The completion of United Overseas Bank’s (UOB) U11 acquisition of Citi’s consumer banking businesses in Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam has brought the bank’s regional retail customer count to over seven million as at March 31.
When it completes its acquisition of Citi’s consumer business in Indonesia, the bank’s customer count will have close to eight million customers, says UOB.
“Our transformative decision to acquire Citigroup’s consumer businesses in four Asean markets during the pandemic has proven to be very timely, positioning us well as consumer spending returns with a vengeance,” says Jacquelyn Tan, head of group personal financial services at UOB.
The four markets are also expected to provide an additional $1 billion to UOB’s revenue on a full-year basis in addition to building stronger resilience with diversification in its geographical and revenue mix.
Prior to the acquisition, 70% of UOB’s portfolio was in Singapore versus 30% in the region. After the acquisition, UOB’s Singapore portfolio is now at 60% compared to the region’s 40%.
In the 1QFY2023 ended March, UOB saw its net credit card fees almost doubling y-o-y with Citi’s portfolio contributing a quarter to the amount. Loans and deposits grew by almost 10% and 15% y-o-y in the 1QFY2023 as well following the acquisition.
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During the same period, the Asean-4, which is made up of Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam accounted for over 35% of the bank’s group personal financial services income. UOB’s network of branches in Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam also grew by 15 as of March.
In the 1QFY2023, total cross-border billings for UOB’s credit cards in Asean grew almost three times y-o-y.
The bank’s total income from its unsecured business is also expected to almost double by the end of FY2023.
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Following the acquisition, UOB is now the top in consumer card spend for Visa in Asean. The bank is also the top issuer of MasterCard for credit cards in the region, notes Tan.
“These are two huge achievements, altogether. [It] also speaks of the size and the presence that we have individual countries on top of Singapore,” she says.
In Singapore, about 1.3 million UOB credit cards are in use today, which translates to about one in two cardholders in Singapore that holds a card from the bank.
“Aside from the Citi acquisition that loaded about close to - by the end of the four countries - more than two million customers organically. Annually, we onboard about 800,000 customers, of which more than 50% are digitally acquired through our UOB TMRW platform. That is a nice complement of both organic as well as inorganic growth to build up our franchise,” she adds.
According to UOB, the figures bode well and are in line with the bullish forecasts for Asean and the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region compared to the rest of the world. In its statement, UOB highlighted that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated that APAC will see overall GDP growth of 4.6% in 2023, up 0.6% from the year before and above the forecasts of a 2.8% global growth in GDP.
The Asian Development Bank had also forecasted that Southeast Asia’s GDP growth will keep pace at 4.7% in 2023 amid the global headwinds.
