Customers

2018

ANNUAL REPORT

Customers

UOB’s heritage and values guide how we establish and deepen relationships with our customers wherever they are. We are committed to acting in their best interests and we help them meet their business, financial and lifestyle goals by providing them with the most appropriate solutions and services. Taking an omni-channel approach, we harness technology to turn our innovative ideas into distinctive experiences that our customers would appreciate. This ensures that every experience of theirs is safe, reliable, to their preference and wrapped in the warmth of the human touch.

Our Customer Commitments

In all our decisions and actions for our customers, we strive to meet four commitments, each of which is built on our values of being Honourable, Enterprising, United and Committed.

Honourable

Treat You Fairly

We maintain the highest professional and ethical standards in all our dealings with our customers. We are uncompromising in our discipline, clarity and courage to do what is right for them and to make every decision in their best interest.

Enterprising

Provide You with the Right Solution

We draw on our experience, insight and entrepreneurial spirit to provide our customers with solutions that help them achieve their financial goals and aspirations, and manage their daily and future requirements, however simple or complex.

United

Know You Personally

We learn our customers’ preferences and know what counts for them with every interaction. By understanding them better, we anticipate their needs and offer them the most relevant financial solutions.

Committed

Be There When It Matters

We value the relationships that we build and hold with our customers and we are ready to help them through market cycles, across borders and over generations.

Upholding our values every day and doing what is right for our customers.

Ensuring a Fair Dealing Culture

The core elements of Fair Dealing – integrity, trust and respect – are deeply rooted in all aspects of the relationships we hold and nurture with our customers. This can be seen from how we develop our products and services through to our after-sales care.

We ensure Fair Dealing is central to our culture by:

offering products and services which are suitable for our customers;
ensuring our colleagues are competent in providing quality advice and appropriate recommendations;
providing clear, relevant and timely information so that our customers can make informed financial decisions; and
dealing with customer complaints independently, effectively and promptly.

Our Fair Dealing Guidelines Committee champions Fair Dealing across the Group and assists the Board and the senior management in ensuring Fair Dealing outcomes for our customers are met. The Committee reviews and approves the action plans, guidelines, management information framework, processes and practices to this effect. The business functions also report their progress to the Committee periodically.

Our Product Sales Committee (PSC) reviews and/or approves all investment products, as defined under the Financial Advisers Act, Securities and Futures Act and the Insurance Act, which are distributed by UOB and its banking subsidiaries. The relevant Product Due Diligence and Sales Governance frameworks are also reviewed and approved by the PSC.

All UOB colleagues must complete an e-learning module on Fair Dealing every year. We also produce high-impact content and visuals for regular and frequent internal communications campaigns to reinforce understanding and to embed the practice of Fair Dealing across the organisation.

Resolving Customer Concerns Effectively

We take customer feedback seriously and have robust procedures in place to address their concerns promptly and fairly. We have guidelines to govern the complaint investigation and resolution process and an independent review panel to review complaints.

In 2018, we maintained our standard of resolving 98 per cent of general complaints within five business days. Our Group-wide training programme, The Art of Service Recovery, equips our colleagues with the necessary skills to resolve customer complaints and to turn challenging situations into positive outcomes. In 2018, we conducted 22 Art of Service Recovery workshops for 617 colleagues from China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

We also conduct root-cause analyses of our customers’ feedback and review these with the respective business and support units to address our customers’ concerns and to identify areas for improvement. In 2018, we also engaged external consultants – the Institute of Service Excellence at the Singapore Management University and Ascentiq – to share their research findings for our teams to gain further insights into the changing needs of customers.

Participants at the Art of Service Recovery workshops across our markets develop new ways to serve our customers better.

We form cross-functional teams to develop, to refine and to implement improvement initiatives using the consolidated customer insights drawn from internal and external sources. The teams share the progress of their efforts and best practices at the annual Fair Dealing workshop in Singapore.

At the workshop in 2018, eight teams from Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore presented a total of 115 initiatives and their impact on our customers’ experience. These continuous improvement efforts contributed to a 63 per cent rise in customer compliments and an 11 per cent drop in complaints in Singapore over 2017.

Our colleagues from Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore shared 115 initiatives to improve our processes, service standards and customer experience.

Raising Customer Satisfaction and Advocacy

The contentment of our customers matters to us. We continually seek their opinion which helps us to keep improving the quality and raising the standard of our products and services. To measure customer satisfaction and retention across our business and product groups, we use the Net Promoter Score (NPS) metrics which indicate the likelihood of a customer recommending a company’s brand, product or service to others. The NPS is an established worldwide metric used to measure customer loyalty and to predict business growth.

In Singapore, of the Personal Financial Services customers who purchased investment and insurance products in 2018, 60 per cent stated they would recommend UOB to their friends and family. In 2018, we introduced the NPS metrics for retail customers who purchased investment and insurance products in China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. We also extended the metrics for our Business Banking, Commercial Banking and Private Bank customers in Singapore.

