S'pore banks have good shot at cracking Asean growth

SINGAPORE banks, through differing strategies capitalising on their respective strengths, are making expected inroads into tapping the burgeoning wealth and fund inflows in Asean.

UOB and OCBC, in particular, have made positive onshore investments in Asean, the region that is set to become the fourth-largest market after the EU, the US and China by 2030.

UOB is due to have a foreign-owned subsidiary bank licence in Vietnam by June, which would make it the first Singapore bank to set up a network of branches in Vietnam. This comes not just because of its historical ties - in 1995, UOB was the first Singapore bank to open a foreign bank branch in Vietnam - but also on the back of its network of foreign direct investment (FDI) advisory units across Asia, including one such office in Vietnam.