Wee Cho Yaw

Wee Cho Yaw, DUBC (simplified Chinese: 黄祖耀; traditional Chinese: 黃祖耀; pinyin: Huáng Zǔyào; born 1929), DUBC, is a Singaporean businessman and the current Chairman of the United Overseas Bank (UOB) and United Industrial Corporation(UIC) in Singapore.

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 of the Bank. His son Wee Ee Chong succeeded him as Chief Executive Officer of UOB.

Early life

Wee was born in Quemoy (also known as Kinmen), a group of islands off Taiwan. His mother was the second wife of Sarawak-based businessman Wee Kheng Chiang and in 1937, Wee and his family fled to Kuching in Malaya 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 Chinese High.