Wee Cho Yaw

Wee Cho Yaw (; born 1929) is a Singaporean billionaire businessman, and chairman emeritus and honorary adviser of the United Overseas Bank (UOB) and United Industrial Corporation (UIC) in Singapore. He is also chairman of the UOL Group. Wee joined the board of directors of the United Chinese Bank (now the United Overseas Bank) in 1958. He was appointed managing director of the bank two years later; and when his father Wee Kheng Chiang, founder of United Chinese Bank, retired in 1974, Wee succeeded him as chairman. His son Wee Ee Chong succeeded him as chief executive officer of UOB. Early life His mother was the second wife of Wee Kheng Chiang, businessman in operating in Sarawak who was a Hokkien from Kinmen island. In 1937, Wee and his family fled to Kuching in Borneo to escape the Sino-Japanese War. He lived with the family of his father's first wife for about a year before moving to Singapore, where he attended Gong Shang Primary School and The Chinese High School. His education was disrupted by the Japanese invasion of Singapore and Malaya, and Wee spent most of the Japanese Occupation with his family in Karimun in Indonesia. After the Japanese Occupation, Wee returned to Singapore and attended Chung Cheng High School. There he was involved in anti-colonial politics, and was investigated by the British authorities before his father then pulled him out of school.