Investor Highlights

On 14 August 2024, UOB hosted its investor flagship event of the year, UOB Corporate Day – Building the Future of ASEAN, at its Kuala Lumpur office, bringing together investors, analysts and media representatives for an engaging and insightful day of presentations, highlighting the region’s importance to the Bank’s long-term growth strategy.

The event served as a platform to showcase the Bank’s strategic vision for the future, particularly its ambitious targets and growth plans in the ASEAN region. Senior leaders provided detailed insights into the Bank’s roadmap, which includes key investments, partnerships and initiatives aimed at capitalising on the dynamic economic landscape of ASEAN.

During the event, UOB unveiled its projected 2026 financial shape, including its target to achieve a sustainable return on equity (ROE) of 14 per cent through three strategic pillars:

UOB’s strategies to enhance its market presence across ASEAN were also highlighted, leveraging on its regional expertise to drive innovation, improve customer experiences and foster collaboration in key economic sectors. In wholesale banking, UOB aims to boost revenue by pivoting towards trade, cash management and treasury spurred by connectivity flows and its enhanced product platforms. For retail banking, income growth will be mainly driven by wealth management and cards, leveraging on the synergies post the Bank’s acquisition of Citigroup’s consumer banking businesses in four ASEAN markets. UOB also plans to organically expand its retail customer base further to 10 million and to double private banking assets under management, with a focus on Greater China and ASEAN.

Overall, the presence of investors, analysts and media at the event reiterated the Bank’s commitment to transparency and building confidence in our vision. It provided an opportunity to engage directly with stakeholders, answer questions and share the Bank’s outlook on the growth opportunities ahead. Corporate Day 2024 set the stage for the Bank’s continued success as it works toward achieving its financial goals and positioning itself as a financial leader within ASEAN by 2026.

In 2024, UOB continued its unwavering commitment to maintain transparent, consistent and open communication with its investment community. The Bank focused on providing comprehensive disclosures on growth outlook and portfolio quality, addressing specific concerns raised by its investors. The dedication to thought leadership remained strong, with a particular emphasis on highlighting connectivity, digitalisation and sustainability opportunities across ASEAN.

The Bank’s investment community, which includes shareholders, institutional and retail investors, shareholder proxy advisory agencies, equity and fixed income analysts, and credit rating agencies, remains at the heart of its communication strategy. UOB believes that regular and transparent communication is essential to maintaining their trust and confidence.

Throughout the year, UOB utilised both face-to-face and digital meetings to engage with its investors. About 600 meetings were conducted to ensure that the Bank’s stakeholders were well informed about its strategy, performance and business outlook.

This hybrid approach allowed the Bank to reach a broader audience and maintain strong relationships within the investment community globally.

These meetings included:

UOB has invested in multi-year initiatives to enhance market access and funding capacity in key regional and global markets. Consistent investor engagements have enabled UOB to time and execute its funding strategies to achieve optimal results.

UOB made a high-profile return to the CNY Panda Bond market with the first Panda bond listed on SGX. The CNY 5 billion transaction priced on 21 Oct 2024 made a breakthrough as the largest issue size among Southeast Asia issuers, and the largest for a three-year tenor among foreign financial issuers at the time of issuance.  The offering garnered strong demand from both existing and new onshore and offshore investors with a subscription ratio of 1.73 times. UOB was the first Singapore issuer of Panda Bonds in 2019 and as the only Singaporean bank with repeat issuances in the Panda bond market, the issuance showcases the Bank’s long-standing commitment to the capital markets in Mainland China. The debut Panda bond listing on SGX was announced at the 20^th Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation meeting in Singapore¹ as one of the initiatives to strengthen finance and capital markets connectivity between China and Singapore.