United Overseas Bank (UOB)
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United Overseas Bank Limited, often known as UOB, is a Singaporean regional bank headquartered at Raffles Place, Singapore, with branches mostly found in Southeast Asia countries. It is one of the three "big local banks" in the country, the other two being DBS Bank and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC).
From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0, revision of 5 Oct 2026.
What stands out
- UOB has earned more on its money than that money costs, in 5 of the last 5 years.Return on invested capital (ROIC); ROE for banks: 9.6% ROE
From filed figures and the weekly screener snapshot, 30 Oct 2026. Observations to check in the tabs below, not advice.
What has the price done?
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Press and drag across the chart to see the change between two points. Source: Yahoo Finance, delayed. Bars are daily and prices are adjusted for splits, not dividends. Past returns don't predict future returns.
Dividends
Full chart
TradingView's advanced chart, with indicators and drawing tools. It loads when you scroll to it.
TradingView's free chart doesn't carry SGX, so it opens on another symbol. The chart at the top of this tab has U11's delayed prices.
How does it make money?
What it does
UOB reports 4 businesses. In FY2025, retail brought in 37%, wholesale banking brought in 45%, global markets brought in 8% and others brought in 10% of total income.
By region, Singapore made up 55%, then Malaysia at 12%.
From United Overseas Bank, Condensed financial statements, fourth quarter 2025.
Where the total income comes from
- Wholesale banking45%
- Retail37%
- Others10%
- Global markets8%
Shares of total income, FY2025. Source: United Overseas Bank, Condensed financial statements, fourth quarter 2025.
How it makes money
Where UOB's FY2025 total income came from, what it cost to earn, and what was left for shareholders.
- Income
- Costs, allowances and tax
- Profit
- % = share of total income
Source: United Overseas Bank, Condensed financial statements, fourth quarter 2025 (24 Feb 2026), pp. 2, 14, 19 and 24. FY2025 is the year to 31 Dec 2025. Figures as reported, in S$ millions in the tooltips and table.
Technical: expenses were 44.6% of total income and net profit 33.9%. Allowances for bad loans took 14.8%.
Plain: of every dollar UOB earned, about 45 cents went on running the bank and about 34 cents ended up as profit for shareholders.
Total income by business
Total income by region
See the numbers
| FY2025 | S$M | % of income |
|---|---|---|
| Net interest income | 9,355 | 67.8% |
| Net fee and commission income | 2,569 | 18.6% |
| Other non-interest income | 1,884 | 13.6% |
| Total income | 13,808 | 100.0% |
| Expenses | −6,157 | 44.6% |
| Amortisation of intangible assets | −31 | 0.2% |
| Allowances for credit and other losses | −2,042 | 14.8% |
| Share of profits of associates and JVs | 79 | 0.6% |
| Profit before tax | 5,657 | 41.0% |
| Income tax | −962 | 7.0% |
| Minority interests | −13 | 0.1% |
| Net profit to shareholders | 4,682 | 33.9% |
- Allowances more than doubled to S$2,042M from S$926M. UOB says this reflects pre-emptive provisioning, mostly a general allowance set aside in the second half.
- UOB assigns income to where the transactions and assets are booked.
History and context
United Overseas Bank Limited, often known as UOB, is a Singaporean regional bank headquartered at Raffles Place, Singapore, with branches mostly found in Southeast Asia countries. It is one of the three "big local banks" in the country, the other two being DBS Bank and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC).
First founded during the Great Depression in 1935 as United Chinese Bank (UCB) by a group of Hoklo businessmen including Sarawak-born Wee Kheng Chiang, the bank operated from a single branch bank in rented premises of Bonham Building, located in Boat Quay, close to the Singapore River. It was principally engaged in short-term loans to a segment of local businessmen, to be precise, Hokkien Chinese businessmen in Singapore.
UOB is the third largest bank in Southeast Asia by total assets. The bank provides personal financial services, commercial banking, private banking and asset management services, as well as corporate finance, venture capital and insurance services. It has 68 branches in Singapore and a network of more than 500 offices in 19 countries and territories in Asia Pacific, Western Europe and North America.
