IBF Awards

Biography

​Eric Lian is Managing Director and Group Head of Commercial Banking.

In his role, Eric is responsible for the management and strategic direction as well as profitability of commercial banking business across UOB key franchise markets in ASEAN and Greater China, retaining UOB's dominance in this space.

Prior to joining UOB, Eric was the Group Chief Credit Officer of OCBC and was responsible for the credit risk management of Wholesale Banking of the Group which includes Corporate & Commercial Banking, Commercial Real Estate Institutions, Specialized and Commodities Finance as well as Special Asset Management.

With more than 30 years of working experience in the wholesale banking business, credit risk management and general management, Mr Lian possesses in-depth knowledge and understanding of all major SMEs' industries in Singapore as well as of the regional markets, particularly China.

While at the helm as CEO & President of UOB China between 2013 and 2016, Eric focused on capturing wholesale banking market share from increasing business flows between Greater China and Southeast Asia. He led branch expansion in various parts of China to support growing corporate customers' needs and the development of a suite of cross-border Renminbi solutions. This has facilitated the liberations of the Renminbi and echoed Singapore's support of economic reform and growth in China.

As a key member of the Singapore China Association since 2017, Eric has worked closely with the committee to spearhead the association's expanded focus on promoting economic and trade development between Singapore and China.  This is further complemented by Eric's wide Chinese network built up during his years helming the bank's franchise in China.

Eric is also an alternate Director on the Board of Innoven Capital Pte Ltd, a joint venture between UOB and Temasek that focus on technology related companies in their early stage of growth.

Eric graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering and a Master of Business Administration (Banking & Finance) from Nanyang Technological University.