Back then, the UOB Bank Group in Singapore had three banking licences and operated three different banks in Malaysia. Besides the UOB Bank with the KK branch, it also owned Chung Khiaw Bank and Lee Wah Bank. Through the sons of Mr Wee Cho Yaw, I met Mr Wee and convinced him to consolidate his banks in Malaysia. That consolidated bank is UOB Bank Malaysia today.
Twenty-eight years ago, on Merdeka Day in 1994, a new Malaysian bank was born. Allied Bank, subsequently renamed PhileoAllied Bank, began operating as a Malaysian-owned bank after taking over the single Kota Kinabalu (KK) branch of the UOB Bank in Malaysia from UOB Bank Group of Singapore.
This was the culmination of a process that began about a year back. From August 1993, Phileo began by acquiring Linatex Process Rubber Bhd from Harrisons & Crosfield Plc. Subsequently renamed PhileoAllied Berhad, it went on to acquire Petra Finance and Phileo Peregrine Securities, UOB Bank (Malaysia), which had only the single branch in KK, and took over the ailing Co-operative Central Bank, which had a deficit of RM600 million.
