Singaporean-based United Overseas Bank (UOB) said it will leverage Hong Kong’s gateway role between the Chinese mainland and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to consolidate the bank’s traditional niches in the wholesale commercial banking business while making new efforts to tap into the wealth management segment.

UOB Hong Kong – the lender’s banking business operation in Hong Kong – is seeing ASEAN expansion evolve from a supply-chain story into major themes of business growth, wealth creation and capital market opportunity. This is driving demand not only for cross-border banking, treasury and risk-management solutions, but also for wealth management, succession planning, and investment advisory services, bank officials said.

“Hong Kong continues to be one of the world’s leading international financial hubs, and the vital link between the Chinese mainland, ASEAN, and the wider region,” UOB Hong Kong CEO George Tung said. The bank, he said, is seeing “opportunities arising from increasing connectivity across ASEAN as well as encouraging momentum in areas such as cross-border business flows, wealth management, and treasury solutions”.

Tung said the economic transformation of ASEAN countries is cementing the rise of the China-ASEAN wealth corridor.

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“With a clear shift from ‘China+1’ to ‘Growth+1’, clients’ priorities are evolving beyond manufacturing and supply chain diversification to encompass treasury optimization, financing, risk management, wealth creation, and succession planning, where trade, investment and wealth flows are increasingly intertwined,” the CEO said.

UOB Private Bank – the UOB’s private banking business arm – is targeting that growth of Hong Kong AUM (assets under management) and wealth revenue in a bid to grow fivefold by 2030, alongside a threefold increase in the client-adviser headcount.

The private banking division has registered a compound annual growth rate of 12 percent in AUM since 2022, and the growth rate of the Hong Kong private banking business are broadly in line with the group level.

More than 70 percent of UOB’s clients are business owners who have a strong demand for cross-border wealth, succession, and business advisory solutions.

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“Asia’s rising wealth and cross-border capital mobility are reinforcing Hong Kong’s role as a strategic wealth hub,” Tung said.

In addition to the new wealth management business, UOB will also prioritize quality growth in traditional commercial banking services such as transaction banking, trade finance and cross-border financing.

“Our growth in Hong Kong will be driven by regional connectivity, higher-value client solutions, wealth expansion, and continued investment in people and technology,” Tung explained.

UOB has supported 2,400 Chinese mainland enterprises in overseas expansion as of 2025 and facilitated over HK$190 billion ($24.3 billion) direct investment from mainland enterprises into Southeast Asia since 2020.