How UOB’s Wee Ee Cheong is planting the seeds for the next 90 years
The UOB CEO talks succession, acquisitions and the importance of preserving the bank’s cultural ‘trunk’ – just like his beloved bonsai
Wee Ee Cheong leans back in his chair in the boardroom of UOB Plaza and behind him a deep green bonsai peeks into view from a shelf, poised like it is meant to be part of the conversation.
Still, the metaphor of nurturing resilience winds its way into the interview as Wee talks about legacy and the need to secure the future of an institution founded by his grandfather, Wee Kheng Chiang – a Hokkien born in Sarawak – and which his father spent a lifetime cultivating before the son took over in 2007.
“Looking back, I’m happy to take that legacy and just continue to move forward, but I think it’s more than just a legacy. I think stewardship is the most important; to make the bank more forward-looking, more future-proof,” he said about UOB’s ambitions.
“Legacy is just your own personal thing. To me, let’s take aside the personal part and look more at how to inculcate a stewardship mentality.”
We want to be the No 1 trade bank, and you can say most of it is China-driven
Over the decades, many of Singapore’s family-owned banks have either been sold or merged with others. As recently as the early 2000s, government regulators considered the domestic market too small to sustain more than two local banks, encouraging the others to consolidate.