UOB and Amazon Web Services (AWS) have announced plans to collaborate on a first-of-its-kind hybrid infrastructure model for banking in ASEAN.
Under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), UOB and AWS intend to explore how cloud and AI capabilities can help the bank strengthen operational resilience while meeting regulatory and data residency requirements and improve banking experiences for customers across its five ASEAN markets – Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam.
Building a secure foundation for future innovation
This MoU will explore the development of a future hybrid infrastructure model that enables UOB’s systems and data to operate across on-premises infrastructure and cloud environments.
The model leverages an isolated cloud extension that can be strategically deployed in specific countries or jurisdictions to meet regulatory requirements.
This marks the first collaboration between AWS and a bank to bring together hybrid cloud capabilities in ASEAN with security, governance and data residency controls aligned to the requirements of a highly regulated industry.
For UOB, this means a dedicated cloud environment located within Singapore that is designed to meet its security, governance, and data residency requirements across the five ASEAN countries in which it operates. UOB’s data and systems remain within this dedicated environment and can be configured to support compliance with each market’s regulatory requirements.
At the same time, UOB will have access to the cloud tools to modernize its technology and build new capabilities in areas like AI and data analytics.
Opportunities across data, AI and customer experience
The collaboration will also explore how AI can improve UOB’s customer experience and internal operations, including conversational banking capabilities and more personalized services built on AWS’s AI tools.
Building on the Bank’s existing Enterprise GenAI Platform (EGP), UOB will explore how Amazon Bedrock, AWS’s fully managed service for building and scaling Generative AI (GenAI) applications, can support the rapid development and deployment of AI-powered solutions across the bank, from employee productivity tools to enterprise-grade applications.
Lawrence Goh, Head of Group Technology and Operations, UOB, said: “At UOB, we see AI as a transformative capability that can help us become a more adaptive, intelligent and responsive organization.
“Realizing this vision requires a secure and resilient technology foundation, strong governance, and the right ecosystem of partners.”
Investing in future-ready talent
To strengthen cloud and AI capabilities across its workforce, UOB will explore AWS’s structured learning and enablement programmes to equip employees with skills needed to develop, deploy and scale cloud and AI-powered solutions responsibly.
Training in cloud technologies, GenAI, data and analytics, security and compliance, will further help employees build future-ready capabilities while supporting the bank’s ongoing workforce transformation efforts.
Mr Jaime Vallés, Vice President & Managing Director for APAC, AWS said: “Financial services touches the lives of millions of people across APJC every day. This collaboration with UOB is about making sure those experiences get better, faster, more personalized, and built on a foundation customers can trust. UOB will have the tools to innovate and the training programs to build AI fluency and cloud skills across its workforce all while keeping customer data secure.
“This is what’s possible when a bank with deep regional expertise and a culture of innovation is combined with AI and cloud technology that drives true transformation.”
