Lien Ying Chow, 98; Self-Made Singapore Banking Tycoon
Lien Ying Chow, 98, a penniless orphan who became a Singapore banking tycoon, died Saturday at his Singapore home of pneumonia.
Born in 1906, Lien was a native of the southern Chinese province of Guangzhou. He was orphaned by age 10 and moved to Singapore in 1920.
Lien began dealing in ship supplies and later supplied food and drink to the British military in Singapore and Malaysia. He got into banking after he fled Singapore when the Japanese invaded during World War II.
With diamonds he had sewn into his underpants for safekeeping, he founded Overseas Chinese Union Bank. He returned to Singapore at war’s end and relocated his bank there, renaming it the Overseas Union Bank in 1949. Lien retired as group chairman in 1995. In 2001, the bank merged with rival United Overseas Bank.
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