Partner organisation Reclaim Finance tracks the coal, oil and gas policies of financial institutions, including banks, in their Coal Policy Tool (CPT) and the Oil and Gas Policy Tracker (OGPT). BankTrack works closely with Reclaim Finance and endorses their policy assessments. Find further details on their assessment of UOB's fossil fuel policy below.

BankTrack assessed United Overseas Bank in its 2022 Human Rights Benchmark Asia, where it achieved 1.5 points out of 14 and was ranked as a 'laggard'. More information is detailed in the "Accountability" section of this profile.

United Overseas Bank’s policies for forest-risk sectors (beef, soy, palm oil, pulp and paper, rubber and timber) have been assessed by the Forests & Finance coalition, achieving an overall score of 5.8 out of 10 and ranking it as a front runner. UOB achieved a score of 0 out of 10 specifically for its policies related to the beef sector and 6.8 out of 10 for its policies related to the palm oil sector. Between 2016 and 2022, UOB provided USD 1,558 million in credit to companies operating in these forest-risk sectors and held investments amounting to USD 5 million as of 2022. For more information, see the links below. 

UOB is a member of the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) and has therefore committed to reduce its financed emissions to net zero by 2050; within 18 months of joining the alliance set interim targets for 2030 (or sooner) for high emission priority sectors, and within 36 months set further sector targets; set new intermediary targets every 5 years from 2030 onwards; annually publish data on emissions and progress against a transition strategy including climate-related sectoral policies; and take a robust approach to the role of offsets in transition plans. BankTrack track's implementation of these commitments in the NZBA compliance tracker.

BankTrack is keeping track of the public response of the United Overseas Bank (UOB) to Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine. United Overseas Bank (UOB) did not publicly condemn the war. United Overseas Bank (UOB) is scaling back its operations in Russia. We consider its exposure to Russia as limited. For further details, see the table linked below.

Partner organisation Reclaim Finance’s 2023 report on metallurgical coal financing showed that United Overseas Bank provided US$ 1.9 billion in loans and underwriting to developers of new metallurgical coal between 2016 and 2022. Find further details on United Overseas Bank’s metallurgical coal financing and and how it compares to other large banks globally in the report.

Reclaim Finance tracks the metallurgical coal policies of financial institutions, including banks, in their Coal Policy Tool. BankTrack works closely with Reclaim Finance and endorses their policy assessments. Find further details on their assessment of United Overseas Bank’s metallurgical coal policy below.