Singapore-based bank UOB is working with cloud company Amazon Web Services (AWS) to develop a dedicated cloud environment in Singapore as part of a “first-of-its-kind” hybrid infrastructure model for banking in Southeast Asia.
After inking a deal yesterday, the parties will explore how cloud and AI capabilities can help the bank strengthen operational resilience, meet regulatory and data residency requirements, and improve customer banking experiences across its five Asean markets.
UOB will contribute its regional banking expertise and governance framework, while AWS will contribute cloud infrastructure, data, and AI services. The focus will initially be on hybrid cloud architecture, data and analytics, and AI-powered customer engagement.
The bank sees AI as a transformative capability that can help the bank be a more adaptive, intelligent and responsive organisation, said Lawrence Goh, its head of group technology and operations.
Realising this vision requires “a secure and resilient technology foundation, strong governance, and the right ecosystem of partners,” he added.
The collaboration between AWS and UOB is about “making sure those experiences get better, faster, more personalised, and built on a foundation customers can trust,” said Jaime Valles, vice-president and managing director for Asia-Pacific at AWS.
A cloud model built for regulated banking
Through this future hybrid infrastructure, UOB’s systems and data are expected to operate across both on-premises infrastructure and cloud environments.
The infrastructure model will use an isolated cloud extension that can be deployed in specific countries or jurisdictions to support regulatory requirements.
According to UOB and AWS, this is 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, the planned dedicated cloud environment located within Singapore is designed to support the bank’s 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, the bank can access cloud tools to modernise its technology infrastructure and build new capabilities in areas like AI and data analytics.
AI, data, and customer experience
Beyond infrastructure, UOB and AWS will also look to using AI to improve UOB’s customer experience and internal operations. Possible areas include conversational banking capabilities and more personalised services built on AWS’s AI tools.
UOB will also explore the use of Amazon Bedrock, AWS’s managed service for building and scaling generative AI applications. This will build on the bank’s existing AI platform and could support the faster development of AI tools for both employee productivity and enterprise-level use cases.
In addition, the collaboration will also explore AWS structured learning and enablement programmes to help employees build skills in cloud technology, generative AI, data and analytics, security and compliance.
The aim is to strengthen the bank’s ability to develop and scale cloud and AI solutions responsibly, while supporting its broader workforce transformation across the region.
