United Overseas Bank has appointed Tan Choon Hin as Head of ASEAN and Greater China, a new senior role effective 1 September 2026.
Tan steps up from deputy chief risk officer. He reports to Wee Ee Cheong, deputy chairman and chief executive, and joins the bank’s Management Executive Committee.
The mandate covers UOB’s fully owned subsidiaries in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and mainland China, along with its branches in Hong Kong SAR and Taiwan. Across those seven markets, Tan will work with country CEOs and management teams to strengthen connectivity between the regional businesses and accelerate cross-border revenue.
He also takes charge of UOB’s Foreign Direct Investment Advisory unit, a dedicated team that links companies expanding across borders with ecosystem partners and industry networks in ASEAN and Greater China. Over the past six months the unit has supported more than 300 cross-border expansion plans, carrying projected investment of S$5.6 billion.
The numbers behind the strategy are moving in UOB’s favour. FDI into ASEAN has more than doubled over the past decade while global FDI has fallen by roughly 20 per cent, a gap widened by supply chains continuing to shift into Southeast Asia.
UOB describes the appointment as part of an ongoing leadership transformation aimed at deepening regional connectivity and capturing cross-border flows between the two regions.
“ASEAN is at the heart of UOB’s growth strategy and is becoming an increasingly important global economic hub,” Wee said. “As trade, investment and wealth flows between ASEAN and Greater China deepen, new opportunities are emerging across the region. This new role reinforces our commitment to capturing these opportunities for customers and supporting them in their cross-border growth. Choon Hin’s regional leadership experience and deep understanding of our franchise position him well to accelerate growth across our regional franchise as we advance UOB’s ambition to be the leading bank in ASEAN.”
Tan brings more than 30 years in banking, credit and risk management across ASEAN and Greater China. He joined UOB in 2012 as Head of Group Credit (Retail), later ran Group Business Banking, and became chief executive of UOB Thailand in 2016. Under his leadership the Thai franchise grew into the country’s second largest foreign bank and one of its top three card issuers, and he worked on facilitating foreign investment into Thailand and helping regional clients enter new markets. He returned to Singapore in 2024 as deputy chief risk officer, responsible for the bank’s risk management approach, governance and risk culture. He holds a Bachelor of Business from Nanyang Technological University.
The Herald View
Every Singapore bank talks about the ASEAN to Greater China corridor. UOB has put a name and an org chart against it. Handing a growth mandate to a risk executive says the constraint isn’t demand, it’s operating cleanly across seven jurisdictions at once. The test is conversion: whether S$5.6 billion of advisory pipeline becomes trade finance and lending mandates.