From Wikipedia's article United Overseas Bank, the lead section as of the revision of 5 Oct 2026, retrieved 1 Nov 2026. Text under CC BY-SA 4.0, pronunciation guides removed. Wikipedia can be edited by anyone; the company's own filings are the primary source.
What it actually sells Soon
A product-by-product guide to UOB: what each one is, who buys it, and how much it brings in, in plain English and in the company's own terms. We're starting with the companies that are hardest to picture, like Broadcom.
Moat rating
Narrow moat
6.6 / 10
Return on equity averaged 11.5% over FY2021 to FY2025, 4.2 percentage points above a 7.34% cost of equity, and beat it every year. It fell to 9.6% in FY2025 as allowances more than doubled to S$2.0B.
UOB has cleared the bar every year, but not by much, and FY2025's extra provisions for bad loans brought it closer.
The numbers
7.0 / 10Return on equity against cost of equity, money-centre banks
- Average ROE
- 11.5%
- Average excess return
- +4.2 pp
- Years above the hurdle
- 5 of 5
Spread 5 × 60% + durability 10 × 40% = 7.0
The sources
6.2 / 10Where UOB's advantage comes from
- 1. Brand and pricing power6 / 10
S$426B of customer deposits against S$352B of gross loans at end-2025. Net interest margin narrowed to 1.89% from 2.03%.
UOB has more deposits than loans, so funding is cheap, but its lending profit shrank as rates fell.
- 2. Barriers to entry8 / 10
Banking needs a MAS licence and regulatory capital. UOB's CET1 ratio was 15.1% at end-2025.
You can't just open a bank. The regulator decides who gets a licence and how much capital they must hold.
- 3. Switching costs7 / 10
Group Retail brought in S$5.1B of income in 2025 from deposits, cards, mortgages and wealth products across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.
Moving your salary, home loan and cards to another bank is a hassle most people never get round to.
- 4. Network effects4 / 10
Everyday payments run on shared rails like PayNow, which every participating bank can use.
PayNow works across banks, so UOB gains little extra just because more people use it.
- 5. Economies of scale6 / 10
Cost-to-income ratio of 44.6% in 2025, on total assets of S$572B. DBS ran at 40.4% and OCBC at 40.2%.
UOB spends about 45 cents of every dollar it earns on running the bank, a little more than its two local rivals.
Return on equity: United Overseas Bank, Annual Report 2025, five-year Group financial summary, p. 43. Hurdle: Aswath Damodaran, NYU Stern, Cost of capital by sector (US), data as of January 2026. Damodaran's US money-centre bank figure, used as a proxy. A Singapore-specific cost of equity could differ.
Lens scores are rasinbun's judgment, reviewed 19 Oct 2026. A wide moat is a reason to dig deeper, not a verdict on the price. For education only. Not financial advice.
How we rate moats ›Is it a good business at a fair price?
What each method implies
Ranges, not targetsThe five questions, and the price
Six checks from the annual reports. A flag marks a reason to dig deeper, not a verdict.
- 1. Is it growing?
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Revenue growth over 5–10 years
SGX companies don't file tagged figures with the SEC. We'll add them from annual reports.
We need at least five years of sales to answer this.
What to look for Steady growth, not one lucky year.
- 2. Is it profitable?
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Operating margin (operating income ÷ revenue)
Operating margin doesn't describe a bank: interest paid is a cost of doing business, not financing.
For a bank, the better test is return on equity, in the next rows.
What to look for Stable or rising. It's cleaner than net income, which one-off items and tax can distort.
- 3. Is the profit real cash?
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Free cash flow (operating cash flow − capex), and FCF ÷ net income
Free cash flow doesn't fit a bank: lending and deposits run through operating cash flow.
A bank's cash flow swings with its loans and deposits, so this test doesn't apply.
What to look for FCF positive and growing, and close to net income over time.
- 4. Is it a good business?Within the guide
9.6% ROE
Return on invested capital (ROIC); ROE for banks
FY2025 ROE. 5-year average 11.5% against a 7.34% cost of equity, money-centre banks; above it in 5 of 5 years.
UOB has earned more on its money than that money costs, in 5 of the last 5 years.
What to look for Clearly above the cost of capital (roughly 8–10%). Sustained 15%+ usually means a moat.
