Just before Leong became CFO, US President Donald Trump announced a series of tariffs on trading partners on April 1, 2025. A universal 10% tariff on all imported goods was implemented on April 5, 2025, followed by further tariffs on selected countries. However, the Supreme Court struck down the tariffs on Feb 20.
Leong Yung Chee was appointed group CFO of United Overseas Bank (UOB) on April 22, 2025. Before that, he had been head of corporate banking at UOB. Yet, just a few months into the job, he recommended a drastic expansion of the bank’s provisioning levels.
“My role as a corporate banker was a lot more revenue-driven, dealing with frontline customer relationships. The pressures came from transactions, pricing and budgeting. That is very different from my CFO role,” Leong recalls. “I would say the CFO stress level is a lot higher.”
