This year, the family-controlled lender has had to work through multiple deals where borrowers struggled to refinance or defaulted on, and is paring its overall Greater China exposure.
(Dec 17): A large wager on Hong Kong and China real estate is backfiring on one of Singapore’s top banks, which is facing up to mounting troubles in the region’s deteriorating property markets.
United Overseas Bank Ltd (UOB) over the years financed real estate abroad including hillside luxury homes in Hong Kong, a five-star hotel overlooking the city’s central harbour, shopping malls and a Shanghai life science park. It also lent to Chinese developers. More than 40% of the loans its Hong Kong branch made were property-related as of June, a higher concentration than some other banks in the Chinese territory.
