Board of Directors

Age 81. Dr Wee has been the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) of UOB since 1974. He relinquished his position as CEO on 27 April 2007. He was appointed to the Board on 14 May 1958 and last re-appointed as Director on 29 April 2009. He is the Chairman of the UOB Executive and Remuneration Committees, and a member of the Nominating Committee.

Dr Wee is the Chairman of UOB subsidiaries, Far Eastern Bank, United Overseas Insurance, United Overseas Bank (Malaysia) and United Overseas Bank (Thai) Public Company, President Commissioner of PT Bank UOB Indonesia and PT Bank UOB Buana, and Supervisor of United Overseas Bank (China). He is the Chairman of United International Securities, Haw Par Corporation, UOL Group, Pan Pacific Hotel Group, United Industrial Corporation, and Singapore Land and its subsidiary, Marina Centre Holdings. He is also the Chairman of Wee Foundation. He is the former Chairman of Overseas Union Enterprise.

Dr Wee was conferred the Businessman Of The Year award twice at the Singapore Business Awards in 2001 and 1990. In 2006, he received the inaugural Credit Suisse-Ernst & Young Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding achievements in the Singapore business community. In 2009, he was conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award by The Asian Banker. Dr Wee is the Honorary President of Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Pro-Chancellor of Nanyang Technological University and President of Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan Associations. He received Chinese high school education and was conferred Honorary Doctor of Letters by the National University of Singapore in 2008.

Age 57. Mr Wee joined UOB in 1979. He was appointed to the Board on 3 January 1990 and last re-elected as Director on 29 April 2009. He has been an executive director since 1990 and is a member of the UOB Executive Committee.

Mr Wee served as the Deputy Chairman and President of the Bank from 2000 to April 2007 and was appointed as Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) on 27 April 2007. He currently holds the position of Deputy Chairman and CEO.

He is a director of several UOB subsidiaries and affiliates, including Far Eastern Bank, United Overseas Insurance, United Overseas Bank (Malaysia), United Overseas Bank (Thai) Public Company and United International Securities. He is the Chairman of United Overseas Bank (China) and a commissioner of PT Bank UOB Buana.

Mr Wee is the current Chairman of The Association of Banks in Singapore. He serves as a director of Wee Foundation and Institute of Banking & Finance, and a council member of Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry. He is a member of the Board of Governors of the Singapore-China Foundation. He is also a member of Visa Inc Asia Pacific Advisory Council, India-Singapore CEO Forum and Advisory Board of the INSEAD East Asia Council. He had previously served as the Deputy Chairman of Housing & Development Board, and a director of Port of Singapore Authority, UOL Group and Pan Pacific Hotel Group.

He holds a Bachelor of Science (Business Administration) and a Master of Arts (Applied Economics) from The American University, Washington, DC.

Age 72. Mr Ngiam was appointed to the Board on 1 October 2001 and last
re-appointed as Director on 29 April 2009. An independent and non-executive director, he is a member of the Bank’s Executive and Nominating Committees. He is a director of Far Eastern Bank, a UOB subsidiary.

Mr Ngiam is also a director of Singapore Press Holdings and Yeo Hiap Seng. He served as the Chairman of Housing & Development Board from 1998 to 2003 and Chairman of Surbana Corporation Pte Ltd from 2003 to 2008. He has a distinguished public service career, having held the post of Permanent Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministries of Finance, Trade and Industry, National Development, and Communications. He is the former Chairman of Central Provident Fund Board, Development Bank of Singapore, Economic Development Board and Telecommunication Authority of Singapore, and the former Deputy Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of Currency, Singapore.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Economics, Hons) from the University of Malaya, Singapore, and a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University, USA.

Age 70. Prof Cham was appointed to the Board on 4 January 2001 and last
re-elected as Director on 30 April 2008. An independent and non-executive director, he is the Chairman of the Bank’s Audit Committee and a member of the Bank’s Executive, Nominating and Remuneration Committees. Prof Cham is a director of the Bank’s subsidiaries, namely, Far Eastern Bank and United Overseas Bank (China). He is the Chairman of NSL Ltd, MFS Technology, Singapore Symphonia Company and Singapore-China Foundation, and Deputy Chairman of Singapore Press Holdings. He is a director of WBL Corporation, Soup Restaurant Group and Singapore International Foundation. He is a former director of Adroit Innovations, Keppel Corporation, Land Transport Authority, TPA Strategic Holdings and Robinson & Company.

Prof Cham is the Chancellor and Chairman of SIM University and founding President of Nanyang Technological University from 1981 to 2002. He serves as a member of the Council of Presidential Advisers.

He holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil, Hons) from the University of Malaya, a Bachelor of Science (Mathematics, Hons) from the University of London and a Doctor of Philosophy (Fluid Mechanics) from the University of Cambridge, UK. He is also a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, Singapore and Institution of Mechanical Engineers, UK.

Age 61. Mr Wong was appointed to the Board on 14 March 2000 and last re-elected as Director on 27 April 2007. An independent and non-executive director, Mr Wong is the Chairman of the Bank’s Nominating Committee. He is also a director of Far Eastern Bank, a UOB subsidiary.

Mr Wong is a lawyer by profession, and a Senior Counsel. He is the founder-consultant of WongPartnership LLP. He is a member of the Senate of the Academy of Law, Public Guardian Board and Advisory Board of the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore. Mr Wong also serves on the boards of Mapletree Logistics Trust Management Ltd and Energy Market Company Pte Ltd. He had previously served as a member of the Military Court of Appeal and Advisory Committee of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre.

