan semiconductor manufacturing united overseas bank want want china holdings v