Through industry surveys, we obtain an independent gauge of the level of our customer satisfaction. The surveys include the Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore (CSISG), an industry benchmark administered by the Workforce Singapore Agency and Singapore Management University. Our CSISG score published in 2018 improved to 72.4, compared with 71.7 the previous year.

We appreciate that our customers prefer different service options when managing their financial needs. This insight underpins our omni-channel approach where we offer customers choice in how they engage with us – be it in the physical or digital worlds, or a combination of both.

Providing a Seamless Omni-Channel Experience

To ensure our customers can choose where and how they bank with us, we have a comprehensive global network of more than 500 branches and offices, nearly one million automated teller machines (ATMs) including shared ATMs, and cash deposit, coin and cheque machines. These are in addition to our mobile and internet banking channels which enable our customers to bank anytime and anywhere.

For our growing base of mobile-first customers in Singapore, we are increasing our network of Near Field Communication (NFC) contactless ATMs where cash withdrawal can be made with a simple tap of their phone. In 2018, we added 112 NFC contactless ATMs in Singapore, bringing the total number of NFC contactless ATMs across the island to 382. These ATMs make up 60 per cent of our ATM network.

Serving Our Customers as They Wish

Through understanding the lifestyle needs of families, young professionals and affluent consumers in Singapore, we launched two different branch concepts with the design and layout configured to enhance their banking experience.

In Tampines, our new branch concept is set to suit the needs of the increasing number of young professionals and young families setting up home in the area. These digitally-savvy customers generally bank through digital channels or self-service machines and visit our branches for more personalised financial advisory. As such, we removed the traditional teller counters and created spaces for them to hold private conversations about their financial aspirations. The branch also has a QR code wall where customers can use their smartphones to scan the QR codes for information that interests them. To delight the children of our customers, a robot named Charlie makes its rounds serving treats from the ice-cream parlour adjoining the branch.

Delighting our customers and their families with ice-cream delivery by our friendly service robot, Charlie, at our new branch at Tampines 1 mall in Singapore.

At Faber House on Orchard Road, our new Wealth Banking experience is designed to guide emerging affluent customers in growing their wealth through investments. Using artificial intelligence and data analytics, we create a personalised experience for customers from the moment they step into the branch. This experience includes a digital advisory service – the first time such a service has been provided for emerging affluent consumers by a Singapore bank – as well as spaces where they can conduct private conversations with relationship managers.

We also launched a wealth management concept branch in Bangsar, an affluent residential suburb in Kuala Lumpur, and three branch concepts in Thailand with improved design and layout to enhance the banking experience for different customer segments.

Knowing that time is precious for our customers, we introduced an SMS-Q system where customers can send a message through their mobile phone to receive a queue number for the branch they plan to visit. They are then notified when to show up, removing the need to queue at the branch. We also have an online appointment service for those needing to open a business account. This makes the account opening process more efficient for business owners for whom time is money.

More information on our new branch concepts can be found in the Group Retail section of the report.

Enabling Intuitive Customer Experiences

We make banking more accessible to our customers by extending our banking touchpoints through partnerships to areas that intersect with our customers' lifestyles.

For transit, we collaborated with Singapore-based technology company Grab – a leading ride-hailing platform in Southeast Asia – to deliver financial services to Grab’s user base across the region. Grab will tap our cash management services so that customers can easily top up their GrabPay wallet directly from their bank account. Features of our Digital Bank will be embedded within Grab’s mobile app so users can access banking services quickly and conveniently.

We announced our strategic alliance with Grab at the Singapore FinTech Festival.

To transform the car-buying journey for consumers, we brought together seven dealerships island-wide and a leading mobile and online classifieds marketplace to offer car buyers a completely-digital car financing solution. Fuelled by our credit processing engine, a secure link to MyInfo and the Credit Bureau Singapore, our digital solution shortens the loan processing process from an average of three working days to 15 minutes.

From travel to home ownership, we have made the experience swift, simple and seamless for our customers. We formed a property ecosystem with four top property agencies and a property technology company in Singapore to help customers search for their dream home more easily. With our partners, we launched a digital home loan solution for prospective home buyers to receive bank-backed property valuations, a "banker and buyer" matching service and online instant home loan approval. Our digital solution will also enable housing agents to guide home buyers, from finding to financing their dream home.

More information on our property and car ecosystem partnerships can be found in the Group Retail section of this report.

Setting the Standard for Customer Service

As individuals and teams, we strive to set new standards in the quality of service we provide our customers. We do not rest on our laurels but are heartened when our efforts are acknowledged with industry accolades. It only inspires us to do more in fulfilling our commitments to our customers.

In 2018, a total of 1,256 UOB colleagues in Singapore were recognised for their service excellence at The Association of Banks in Singapore's (ABS) Excellent Service Award (EXSA). Among our winners, 842 received the Star Award, the highest tier of the awards. This was the 12th consecutive year where our colleagues won EXSA awards.

Our Contact Centre colleagues across the Group were also recognised for their dedication to providing our customers excellent service.

