<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Global economy not out of woods yet: Cho Yaw
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Grace Ng, China Correspondent
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
</TD><TD vAlign=bottom>
BUILDING ON A LEGACY 'All I have done in the last 51 years is to follow my passion in building upon the bank founded by my father.'
Mr Wee (left), in his acceptance speech for the lifetime achievement award
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->BEIJING: - Despite the recent global stock market rally, United Overseas Bank (UOB) chairman Wee Cho Yaw is still not convinced that the worst of the global financial crisis is over.
'We are not out of the woods yet,' the veteran banker said yesterday, noting that last year's financial turmoil 'is the worst I have encountered in my five-decade banking career'.
But a bright spot in the global economy is China, added Mr Wee, who was in Beijing to receive a lifetime achievement award at The Asian Banker Leadership Achievement Awards gala dinner.
China, with its economy expanding 6.1per cent in the first quarter of this year and 'a lot of reserves', is able to sustain strong growth, he noted.
UOB, which has a 15.4per cent stake in Evergrowing Bank, an outfit based in Shandong province, is looking to tap on its local partner to sell more products in the vast market.
On its own, 'it's not easy for UOB to expand, China is so big,' he said, adding that Evergrowing Bank has 'good profit potential' and can expand more quickly as it holds a nationwide banking licence.
When asked if UOB will increase its stake in Evergrowing to 20per cent, the current regulatory limit on a single foreign player's stake in a Chinese bank, Mr Wee, 80, said: 'Well, it depends on the regulators... whether we are able to go up to 20per cent'.
During his three-day visit to Beijing, he paid a visit to China's top banking regulator, Mr Liu Mingkang, 'an old friend' whom he has known for decades.
In his speech at the awards ceremony, Mr Wee called for the banking sector to 'rebuild public trust and confidence', which had evaporated following the havoc wreaked by the credit crunch on the global real economy.
'When my father started UOB in 1935 and until recently, bankers were held in high esteem in the business community, he said. 'They were trusted because they were the custodians of public funds; they were respected because they were important cogs that moved the real economy.'
Mr Wee urged a review of the current compensation framework, as it 'encourages greater risk taking for short- term gains... at the expense of longer- term downside risks'.
He also suggested that the banking industry should take a leaf from family- owned companies, which tend to prefer to forgo short-term gains and manage their capital and assets judiciously. UOB, which is controlled by the Wee family, also won an award last night for its excellent risk management.
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Grace Ng, China Correspondent
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
BUILDING ON A LEGACY 'All I have done in the last 51 years is to follow my passion in building upon the bank founded by my father.'
Mr Wee (left), in his acceptance speech for the lifetime achievement award
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->BEIJING: - Despite the recent global stock market rally, United Overseas Bank (UOB) chairman Wee Cho Yaw is still not convinced that the worst of the global financial crisis is over.
'We are not out of the woods yet,' the veteran banker said yesterday, noting that last year's financial turmoil 'is the worst I have encountered in my five-decade banking career'.
But a bright spot in the global economy is China, added Mr Wee, who was in Beijing to receive a lifetime achievement award at The Asian Banker Leadership Achievement Awards gala dinner.
China, with its economy expanding 6.1per cent in the first quarter of this year and 'a lot of reserves', is able to sustain strong growth, he noted.
UOB, which has a 15.4per cent stake in Evergrowing Bank, an outfit based in Shandong province, is looking to tap on its local partner to sell more products in the vast market.
On its own, 'it's not easy for UOB to expand, China is so big,' he said, adding that Evergrowing Bank has 'good profit potential' and can expand more quickly as it holds a nationwide banking licence.
When asked if UOB will increase its stake in Evergrowing to 20per cent, the current regulatory limit on a single foreign player's stake in a Chinese bank, Mr Wee, 80, said: 'Well, it depends on the regulators... whether we are able to go up to 20per cent'.
During his three-day visit to Beijing, he paid a visit to China's top banking regulator, Mr Liu Mingkang, 'an old friend' whom he has known for decades.
In his speech at the awards ceremony, Mr Wee called for the banking sector to 'rebuild public trust and confidence', which had evaporated following the havoc wreaked by the credit crunch on the global real economy.
'When my father started UOB in 1935 and until recently, bankers were held in high esteem in the business community, he said. 'They were trusted because they were the custodians of public funds; they were respected because they were important cogs that moved the real economy.'
Mr Wee urged a review of the current compensation framework, as it 'encourages greater risk taking for short- term gains... at the expense of longer- term downside risks'.
He also suggested that the banking industry should take a leaf from family- owned companies, which tend to prefer to forgo short-term gains and manage their capital and assets judiciously. UOB, which is controlled by the Wee family, also won an award last night for its excellent risk management.
