UOB has been on an uptrend, hitting an intraday high of $22.82 last Monday. The last time the local bank was seen trading at that level was in late 2007. Year to date, UOB has risen 6.4%, outperforming its peers. DBS is unchanged while OCBC is down 4.2% across the same period. Comparatively, the STI is trading 3.9% higher as compared to last year.
 

UOB’s China unit to focus on cross border financing solutions
 
In other news, UOB just opened its newest sub-branch in China’s Shanghai free trade zone on Saturday as it expects the use of the renminbi (RMB) to continue expanding. Previously, the bank conducted a survey which showed that 61% of Chinese companies are planning to expand within Asia over the next year and China is their top expansion destination.
 
CEO Mr Eric Lian said that “increased cross-boarder trade and investment between China and Asia are encouraging more companies to use the RMB as a business and payment currency”. As a result, the bank said that its China unit will focus on providing cross-border yuan financing solutions for its clients who do business between China and the rest of Asia. (Bloomberg)
 
UOB is first Asian bank to be a member of Eurex Clearing
 
Separately, UOB has become the first Asian bank to be a member of Eurex Clearing, a Germany-based house of the Deutsche Borse Group. This means that UOB will be able to offer clearing services for transactions conducted on the Eurex Exchange.
 
Mr Terence Ong, UOB’s head of global markets and investment management said that with the membership, “UOB can support its clients’ trading needs by providing timely and reliable clearing services for transactions conducted on the Eurex Exchange during their regular business hours”.

Source: Macquarie Research - 17 Jun 2014