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Singapore, 28 August 2000 - The management of United Overseas Bank Limited (UOB) has noted the statement by Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Lee Hsien Loong in Parliament on 25 August 2000 relating to the handling of the eWorldofSports.com Limited (eWOS) Initial Public Offering (IPO) by UOB Asia Limited (UOB Asia), a wholly-owned subsidiary of UOB. The UOB management views with grave concern DPM Lee's comments that UOB Asia's announcement of 4 August 2000 on the results of the IPO was misleading and could possibly amount to a breach of Section 99 of the Securities Industry Act.

UOB has directed UOB Asia to cooperate fully with the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) in its investigations into the matter. UOB has also decided to initiate further measures to prevent a repeat of the events surrounding the eWOS IPO. Accordingly, UOB has appointed its external auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers, led by its Executive Chairman, Mr Michael Lim Choo San, to review UOB Asia's handling of the eWOS IPO as well as to examine UOB Asia's internal procedures and controls in relation to the handling of IPOs generally. The review team will also study and propose ways to improve and enhance the effectiveness and integrity of such internal procedures and controls. The review team from PricewaterhouseCoopers will report directly to Mr Koh Beng Seng, a board member of UOB. Mr Koh will, in turn, report the findings and recommendations to the Board upon completion of the review. A copy of the report will also be furnished to the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

UOB has also decided that, with immediate effect, UOB Asia will not undertake any new work relating to IPOs until UOB is fully satisfied that UOB Asia is capable of discharging new IPO assignments with the level of professionalism, competency and responsibility which is expected of it. While UOB Asia will undertake to complete all existing IPO engagements, steps have been taken to ensure that there will be no repeat of the circumstances leading to the eWOS announcement. The other business operations of UOB Asia will not be affected.

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