Mr Wong has consistently been acknowledged as one of the world’s leading lawyers in leading directories such as The International Who’s Who of Commercial Litigators, The Guide to the World’s Leading Experts in Commercial Arbitration, Asialaw Leading Lawyers, PLC Cross-border Dispute Resolution: Arbitration Handbook, The International Who’s Who of Construction Lawyers and Best Lawyers International: Singapore, amongst others.

Age 63. Mr Yeo was appointed to the Board on 26 May 2000 and last re-elected as Director on 30 April 2008. An independent and non-executive director, he is a member of the Bank’s Executive, Audit and Remuneration Committees. He is a director of Far Eastern Bank, a UOB subsidiary.

Mr Yeo is the Special Advisor for Economic Development in the Prime Minister’s Office and Chairman of SPRING Singapore. Recognised for his contributions to Singapore’s economic development and pioneering role in promoting and developing the country’s information technology, semiconductor, chemical and pharmaceutical industries, Mr Yeo brings to the Bank wide government and private sector experience over a 35-year career.

He is the Chairman of Accuron Technologies Pte Ltd, MTIC Holdings Pte Ltd, Singapore Aerospace Manufacturing Pte Ltd, Ascendas Property Fund Trustee Pte Ltd and Hexagon Development Advisors. He is the former Chairman of the Agency for Science, Technology & Research (“A*STAR”) and Dornier MedTech GmbH.

Mr Yeo holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (Industrial Engineering) and an honorary Doctorate in Engineering from the University of Toronto, an honorary Doctorate in Medicine from the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, a Master of Science (Systems Engineering) from the University of Singapore, a Master of Business Administration from Harvard University, USA, and a Doctor of Science from Imperial College, London.

Age 74. Prof Lim was appointed to the Board on 1 October 2001 and last
re-appointed as Director on 29 April 2009. An independent and non-executive director, he is a member of the Bank’s Nominating and Remuneration Committees. He is a Professor of Medicine at the National University of Singapore (“NUS”) and Senior Consultant at the National University Hospital. He has been accorded the highest academic title of ‘NUS University Professor’.

Prof Lim is the Chairman of the National Wages Council, Bioethics Committee, Singapore, Singapore Millennium Foundation, Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research & Technology (“SMART”) and Special Needs Trust Company. He is a director of Raffles Medical Group. He served as the Vice-Chancellor of NUS, Deputy Chairman of the Economic Development Board, Chairman of the National Longevity Insurance Committee and a board member of the Singapore Institute of Labour Studies. He is also the Deputy Chairman of Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize Council.

Prof Lim holds a Master of Arts and a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Cambridge, UK. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Medicine of Singapore (“FAMS”), FRCP (London) and FRACP.

Age 69. Mr Thein was appointed to the Board and Audit Committee on 28 January 2008 and last re-elected as Director on 30 April 2008. In 1999, he retired as Senior Partner, Coopers & Lybrand Singapore, the legacy firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers, after 37 years with the firm. Mr Thein is currently a director and the Chairman of the audit committees of several listed companies, namely GuocoLand, GuocoLeisure, Haw Par Corporation, MFS Technology, FJ Benjamin Holdings, MobileOne, Keppel Telecommunications and Transportation, and Otto Marine. He is a former director of Lindeteves-Jacoberg, Pearl Energy and Grand Banks Yachts.

Mr Thein is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and a member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Singapore. He is also a member of the governing council of the Singapore Institute of Directors. Mr Thein was awarded the Public Service Medal by the President of Singapore in 1999.

Age 52. Mr Lavin is currently Chairman of the Public Affairs Practice for Edelman Asia Pacific where he works with companies across the region. He has wide experience in government having served as Under Secretary for International Trade at the Department of Commerce (2005-2007) and US Ambassador to Singapore (2001-2005) where he helped to negotiate the landmark US-Singapore Free Trade Agreement. He had also held senior finance and management positions in Citibank, Bank of America and Cushman & Wakefield Investors Asia. Mr Lavin is fluent in Mandarin and is now based in Hong Kong. He is the Chairman of the Steering Committee of the Shanghai 2010 World Expo USA Pavilion.

Mr Lavin has a Bachelor of Science from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, a Master of Science in Chinese Language and History from Georgetown University, a Master of Arts in International Relations and International Economics from the School of Advanced International Studies at the Johns Hopkins University and a Master of Business Administration in Finance at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Age 56. Mr Cheng is currently a director of Singapore Press Holdings, Singapore Health Services, Integrated Health Information Systems and NTUC Fairprice Cooperative. He has a strong background in accounting, finance and infocomm technology. He retired as managing partner of Accenture after 26 years with the global management and technology consulting firm. He also brings his experience to non-profit organisations, serving as a director of NTUC Fairprice Foundation, Singapore Cooperation Enterprise, Council for Third Age and Asia Philanthropic Ventures, Chairman of the Lien Centre for Social Innovation and Caritas Singapore Community Council, and as treasurer of the Singapore Golf Association.

Mr Cheng has a Bachelor of Accountancy (First Class Honours) from the University of Singapore. He is Fellow of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Singapore and the Singapore Institute of Directors, and Honorary Fellow of the Singapore Computer Society.