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WEE EE CHEONG’S TAKEOVER GRAND SLAM

UNITED Overseas Bank’s (UOB) recent takeover of not 1 but 4 Citi consumer
banking portfolios in South-east Asia in one fell swoop might have raised some
eyebrows.

Even Wee Cho Yaw, who orchestrated several notable takeovers when he helmed UOB,
asked his son and the Singapore bank’s current chief Wee Ee Cheong: “Are you too
aggressive?”

The junior Wee recounted this to The Business Times in an interview, during
which he also shared why he decided to seize this “best opportunity in a
crisis”: The Citi portfolios were well sought after and their quality has
withstood the test of the pandemic.

The deal would help elevate UOB to a higher leadership position in various
markets, for example, among the top 3 card issuers in Thailand and Malaysia, and
among the top 5 in Indonesia. Also, with the Citi portfolios, UOB’s existing
retail customer base in the 4 markets is expected to double to 5.3 million,
fast-tracking its customer base target by 5 years.

This was the first major acquisition Wee has made since he took over the reins
as CEO in 2007. The Wees are the major shareholders of UOB and Wee Ee Cheong
sits on the board as deputy chairman.

In spite of peers making major acquisitions in the region while UOB had been
quiet on that front all these years, the 1.8 metre tall Wee was unperturbed and
stood his ground – even when questioned by shareholders at the annual general
meeting.


BIDING HIS TIME

He was not sleeping at the wheel but merely waiting for a suitable target to buy
while preserving financial firepower. Now, Wee’s patience and efforts have paid
off.

“One bullet is sufficient, you don’t need to fire too many,” said the former
national tennis player about his prize catch with a transaction value of about
S$4.9 billion. “In life, all you need is to make 1 or 2 meaningful decisions to
put you through.”

The 69-year-old is the newly minted Businessman of the Year 2022 of the
Singapore Business Awards, having impressed a panel of eminent judges with his
outstanding and sustained contribution to his enterprise, personal qualities,
managerial skills and contribution to Singapore’s development.

“I think I owe it to Singapore. Singapore’s a small country. If I can bring the
Singapore brand out to the region. I believe (in) the next 10 to 15 years when
UOB hits 100 years, the region will be doing well… So I hope we will be a truly,
truly regional bank.”

Interestingly, his father was awarded the prestigious title – his second –
exactly 20 years ago in 2002, the year after the elder Wee snagged Overseas
Union Bank in an acquisition bid, beating DBS. He garnered the award for the
first time for the year 1990, shortly after the Singapore Business Awards
organised by The Business Times and international express and logistics
heavyweight DHL started in 1985.

Wee Ee Cheong says hiring people well helps one to manage less. PHOTO: ARIFFIN
JAMAR, BT

The younger Wee formally began his career at UOB in 1979, when his father asked
him to return to Singapore upon his graduation in the United States. Had he not
heeded the call, he might now well be a different banker, at the World Bank, as
the Master of Applied Economics programme he completed helped to prepare
graduates for a career at the international organisation.

That’s the only time he was asked to join UOB, as his father, whom he described
as a man of few words, never pressured him or cultivated his interest to manage
the business the patriarch had built up on the foundation laid by the first
generation.

The elder banker has not put any pressure on his second child in his studies,
either. He accompanied him all the way to the US to make sure his son settled
down as he embarked on his first degree. While this might have been decades ago,
the gesture left a lasting impression on the junior as he reminisced: “That gave
me a nice feeling.”

The elder Wee also told his Chinese-educated son to go home if he could not
adapt to the English-speaking environment.

Ee Cheong – and his siblings – had attended Chinese-medium schools in Singapore,
supplemented by private English tuition, because Wee Cho Yaw insisted that his
children, being Chinese, know the language. The alumnus of Nanyang Primary
School and Chinese High School (now Hwa Chong Institution) said he struggled in
the US in the beginning but persevered and went on to obtain not only a
bachelor’s degree but also a master’s.

When he joined the bank, the scion did not have to write a curriculum vitae – or
any in his life. Still, he was subject to performance appraisal as well as
watchful eyes.

The competitive streak he honed in Singapore top schools as well as his
upbringing helped him perform at work and also tune out noises.

Wee said: “There is a disadvantage (of being the owner’s son). You are always
under the spotlight. You have a powerful father, people would say whether you
are as good or not as good (as him)… I’ve gone through all this, so it’s already
quite clear in my mind that if I want to make UOB a place to stay, I must be
able to persevere and not be disturbed by all this.

“I stay focused, I do what is right. And I’m confident enough… If you are
sincere enough, you’re trustworthy enough, the market will know how to recognise
you.”

Wee believed that he was also in a way tested and trained by his father as the
seasoned banker when still at the helm would sometimes make it tougher for him
at work, to the extent of being not “reasonable”, just to prove that he could
take it.

His father had not been told about his winning of the Businessman of the Year at
the time of this interview, because the list of winners was embargoed.

“In order to make UOB sustainable, you should not say that’s because of the Wee
family. It must be able to stand alone,” Wee says. PHOTO: ARIFFIN JAMAR, BT

At the age of 54, Wee assumed the helmsman post that “comes with heavy
responsibilities”. He knew he must not break the bank founded by his grandfather
in the early 20th century, yet needs to make some bold moves with calculated
risks to keep it relevant and benefit shareholders.

He decided that the way forward for UOB would be venturing beyond Singapore into
Asean to reduce the concentration risk of deriving the bulk of its business from
the Republic.

“If Asean does well, Singapore will do well. A rising tide lifts all boats,”
said Wee, bullish about the prospects of the South-east Asian 10-member states.