In Singapore, our Contact Centre colleagues won multiple awards at the Contact Centre Association of Singapore Awards:

Best Contact Centre Team Leader of the Year (Gold) – Individual Category
Best Contact Centre Team Leader of the Year (Silver) – Individual Category
Best Contact Centre Quality Assurance Specialist (Bronze) – Individual Category
Customer Experience Mystery Shopper Awards (Silver) – Corporate Category

In Indonesia, our Contact Centre colleagues won two awards at the Contact Center Service Excellence Award 2018 organised by Service Excellence Magazine and Carre-Centre for Customer Satisfaction Loyalty:

Exceptional Service for Regular Banking
Exceptional Service for Regular Credit Card

Keeping Customer Data and Privacy Protected

Protecting our customers’ personal data and privacy is a priority to us and essential to maintaining their trust in us. We have extensive policies and processes in place to ensure the confidentiality and security of their information. We are also committed to complying with the Personal Data Protection Act of Singapore and to upholding industry best practices.

The main principles of our Personal Data Protection Policy are:

personal data must only be collected and used for purposes for which the customer has been notified and has consented to, or are permitted by law;
access and disclosure are strictly on a need-to-know basis;
the integrity and security of personal data are paramount; and
personal data that is no longer required for legal or business purposes must be destroyed securely in accordance with document retention policies.

With rising international data privacy standards, we conduct regular reviews to ensure our systems are robust. Data privacy impact assessments are integral to our business and product development process, to ensure that data protection is embedded into the services we provide and into every aspect of our operations.

We have in place data breach, complaint handling and escalation processes. Group Operational Risk Management and the Data Protection Office review any incidents and the corresponding action plans developed by the business and support units. Significant incidents are escalated to relevant senior management committees.

Line data protection officers at functional and business levels in Singapore and locally-appointed officers at overseas locations ensure that data is safeguarded. These officers report to the Franchise Data Protection Officers in Singapore, who in turn report to the Group CEO. Our data protection officers ensure compliance with local regulations and Group requirements and assist in investigating alleged breaches. Every year, our people undergo online training on the principles, policies and procedures for data privacy and security.

We respect our customers’ marketing preferences and ensure we record their consent to receive telemarketing calls. Withdrawal of consent is also free of hassle. We also facilitate our customers’ requests to access and to correct their personal data through various channels such as mail, email or at our branches.

Information on our approach to privacy and data protection and contact details for our Data Protection Officers are available on our website. Our UOB Privacy Notice is also available online and at all branches in Singapore.

In 2018, there were no legal proceedings taken against UOB in respect of any data privacy breach, nor any fine or other penalty imposed on the Bank by the Singapore Personal Data Protection Commission.

Enhancing Cybersecurity

At UOB, we use technology to provide borderless, reliable and efficient service, and are committed to protecting our customers’ and the Bank’s data and assets from cybersecurity threats. We maintain the robustness of our risk management systems and have in place the Group Technology Risk Management Framework and IT Security Management Policy that outline our cybersecurity policies, guidelines and tools to protect our data and assets. The Group Technology Risk Management Framework also incorporates comprehensive control requirements set out by the Monetary Authority of Singapore in its Technology Risk Management Guidelines.

Our team of dedicated Security Operations Centre specialists monitor, detect and respond to potential cybersecurity risks and threats. We also continually upgrade our security capabilities to respond to the evolving threat landscape by partnering leading cybersecurity providers and expanding our security technology.

Recognising that everyone plays a role in cybersecurity defence, we regularly train our people on cybersecurity risks. We also hold cybersecurity activities to raise awareness and to test our people’s vigilance. We keep our people informed of developments and share best practices with them through our intranet, MyUOB.

We collaborated with ABS and participated in the Financial Services – Information Sharing and Analysis Center to share with our industry peers potential threats and best practices to strengthen our collective defence against cyber attacks.

To raise our customers’ awareness of cybersecurity so they can also help protect themselves from cyber attacks, we provide them with regular updates on cybersecurity tips and threats via our website, social media channels, electronic mailers, text messages and mobile apps. In addition, our UOB BIBPlus customers can download security software to improve the security of their online banking experience.

Through these efforts, we contribute to the security and stability of the financial system and trust in the banking environment.

Our people from many cultures are united in our culture of doing what is right for our customers.

Caring for Our Customers

The UOB Customer Commitments Awards campaigns which are run Group-wide, remind us of our responsibility to our customers whether we are in customer-facing roles or not. The annual campaign culminates in the UOB Customer Commitments Awards ceremony to acknowledge our colleagues who had been exemplary in fulfilling our customer commitments. 2018 was the campaign’s third year for which 6,552 nominations for awards were received from across the Group. Of these, 90 individuals and 35 teams won awards for being role models in demonstrating our customer commitments in their daily decisions and actions.

More information on the UOB Customer Commitments Awards can be found in the Colleagues section of this report.

Other Key Sections

Corporate Governance

Five-year Group Performance

Our Awards and Accolades in 2018

Investor Reference

Quick Links

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Investor Relations

Full Annual Report 2018

Past Years' Annual Report

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