UOB and Vietnamese technology corporation FPT have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore deeper collaboration in AI, digital transformation and financial services innovation, signalling how aggressively the region’s banks are now moving towards AI-first operations.
The MoU was exchanged at the Vietnam-Singapore Tech Connect Forum, which was held during the official visit to Singapore by Vietnam’s General Secretary and State President To Lam, placing the deal squarely within the broader push for cross-border technology cooperation between the two countries.
Under the agreement, the pair will work across AI and digital innovation in banking, digital banking transformation, fintech and regional ecosystem development. The aim is to modernise how banking services are built, delivered and scaled across UOB’s markets using AI, data analytics, intelligent automation, cloud, APIs and modern architecture, with pilots in digital lending, payments and embedded finance earmarked for Vietnam and other regional markets. A detailed roadmap that covers pilot scope and governance is due within 90 days.
“This MoU reflects UOB’s strategic intent to build a future-ready bank through strong technology foundations, responsible AI and purposeful partnerships,” said Lawrence Goh, Head of Technology and Operations at UOB.
“Together with UOB, we aim to build more scalable, AI-first models while opening stronger pathways for innovation, enterprise growth and ecosystem connectivity across Vietnam, Singapore, and the wider APAC region,” said David Nguyen, CEO of FPT Asia Pacific.
The UOB deal is one of several that FPT lined up at the forum, where it broadened its Singapore footprint across financial services, energy, logistics and transport, including tie-ups with SATS and ComfortDelGro. It also builds on a growing local presence that already includes a five-year, US$50 million AI Lab partnership with NUS School of Computing, SAP PartnerEdge Sell status across three markets, and what FPT bills as ASEAN’s first Salesforce data and AI Centre of Excellence.
UOB, with roughly 430 offices across 19 markets, has been laying its own AI groundwork in parallel, including a Data Analytics Centre of Excellence built with IMDA and NUS.
The real test will be whether the 90-day roadmap can turn sandbox demos into services that customers actually use.
Entelechy Asia 