United Overseas Bank (UOB)

The responsibility for sustainability issues within the financial institution lies with UOB’s board of directors. In terms of its approach towards impact management, the financial institution acknowledges that its financing activities have both positive and negative impacts. Moreover, it has identified and prioritised its impacts through a materiality assessment process which included feedback from external stakeholders.

No leading practices were identified for the financial institution in the respecting planetary boundaries measurement area.

Regarding financing for usually excluded groups, UOB discloses the amount of lending it directs towards small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It also provides a breakdown of clients by size, specifically loans to small, medium and large businesses. In terms of workforce diversity, it discloses a breakdown of its total direct operations workforce for each employee category by gender and age group. The financial institution has a grievance mechanism accessible to all workers, external individuals and communities to raise human rights, as well as bribery and corruption, concerns or complaints. Furthermore, it has publicly available policy statements where it commits to respecting the health and safety of workers and to prohibiting bribery and corruption. Additionally, UOB discloses that its chief financial officer has responsibility for its global tax strategy.

In terms of its approach to senior leadership accountability, UOB could link the remuneration of its executive or management teams to sustainability performance criteria. The financial institution could also disclose the ratio of basic salary and remuneration of women to men in its total direct operations workforce for each employee category, as well as actions it takes to address pay gaps. In terms of female representation in leadership positions, women are underrepresented on the board of directors and in senior leadership. Only 11.1% of board positions and 36.4% of senior leadership roles are held by women. Regarding engagement, UOB has an opportunity to describe its engagement approach on sustainability themes and impact topics with clients and investees, across its financing activities.

There is no evidence that UOB discloses a target to reach net-zero financed emissions by 2050. Regarding engagement on climate change, while the UOB Asset Management discloses that it engages with its investees on environmental, social and governance (ESG), no evidence was found that the financial institution provides a rationale for engaging with specific companies or sectors on the topic of climate change. Furthermore, there is no evidence that the financial institution discloses that it collectively engages with investees on the topic of alignment with the Paris Agreement. In addition, there is no evidence that the financial institution discloses its financing activities devoted to climate solutions. It also does not commit to minimising its negative nature- and biodiversity-related impacts.

UOB has a publicly available statement committing it to respect human rights but has an opportunity to place it in a formal policy document. Additionally, it could describe a comprehensive process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts across all its activities, especially its financing activities. Furthermore, the financial institution has an opportunity to disclose the amount of finance directed towards usually excluded groups or low-income developing countries.