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UNITED Overseas Bank chairman Wee Cho Yaw gave a vintage performance yesterday as he bantered at the annual meeting with shareholders of the bank founded by his father.
And it was an impassioned Mr Wee who moved to set the record straight on a promise he made to the Lien family when he took over the latter's Overseas Union Bank in 2001.
When shareholder Roop Nanwani told Mr Wee that he must not be too cautious about lending money, because that is how a bank makes money, Mr Wee said: 'We must be careful. Cannot give to any Tom and Harry.'
Mr Wee, 81, also reminded Ms Roop that she used to call him 'darling', and that he had not seen her in recent years.
Later when other shareholders were discussing his pay, Ms Roop said 'Darling, I would like to point out in your karmic account, you're way, way out there.'
Midway through the meeting, Mr Wee said he wanted to make a statement about a Straits Times article yesterday on the retirement of director Michael Lien.
According to Mr Wee, the article implied that he changed his mind about including OUB in a name change for the combined bank after UOB took over. 'Let me tell you, when we did the takeover of OUB, I kept my word,' he said.
Mr Lien is the grandson of the late Lien Ying Chow, who founded OUB.
Mr Wee's point was that he told the Lien family that if UOB changed its name after combining both banks, he would take OUB into consideration. But there has been no change in the bank's name.
Mr Wee said he asked Mr Lien to stay on the board because the Lien family has a 5 per cent stake. He also approached Margaret Lien, the widow of Mr Lien Ying Chow, but she said the younger generation has other pursuits.
The Lien Foundation is active in education, elderly care, water and sanitation and palliative care.
When a shareholder stood up to thank Mr Wee for his honesty, he replied: 'A banker's integrity cannot be compromised.'
Another shareholder asked how the bank's remuneration committee decided to pay Mr Wee $2.5 million. And another, who bought UOB shares at $21, asked if Mr Wee could take a cut to 'share the pain' of the stock trading at $11 yesterday.
Cham Tao Soon, UOB independent director and member of the remuneration committee, said Mr Wee was not present when his pay was discussed. Mr Wee chairs the bank's remuneration committee.
Prof Cham said the committee discussed the role Mr Wee played in the bank, as chairman of its exco and in particular his oversight of risk management. 'The company and the board gets the advantage of his wisdom and experience,' said Prof Cham. 'We offered him $3 million as in the past year, but he reduced it to $2.5 million.'
Mr Wee told shareholders: 'This bank is in my blood. I don't want to see it get into trouble. I'll be honest, I can't retire. If I retire, I will die.'
Prof Cham said the committee did consider not paying Mr Wee, but thinks the amount is fair, to which Mr Wee said: 'They want to pin my responsibilities down.'
As for the shareholder who bought UOB shares at $21, Mr Wee said: 'Not only you lose. The whole world, all the rich, their assets have gone down 30, 40, 60 per cent. First of all, you should not buy at $21 - it's a judgement of your investment.'
The shareholder told Mr Wee: 'I don't think you need $2.5 million.' To which Mr Wee responded: 'I'm old already. They can cut any amount they want.
'I don't care about the money,' he said, adding that he goes to work every day, including Saturdays, because he cares so much about UOB.
One shareholder noted a lack of diversity on UOB's board, saying all its directors are male, of a certain age (above 60 except for one) and that none has banking experience. He was corrected in this, as independent director Ngiam Tong Dow is a former DBS chairman.
'Let me be frank. Today, very few want to be directors of a bank. It's not easy,' said Mr Wee.
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