Susan Hwee of United Overseas Bank awarded for Bank Technology Leadership Achievement for 2016

Susan Hwee, Head of Group Technology and Operations, United Overseas Bank (UOB), received the award for Bank Technology Leadership Achievement for 2016 in the Asian Banker Technology Innovation Awards Programme. The awards ceremony was held in conjunction with the prestigious Asian Banker Summit 2016, the foremost annual meeting for decision makers in the financial services industry in the Asia Pacific region, held at the JW Marriott, Hanoi, Vietnam on May 11th 2016.

Strong and successful track record in leading banking technology and innovation across banks

Hwee is a highly regarded and respected banker who has led the successful implementation of one of the truly integrated and seamless technology and operation platforms in the region that spans UOB‘s main markets of Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and China.

She is now heading initiatives to further transform the bank’s technology architecture in digitalisation, connectivity, security, and operations excellence. One of the recent initiatives was a new mobile app, one of the firsts in Asia Pacific to enable contactless payments with tokenised security.

Spearheaded the modular architecture and IT integration within United Overseas Bank

Hwee has spearheaded a customer-centric and modular approach to the bank’s IT architecture and led changes to achieve seamless integration across systems, products, and channels. She standardised and centralised the group’s various core banking systems across different countries, and created a global centre of excellence in technology and a tier 4 global data centre for the bank. Hwee unified the operational language, controls, and processes of key banking operations, enabling better risk management and knowledge transfers across subsidiaries and branches.

She has also cast her sight forward to groom the next generation of technologists at UOB to bring the bank to the next level of its technological transformation.

A champion of inclusive employment and a pioneer in electronic funds transfer service in Singapore

Hwee has over 30 years of successful experience in banking technology and is currently managing over 4,000 employees in the UOB offices across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and China. She joined UOB in 2001 and currently leads and sets global standards for the bank’s technological platform and operational processes. She started her career at IBM and held various senior positions at Citibank and Keppel Tatlee Bank prior to joining UOB.

A champion of inclusive employment, Hwee led the creation of meaningful employment opportunities for bank employees with autism. Currently, people with autism make up 30% of the employees at the bank’s Scan Hub.

She chaired the Industry Steering Committee that oversaw the introduction of FAST (Fast and Secure Transfers), a new electronic funds transfer service in Singapore. She was also chair of Singapore's electronic payments leader, Network for Electronic Transfers Singapore (NETS). Currently, she is on the board of directors for NETS, Clearing and Payment Services, and Singapore Clearing House.