Source: Our moat rating, Moat tab; Aswath Damodaran, NYU Stern, January 2026.
- 5. Can it survive a bad year?
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Net debt ÷ EBITDA or ÷ FCF, plus interest cover
Debt ratios don't fit a bank: borrowing is its raw material. Capital ratios (CET1) are the test, and we haven't typed them up yet.
For a bank, the safety test is how much capital it holds against its loans. Soon.
What to look for Debt payable from about 3 years of FCF or less, interest covered many times.
- 6. Is the price right?
−33.1% vs the sheet
FCF yield or EV/EBIT, and price against a cash-flow value
The valuation sheet's default story values it at S$56.83–S$68.09 a share (middle S$62.21); at S$41.61, its 16 Oct 2026 price, the price is −33.1% against the middle.
On the sheet's default story the price sits below the middle of its value range, by 33%. Change the story and that moves.
What to look for Pay less than a cash-flow value estimate, with a margin of safety.
Source: Stock valuation, 16 Oct 2026.
US figures: each company's Form 10-K as tagged on SEC EDGAR, collected 19 Oct 2026. Free cash flow is operating cash flow less purchases of property and equipment. Borrowings exclude leases. For education only. Not financial advice.
How peers compare
Singapore and US banksBanks are compared on return on equity and the price paid for each dollar of profit. EV/EBITDA doesn't fit a bank's balance sheet, so it's left out here.
| Company | Return on equity | Dividend yield | P/E |
|---|---|---|---|
| U11 | 11.6% | 3.84% | 11.7x |
| D05 | 17.5% | 4.35% | 18.4x |
| O39 | 13.7% | 3.58% | 15.7x |
| JPM | 15.7% | 1.82% | 16.8x |
| BAC | 10.1% | 2.32% | 13.1x |
- Peers' middle-half P/E
- 15.0x–17.2x (median 16.3x, 4 peers)
At the peers' middle-half P/E, UOB's earnings per share from the Stock valuation sheet (https://www.uobgroup.com/investor-relations/assets/pdfs/investor/financial/2026/condensed-financial-statements-2q-2026.pdf) would put the share between S$53.10 and S$60.84. Those are the peer bars in the valuation chart above — one way to read the price, not a target.
Prices: weekly screener snapshot, 30 Oct 2026. Profits: each company's latest annual filing via SEC EDGAR, as filed, or the Stock valuation sheet's typed-up figures for SGX names, which don't file with the SEC. Peers are hand-picked for this industry. A multiple compares one year's profit with today's price; it says nothing about what either does next.
Dividend discount model, from Stock valuation
Ten years of dividends a bank can pay, from UOB's latest figures and Damodaran's industry averages. It's one story told with numbers, so it comes as a range.
- Value range, the default storyS$56.83–S$68.09Middle S$62.21 a share
- Price, 16 Oct 2026 closeS$41.61−33.11% ▼ against the middle
- What the price implies—Return on equity that makes value equal the price; the story uses 11.6%
The price can't be matched within the sheet's limits, which usually means the market's story is very different from this one.
The story's assumptions
- Net income, last 12 months
- S$5,830M
- Payout ratio, years 1–5
- 50.0%
- Return on equity, years 1–5
- 11.6%
- Return on equity after year 10
- 10.3%
- Cost of equity, years 1–5
- 7.3%
- Cost of equity after year 10
- 7.3%
- Growth after year 10
- 2.3%
- Beta
- 1.00
Value per share as two inputs change (return on equity down, cost of equity, years 1–5 across)
| Return on equity | 6.8% | 7.3% | 7.8% |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9.6% | S$60.31 | S$58.54 | S$56.83 |
| 11.6% | S$64.09 | S$62.21 | S$60.39 |
| 13.6% | S$68.09 | S$66.09 | S$64.15 |
Middle cell: the default story. Each step is 2 points of return on equity or 0.5 points of cost of equity.