But he’s not content to have a collection of banks in the region with each
operating on their disparate systems. “If I want to be a truly, truly Asean
bank, we must think and behave the same way.”

A regional platform that provides UOB with a standardised system was thus
established, allowing the bank to scale its business across the markets,
accelerate the speed of offerings to market, give its customers a uniform
experience as well as control risk.

This was achieved at a price tag of about S$600 million, but the investment laid
the foundation that the honcho believes will set the bank up for the long haul.

Added Wee: “This is why for the Citibank portfolios, we are able to take 4
countries in one go. So, when I negotiated with Citibank… I think they saw the
benefit: They only had to deal with 1 entity for 4 countries… This is where I
have an advantage.

“It took me from 2007 until now. For 15 years, I hardly did anything in
acquisition because I don’t quite believe in buying banks.”

He said that there are differences between buying a portfolio and buying a bank,
as acquiring the whole bank entails inheriting legacy problems. “Because my
father’s gone through that in buying banks, I feel there’s hardship in buying a
bank.”

Apart from the regional platform UOB set up under Wee’s leadership, the Foreign
Direct Investment (FDI) Advisory Unit was also established, in 2011, to market
dedicated, one-stop solutions to foreign corporations that want to set up
regional operations in Asia. The unit works with investment agencies and trade
bodies in various countries as well as professional service providers to help
foreign corporate investors navigate the different tax, accounting, legal and
regulatory systems in the region.

Said Wee: “So if I can be successful in helping them go overseas, they will give
me a piece of the action.”

He said the only way UOB is able to compete against the domestic banks in the
region is this connectivity, which should also create stickiness to help it keep
its customers.

The FDI Advisory Unit with its 10 centres across Asia, said Wee, has helped over
3,500 corporations invest into the region, including notably over S$4.6 billion
in projected FDIs into Vietnam.

How one conducts oneself and treats others, especially towards the small guys,
is deemed important by Wee. PHOTO: ARIFFIN JAMAR, BT

Seeing himself as the steward of UOB, Wee reiterated the importance of thinking
and acting for the long term. He extends this principle to the bank’s leadership
renewal plan and his potential successor.

He quoted the Chinese saying “wealth doesn’t last beyond 3 generations” and
added: “We have to take a long-term view, we cannot take shortcuts… I always
tell my people, once you have a long-term mindset, you don’t do anything funny.”

He places importance in training and observing his staff as well as
understanding their attributes and background. Specifically, he looks for team
players skilled in people management. Also important is how one conducts oneself
and treats others, especially towards the small guys.

“I always believe you have to hire people well, and then you manage less. If you
bring in a tiger, then you have a problem… Hire the right people with the right
values. You let them manage, you empower them, so it becomes a trusting
organisation.”

On how he could ensure UOB is not staffed with “yes” men and women who would
readily agree with him, he said time will reveal the real character of a person.
And UOB has a multi-pronged approach, including processes for checks and
balances.

Wee has been growing his own timber the last 10 years, including hiring some
from foreign banks. “I’ve been taking some of these people to a point where I
think the timber is good enough. I commit to them, I train them, I give them
exposure.”

Now, 10 to 15 of them in their mid-40s to early 50s are in the running for the
pole position to succeed Wee but there is no clear lead yet, he said.

Don’t expect him to retire right after a new CEO is appointed, though. “I will
still continue to play a role, just to give them the strength to move forward…
major shareholders are willing to support them. I think that’s important.”

None of his children, aged between 28 and 42, are among the candidates. His 2
sons and a daughter are all doing their own businesses, although his second son
had worked for 6 years at UOB following a 2-year stint at a foreign bank.

Wee said he had encouraged his second son to first work and prove himself
elsewhere, so as to be spared the pressure the former had gone through of being
in the spotlight at UOB.

“He said the idea is good. But (when) people out there know that you are so and
so, they don’t want to teach you anything… Then he told me, ‘Do you want me to
stay there for the sake of staying and not learning anything, or you prefer me
to come here, at least I get to learn something’,” Wee recounted the exchange he
had with his son.

Wee said he would not make his children work at UOB if they are not interested.
“I want them to be happy.”

Eventually, his children could sit on the board as directors as major
shareholders if they are keen.

“This is why I think long term. In order to make UOB sustainable, you should not
say that’s because of the Wee family. It must be able to stand alone. To me, I
think it’s important,” said Wee.

The shortage of Asean staff, especially the Thai, at UOB’s Singapore office has
constrained the pace of the bank’s regionalisation, said Wee when asked about
the challenge during his tenure as the chief. “Because we are still quite
Singapore-centric. Anything wrong? Nothing wrong. To be a regional player,
(however), I think we need people from the region working together with us in
the head office, so we all can (better) understand.”


IMPETUS TO MOVE FASTER

The purchase of Citi portfolios, noted Wee, would give UOB a lot of impetus to
move faster. Some 90 per cent of Citi staff in Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam
have agreed to join UOB, while 75 per cent of the leadership team in Indonesia
will remain on board.

Wee learned tennis at a young age because his father has a court at home, but
has hung up his tennis racket. Nowadays, he treks 8-10 kilometres in under 2
hours every weekday, and visits the Botanic Gardens followed by a meal at a
hawker centre on Saturdays.

Although he is from one of Singapore’s most prominent families, the low-profile
the mild-mannered man has maintained means he hardly gets recognised in the
public. “You’re high already, (so) you want to play low (key), (a) simple life
is better,” Wee said.

And the tip Wee has for businessmen: “Health is wealth. At the end of the day,
this is risk management. If you don’t have a healthy body, if you don’t have a
healthy mind, it’s no use having the whole empire.”


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