Singaporean bank UOB Vietnam has signed a memorandum of understanding with UOB Asset Management Vietnam (UOBAM Vietnam) to offer the latter’s investment products to the bank’s customers.
The partnership enables UOB Vietnam customers to conveniently open an investment account with UOBAM Vietnam. They can gain benefits as a direct investor in line with the policies of the two closed partners. The partnership provides the bank’s customers access to the United Vietnam ESG Equity Fund managed by UOBAM Vietnam.
The fund uses the evaluation of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards, in addition to traditional fundamental factors, to make decisions on stock selection in Vietnam’s financial market.
According to the UOB ASEAN Consumer Sentiment Study 2022, there is a significant increase in the number of Vietnamese who are interested to find out more about sustainable investing.
Nine in 10 Vietnamese feel that financial institutions should provide better information about the benefits of sustainable investing, while 19% of people surveyed are ready to consider sustainable investing if it matches their risk appetite.
The partnership between UOB Vietnam and UOBAM Vietnam is among the efforts of Singapore-based United Overseas Bank (UOB) to forge a sustainable future across Southeast Asia.
UOB Vietnam is a wholly-owned subsidiary of UOB, which has recently finished its acquisition of Citigroup’s consumer banking businesses in Malaysia and Thailand. UOB expects to complete the acquisition of Citigroup's consumer banking in Vietnam and Indonesia next year.
The entire deal for Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam will be UOB's biggest acquisition in two decades and will double its existing retail customer base to 5.3 million in the four Southeast Asian markets, the bank said.
UOB said this January that Citigroup had agreed on the entire transaction for about $3.7 billion.
UOB Asset Management Vietnam is a subsidiary of Singapore-headquartered UOB Asset Management Ltd., an asset management group that has a presence in Brunei, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.