The International Excellence in Retail Financial
Services Awards 2011
United Overseas Bank (UOB) Wins Two Awards—Best Retail
Bank in Singapore and Best SME Banking Business
- UOB is the sole winner for
two awards—Best Retail Bank in Singapore and Best
SME Banking Business.
- UOB has taken over the lead
in retail banking in Singapore, building on solid
growth in retail deposits, revenues and profits
while building on a strong SME business and a rapidly
growing affluent segment.
- Over 170 banks and financial
institutions from 29 countries across the Asia
Pacific, the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa
were evaluated as part of the International Excellence
in Retail Financial Services programme.
Singapore, March 11th 2011—UOB has
been named the Best Retail Bank in Singapore and was
also awarded the Best SME Banking Business by the 10th
International Excellence in Retail Financial Services
Awards Programme. The bank received the awards at The
International Excellence in Retail Financial Services
2011 Awards ceremony, held in conjunction with the region’s
most prestigious retail banking event, the Excellence
in Retail Financial Services Convention. The ceremony
was held at the Shangri La Hotel in Kuala Lumpur on March
11th 2011.
About 150 senior bankers from award-winning banks in
29 countries across the Asia Pacific, the Middle East,
Central Asia and Africa attended the glittering event
that recognises their efforts in bringing superior products
and services to their customers.
The awards programme, administered by The Asian Banker
and refereed by prominent global bankers, consultants
and academics, is the most prestigious of its kind.
A stringent three-month evaluation process based on
a balanced and transparent scorecard used to determine
the winners and the positions of various retail banks
in the region is attached.
UOB is the sole winner for two awards—Best
Retail Bank in Singapore and Best SME Banking Business
The bank demonstrated solid and sustainable growth in
terms of revenues and profits, building on a well-diversified
portfolio, with notable strength in the SME, payments,
and lately, wealth management sectors.
The bank has reorganised its customer segmentation into
a new framework, creating competition among individual
segments in the retail bank. Every segment now seeks
to serve the specific needs of their customers in a better,
more targeted way. This reflects in a stronger value
proposition for each segment, which together offer everything
from customer advisory for first home buyers to sophisticated
services for high net worth clients—including concierge
services, offshore services and privilege cards. The
bank has also positioned itself as an open and easy-to-deal-with
bank for Singapore’s fast-growing foreign population,
in particular the mainland Chinese.
UOB has a reputation for silent innovation, which although
not widely publicised, has kept pace with Singapore’s
development, pushed by the strong presence of international
players in a very competitive market. Improved predictive
behavioural analytics helped to target marketing efforts
and develop customised solutions, improve response rates
and cost efficiency.
Chris Kapfer, head of Asian Banker Research, says: “When
Singapore banks were struggling with top line growth,
UOB focused on a diversified product offering, strength
in the SME market and merchant acquisition, and were
able to maintain its momentum and outgrow its peers.”
Also on the operational side, UOB has started a number
of initiatives to improve efficiency in terms of operational
cost. Enhanced roles of frontline personnel and faster
turn-around times for loan products have helped to close
the gap with its competitors
UOB has taken over the lead in retail banking
in Singapore, building on solid growth in retail
deposits, revenues and profits while building on
a strong SME business and a rapidly growing affluent
segment.
In 2010, UOB embarked on a significant transformation
process in its SME banking business. To cater to the
needs of its clients, its hybrid operating model aimed
to combine the “Best of Two Worlds”—efficiency in retail
and depth of wholesale banking.
With its 67 branches and four SME centres, its depth
and breadth of penetration, sector coverage and unique
client approach, it has made the most significant advances
in SME banking in the region. While others have fluctuated
in their industry focus or revenue generation, UOB has
been increasing its top line growth steadily, growing
by over 10% year-on-year in outstanding loans and extending
its market share beyond 30% in the Singapore market in
terms of loan value in 2010.
Chris Kapfer, head of Asian Banker Research, says: “UOB
is one of the very few domestic institutions in Asia
that is visibly moving away from pure lending to comprehensive
account management, and building a regional platform
that can view many markets as one.”
By institutionalising its credit underwriting with a
proprietary smart system, it combined a configurable
rule engine and advisory function with multiple decision
parameters that allows UOB the flexibility to offer customised
solutions for its over 6,000 clients. It also streamlined
its review processes, reducing the amount of account
reviews to 15% of the portfolio while capturing 90% of
all non-performing loans.
By freeing up time for its personnel, it was also the
first in the industry in Singapore to certify its relationship
managers and sales managers for the sale of investment
products. Moreover, a clear segregation of risk and sales
with regard to people and processes allowed robust control
of risk management.
Over 170 banks in 29 countries across Asia,
and this year for the first time Africa, were evaluated
as part of The International Excellence in Retail
Financial Services Programme.
“This year over 170 banks and financial institutions
in 29 countries across Asia were evaluated as part of
The Excellence in Retail Financial Services Programme
in what has become the most prestigious, comprehensive
and anticipated awards programme that recognises the
pursuit of excellence amongst retail financial institutions
anywhere in the world today” said Philippe Paillart,
chairman of The International Excellence in Retail Financial
Services Programme. He added: “It is amazing to see the
rapid development of the retail financial services industry
every year, and to experience the narrowing gap between
mature and emerging market banks in terms of operational
efficiency and technology.”
The transparent award evaluation process uses a balanced
scorecard approach and a comprehensive methodology to
evaluate the strength of individual banks’ retail banking
businesses that involve extensive research and probing
interviews, and taps the combined experience of a team
of experienced researchers.
Paillart, formerly vice chairman and CEO of DBS Bank
and a pioneer in the retail banking industry in the Asia
Pacific region, elaborated: “The Asian Banker Excellence
Programme was instituted in 2001 on the premise that
an outstanding player in the retail financial services
industry should build business franchises that are sustainable,
competitive and profitable over a period of time. To
stay abreast of the rapidly growing geographic scope
of the programme, The Asian Banker has renamed the awards
‘The International Retail Financial Services Awards’
in 2011.”
