Here are 2 risks threatening UOB

Asset quality deteriorates quicker than expected.

According to Barclays, economic and credit growth in the ASEAN region outside of Singapore remains robust, driven by domestic consumption and government spending. Barclays looks for management to reiterate its regional expansion plan.

Here's more from Barclays:

UOB is the most diverse ASEAN footprint (Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia account for 26% of total loans) and is best placed to win intraregional loan market share.

UOB is not immune to margin pressure but we believe it can deliver on increasing fee income from loans, investments, trade, wealth and its cards business. We reiterate our OW rating.

Key downside risks include: 1) worse-than-expected margin deterioration from intense loan pricing competition and slowing corporate activity; and 2) pick-up in credit costs as asset quality deteriorates quicker than expected (SMEs ~20-25% of total loans).

Reaching the people who run Asia's businesses is harder than it used to be.

Inboxes are crowded. Attention is short. The executives you most want to reach — the founders, CFOs, and operators who actually move budgets — are the hardest to find through the usual channels. If you're building a company, a category, or a reputation, you already know this.

We've spent twenty years building the room they read. Singapore Business Review is where senior decision makers in Singapore and across Southeast Asia come for business coverage they can't get elsewhere — in print, online, and in person at the summits and roundtables we host across seven markets.

If you have something these readers should know about — a point of view worth publishing, a product worth their attention, an event worth their time — we'd like to hear what you're trying to do.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia