He is reportedly leaving UOB to join a consortium backed by TikTok owner ByteDance, which has applied for a digital banking license in Singapore.
Dennis Khoo, managing director and group head of UOB's TMRW Digital Group, which operates Asean-focused mobile-only bank «TMRW,» will be leaving the bank to pursue other opportunities, according to a «Business Times» on Tuesday, which cited «Bloomberg» report saying a Bytedance consortium is planning on hiring the digital banking leader.
Taking over Khoo's role is Kevin Lam, the current country CEO of UOB Indonesia. Lam joined UOB in 2005 and has held senior roles across functions and markets, including in personal financial services, wholesale banking, and technology and operations, before taking on his current role in 2016, BT said.
Khoo joined UOB in 2013, and was responsible for its consumer banking business in Singapore, covering all consumer banking products and segments from core banking to privilege banking. In 2017, he switched his focus to building a new consumer digital bank from scratch, which eventually became TMRW. He previously spent 12 years at Standard Chartered Bank and 12 years at HP.
Millennial-Focused Bank
TMRW is part of UOB's overall strategy to scale up its customer franchise across Southeast Asia. The mobile-only bank is designed to cater to millennials, and was first rolled out in Thailand in 2019, with Indonesia following in 2020.
UOB previously said it sees a S$10 billion market opportunity in serving Southeast Asia's millennials, and aims to scale with actively engaged customers and recoup total costs from a broader client base of a projected three to five million new customers from this region.
