UOB

Universal bank · Singapore, Singapore

UOB is the third-largest bank in Southeast Asia, founded in Singapore in 1935 and still led by the Wee family. It runs about 430 branches and offices in 19 markets with subsidiaries in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, and in 2022 bought Citigroup's consumer businesses in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam for about 5 billion Singapore dollars. Its eBusiness Account charges 35 Singapore dollars a year with a 1,000 dollar initial deposit and waives the fall-below fee for 12 months. The group reported operating profit of 7.7 billion Singapore dollars for 2025. MAS imposed a 5.6 million Singapore dollar penalty in July 2025 for anti-money-laundering breaches.

Legal name: United Overseas Bank Limited
Regulated by: Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Bank Negara Malaysia (UOB Malaysia), Bank of Thailand (UOB Thailand), OJK Indonesia (UOB Indonesia), State Bank of Vietnam (UOB Vietnam), NFRA China (UOB China)
Licence confirmed: yes, on a regulator's own list
Established: 1935
Website: www.uob.com.sg

Scores, 0 to 10

9.0Asia-Pacific (SG, HK, AU, JP, KR)

Full licence in Singapore plus subsidiaries in China and branches in Australia, Japan and Hong Kong with FAST and PayNow rails. · source

9.0Financial strength & stability

Aa1/AA-/AA- ratings and 7.7 billion Singapore dollar operating profit, offset by the 2025 MAS penalty. · source

7.5Trade, manufacturing & import-export

Trade finance across 19 markets, with Australia operations founded to finance Australia-Asia trade. · source

7.0Cross-border payments, FX and multi-currency accounts

Regional rails in six ASEAN markets plus SWIFT; FX margins are not published. UOB Infinity platform and subsidiaries in five ASEAN markets support regional cash management. · source

7.0Lowest fees

eBusiness Account 35 Singapore dollars a year with FAST and GIRO fee savings and a 12-month fall-below waiver. · source

7.0Business cards (Visa, Mastercard)

Business World Debit Mastercard charges 0 percent FX fees and rebates up to 1.5 percent for 36.67 dollars a year, waived three years, alongside Corporate Card, Business Plus and Empire World Mastercard credit cards; virtual payment solutions are sold separately. · source

6.5Latin America, Africa & South Asia

Subsidiaries in Indonesia (41 branches, 172 sub-branches), Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. · source

6.5Fast digital onboarding

Singapore companies apply online for the eBusiness Account with a 1,000 dollar initial deposit. · source

6.0Online businesses: e-commerce and SaaS

FAST, GIRO and PayNow collection with transaction fee rebates on the eBusiness Account. UOB API Services run through UOB Infinity and the SME app, BizSmart connects Xero, Info-Tech and AutoCount, and the Global Currency Account holds 10 currencies; no revenue-based financing is offered. · source

6.0Foreign-owned & non-resident companies

Foreign-incorporated companies are eligible with a minimum 500 dollar set-up fee, but online opening needs at least one owner or director who is a Singapore citizen or permanent resident. · source

6.0On-ramp: buy crypto with fiat

MAS-licensed exchanges such as Independent Reserve publish guides for funding accounts from UOB in SGD, and no reports of UOB blocking exchange payments were found, but UOB has no crypto policy for business clients and evidence comes from the exchanges. · source

5.5Fintech companies that need a partner bank

Digital-asset team explores tokenisation; no safeguarding or BaaS programme published. · source

5.5Startups & VC-backed companies

eBusiness Account suits simple new businesses; no venture products. · source

5.5Off-ramp: crypto to fiat in a business account

Withdrawals from MAS-licensed exchanges to UOB accounts are routine for retail users, but UOB publishes no source-of-funds process for business clients receiving crypto proceeds, so evidence is thin. · source

4.5Best interest on business balances

The eBusiness Account page lists fees and minimum balances but no yield on operating balances. · source

3.5Crypto-friendly bank

No crypto trading or custody; the bank has a head of blockchain and digital assets working on tokenisation. · source

3.5High-risk verticals (iGaming, cannabis, adult, forex)

UOB's responsible financing policy prohibits financing tied to heritage sites, wildlife trade, pollution, forced labour and open burning but says nothing about gambling, adult, cannabis or forex clients. · source

3.0United States

North American offices serve corporate clients only. · source

3.0Customer satisfaction

Trustpilot score 1.5 out of 5. · source

2.5Stablecoins (USDC, USDT and others)

UOB has no stablecoin accounts or payouts, but on 26 August 2026 it completed live tokenised deposit payments in HKD with HSBC on Swift's blockchain ledger and plans SGD and USD transactions, which is bank-to-bank tokenised money rather than a stablecoin service for companies. · source

1.0Crypto wallet and custody for a business

UOB offers no crypto custody to business clients; its Innovation Group, set up in April 2025, works on tokenised assets and deposits rather than holding crypto for clients, checked September 2026. · source

1.0Accept crypto payments

No crypto or stablecoin acceptance appears in UOB's merchant or business payment products, and its 2026 stablecoin work is a research report, checked September 2026. · source

1.0Bitcoin

UOB offers no bitcoin buying, holding or transfer for business clients, and no bitcoin product was found on its business or private banking pages, checked September 2026. · source

1.0Ethereum

UOB offers no ether product for business clients; its blockchain work uses token standards for tokenised assets, not ether holdings, checked September 2026. · source

Sources

Built on public information and the BankStore team's own aggregated experience; no confidential client or partner data. Bank Index and BankStore are not banks. This is information, not financial advice.