People Moves
New Chairman To Take Helm At Singapore's Stock Exchange
The Singapore Exchange, one of the flagship financial institutions in the Asian city-state, has a new chairman.
Singapore’s stock market, which has been battling against the likes of Hong Kong’s bourse in recent years and recently agreed to acquire the Baltic Exchange, has a new chairman in the person of Kwa Chong Seng, who takes the helm from Chew Choon Seng.
Chew retires after SGX's annual meeting on 22 September and is not standing for re-election, a statement from the exchange said earlier this week. He joined the board in December 2004 and has been chairman since January 2011.
Kwa, meanwhile, was elected to the board in September 2012. He was appointed lead independent director in December 2013, and has been the chairman of the nominating and governance and the remuneration and staff development committees since September 2013.
Recent years have been challenging in some ways for SGX. Rival financial hub Hong Kong has forged equity market links with mainland China, putting pressure on Singapore to explore alliances of its own.
More positively, earlier in August, Singapore Exchange and the Baltic Exchange agreed terms for a recommended offer by SGX for the entire issued share capital of the Baltic Exchange. The deal is expected to be completed in November. Under its terms, the aggregate cash price and the special dividend value Baltic Exchange’s entire issued ordinary share capital at approximately £87.0 million ($114 million).
SGX has also had to contend with the dampening impact of deceleration in China’s economy and a period of quiet in the IPO market earlier this year and late in 2015.
As reported yesterday here, SGX has launched a real estate investment trust index that tracks Asian REITS - excluding those in Japan - designed to be the basis for a forthcoming exchange traded fund. The Singapore Exchange has launched the SGX APAC ex Japan Dividend Leaders REIT Index, composed of 30 REITs. The index will be a benchmark for an ETF to be issued by Phillip Capital Management, the asset management arm of Phillip Capital.
