UOB, the third-largest banking group in Asean by assets today, was founded in 1935 by his grandfather, Sarawak-born Wee Kheng Chiang. “I had always wanted to be a doctor,” Wee, 71, tells The Edge in his first ever interview with the Malaysian media in Kuala Lumpur recently.
Had Wee Ee Cheong, deputy chairman and CEO of United Overseas Bank (SGX:U11
) (UOB), not followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, he likely would have been a doctor today.
But as fate would have it, the third-generation leader of the Singapore-based lender, which turns 90 next year, joined the family business in 1979 at the behest of his father, the late Wee Cho Yaw.