| Year | Growth | Net income | Payout | Dividends | Cost of equity | Present value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5.8% | S$6,168M | 50.0% | S$3,084M | 7.3% | S$2,873M |
| 2 | 5.8% | S$6,526M | 50.0% | S$3,263M | 7.3% | S$2,832M |
| 3 | 5.8% | S$6,904M | 50.0% | S$3,452M | 7.3% | S$2,791M |
| 4 | 5.8% | S$7,305M | 50.0% | S$3,652M | 7.3% | S$2,751M |
| 5 | 5.8% | S$7,729M | 50.0% | S$3,864M | 7.3% | S$2,712M |
| 6 | 5.1% | S$8,123M | 55.5% | S$4,506M | 7.3% | S$2,946M |
| 7 | 4.4% | S$8,482M | 60.9% | S$5,170M | 7.3% | S$3,149M |
| 8 | 3.7% | S$8,798M | 66.4% | S$5,844M | 7.3% | S$3,316M |
| 9 | 3.0% | S$9,065M | 71.9% | S$6,517M | 7.3% | S$3,445M |
| 10 | 2.3% | S$9,277M | 77.4% | S$7,177M | 7.3% | S$3,535M |
| After 10 | 2.3% | S$9,494M | 77.4% | S$7,345M | 7.3% | S$72,348M |
- Present value of years 1–10
- S$30,350M
- Present value after year 10
- S$72,348M
- Value of equity
- S$102,698M
- Shares
- 1,651M
- Value per share, default story
- S$62.21
Company figures: https://www.uobgroup.com/investor-relations/assets/pdfs/investor/financial/2026/condensed-financial-statements-2q-2026.pdf, 1H 2026 annualised. Industry averages: Aswath Damodaran, January 2026 US data. Risk-free rates: US 10-year Treasury 5.09% and Singapore 10-year 2.34%, 16 Oct 2026. Equity risk premium: Damodaran's implied premium of 4.20%, 1 Oct 2026. Company figures are the latest reported before 19 Oct 2026. Data as of 16 Oct 2026. The sheet follows the spreadsheets Aswath Damodaran publishes; it is not affiliated with or endorsed by him. A model's value is not a price target. For education only. Not financial advice.
Who owns it, and what's the mood?
Tracked investors and insiders
Trades in United Overseas Bank (UOB) by the people we follow: Warren Buffett and Michael Burry (13F), Grab's officers (Form 4) and Nancy Pelosi (House reports). They show what happened, often weeks later, not what to copy.
None of the people we follow has reported a trade in United Overseas Bank (UOB) in the filings we track.
Sources: SEC EDGAR 13F-HR and Form 4 filings, and the US House Clerk's Periodic Transaction Reports, checked 30 Oct 2026. 13F values are the quarter-end value, not the price paid. All tracked trades ›
- Largest shareholdersSoonThe biggest holders from 13F filings and the annual proxy statement.—
- Chief executive and board holdingsSoonShares held by the CEO and directors, from the proxy statement and Form 4s.—
- Short interestSoonHow many shares are sold short, from exchange short-interest reports.—
Crowd favourite or value trap?
Neither is a label we can put on a stock. These are signs worth looking into, each from a figure on this page.
Signs of a crowd-driven price
Meme stocks move on attention more than on results: big swings, a price far from cash-flow value, thin profits.
0 of 3 signs (1 without data)
- NoSwings at least twice as much as the marketBeta 1.14, 5 years of monthly returns
- NoUp more than 100%, or down more than 50%, in a year1-year price change +26.81%
- NoPrice more than 50% above the valuation sheet's middle valuePrice −33% against the sheet's default story, 16 Oct 2026
- —Thin profits: operating margin under 5%, or a lossDoesn't fit a bank
Signs of a value trap
A value trap looks cheap because the business is shrinking or earning less than its capital costs.
0 of 2 signs (2 without data)
- —Looks cheap: P/E under 12 or FCF yield over 8%No P/E or FCF yield yet
- —Revenue lower than five years agoFewer than six years of revenue
- NoReturns below the cost of capital5-year average ROE 11.5% against 7.3%
- NoMore than 30% below its 52-week high−8.4% from the 52-week high
Prices, beta and 1-year change: Yahoo Finance weekly snapshot, 30 Oct 2026. Business figures: the five questions under Valuation and financials. A sign is a reason to dig deeper, not a verdict. For education only. Not financial advice.
Read it through a lens
Price data: Yahoo Finance, delayed. Company figures: each company's own filings, dated where they appear. A ticker on this site is not a recommendation. For education only. Not financial advice.