Former Singapore $360 Billion Sovereign Wealth Fund 27-Year GIC Veteran & Chief Investment Officer Ng Kok Song Announced to Run for Singapore Presidential Election, Founder of $10 Billion Avanda Investment Management with Leadership or Advisory Roles at Monetary Authority of Singapore, Temasek, SGX & PIMCO
21st July 2023 | Hong Kong
Former Singapore $360 billion sovereign wealth fund 27-year GIC veteran & Chief Investment Officer Ng Kok Song has announced to run for the Singapore presidential election. Ng Kok Song is the founder of $10 billion Avanda Investment Management (2015), and had or currently holding leadership or advisory roles at Monetary Authority of Singapore (Singapore central bank), Temasek, SGX (Singapore Exchange), Singapore International Monetary Exchange (SIMEX), PIMCO, Wealth Management Institute (Singapore), Asia School of Business, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Hon Sui Sen Endowment, Lien Centre for Palliative Care, Singapore Labour Foundation, PUB (Singapore National Water Agency). Ng Kok Song was previously at Singapore GIC (sovereign wealth fund) for 26 years & 8 months (1986 to 2013) including over 5 years as Group Chief Investment Officer. Prior, Ng Kok Song was at Monetary Authority of Singapore for 15 years (1971 to 1986). Ng Kok Song started his career at Singapore Ministry of Finance as an Administrative Officer in 1970. He graduated from National University of Singapore (1970) and completed his Master of Science at Stanford University (1980). Earlier in June 2023, former Chairman of International Monetary Fund (IMF) & Singapore Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam (Age 66) has announced to run for Singapore Presidential election (Letter to Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, 8/6/23) in 2023, and to retire from politics (People’s Action Party) and to step down from all positions in government including Chairman of Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Deputy Chairman of GIC (targeting 7th July 2023). The Singapore Presidential election must be held by 13th September 2023. If elected, Ng Kok Song will be the 9th President of Singapore. The former Presidents of Singapore are Yusof Ishak, Benjamin Sheares, Devan Nair, Wee Kim Wee, Ong Teng Cheong, S. R. Nathan, Tony Tan Keng Yam. The current President of Singapore is Halimah Yacob (8th President), elected in 2017. In Singapore, Presidential elections are held every 6 years. See below for more info.
“ Former Singapore $360 Billion Sovereign Wealth Fund 27-Year GIC Veteran & Chief Investment Officer Ng Kok Song Announced to Run for Singapore Presidential Election, Founder of $10 Billion Avanda Investment Management with Leadership or Advisory Roles at Monetary Authority of Singapore, Temasek, SGX & PIMCO “
Former Singapore $360 Billion Sovereign Wealth Fund 27-Year GIC Veteran & Chief Investment Officer Ng Kok Song Announced to Run for Singapore Presidential Election
Ng Kok Song is Avanda Investment Management’s Co-founder and Chairman. Prior to co-founding Avanda, Kok Song was Chief Investment Officer of GIC, where he completed a 42-year career in the investment of Singapore’s foreign reserves. Before joining GIC in 1986, Mr. Ng was at the Ministry of Finance (1970-71) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (1972-1986). The Singapore Government awarded him the Meritorious Service Medal in 2012. During his 27-year career at GIC, Kok Song was instrumental in building GIC’s in-house capability for managing global equities, fixed-income investments and currencies, and for sourcing external managers. He led GIC in navigating several financial crises including the October 1987 market decline, the 1998 Asian currency crisis, the dot-com bust of 2001 and the 2008 global financial crisis.
Kok Song served on the board of directors of the Singapore Exchange (SGX) from 2013-2018. From 1983 to 1987, he was the founding Chairman of Singapore International Monetary Exchange which was incorporated into SGX as its derivatives arm. For his contribution to the global futures industry, the Futures Industry Association inducted him into the Futures Hall of Fame in 2009. Kok Song is Chairman Emeritus of the Wealth Management Institute at the Nanyang Technological University, having been Chairman Emeritus since 2017. In 2013, the CFA Institute conferred on him the Thomas L Hansberger Award for Leadership in the global investment profession. He is on the CFA Institute’s Advisory Council for the “Future of Finance” project, a long-term global effort to shape a trustworthy financial industry that better serves society. Kok Song was a member of the Strategic Committee of Agency France Tresor from 2001-2014. The Government of France conferred on him the “La Croix de Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur” and “Officer de l’ordre National du Merite”. He is on the board of directors of 65 Entity Partners Holding Pte Ltd, and on PIMCO’s Global Advisory board. He also serves on the board of governors of the Asia School of Business in Malaysia, and serves on the board of governors of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. Kok Song graduated in Physics from the University of Singapore and in Management from Stanford University.
Avanda Investment Management
Avanda Investment Management is a global asset management company founded by Ng Kok Song, Quah Wee Ghee and Sung Cheng Chih who, over a period of more than 25 years, played a key role in building up and running one of the foremost sovereign investors in the world. They established Avanda, a private limited company based in Singapore, to serve the investment needs of long-term asset owners in Asia and elsewhere. Avanda’s clientele comprises institutional asset owners with long investment horizons. These include endowments, foundations, central banks, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, life insurance companies and family offices. Avanda aspires to be the global manager of choice for Asian asset owners and the primary Asian manager for global asset owners.
Former IMF Chairman & Singapore Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam Announced to Run for Singapore Presidential Election, To Retire from Politics & All Positions in Government Including Chairman of Monetary Authority of Singapore & Deputy Chairman of GIC
8th June 2023 – Former Chairman of International Monetary Fund (IMF) & Singapore Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam (Age 66) has announced to run for Singapore Presidential election (Letter to Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, 8/6/23) in 2023, and to retire from politics (People’s Action Party) and to step down from all positions in government including Chairman of Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Deputy Chairman of GIC (targeting 7th July 2023). The Singapore Presidential election must be held by 13th September 2023. If elected, Tharman Shanmugaratnam will be the 9th President of Singapore. The former Presidents of Singapore are Yusof Ishak, Benjamin Sheares, Devan Nair, Wee Kim Wee, Ong Teng Cheong, S. R. Nathan, Tony Tan Keng Yam. The current President of Singapore is Halimah Yacob (8th President), elected in 2017. In Singapore, Presidential elections are held every 6 years.
Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for Social Policies, Tharman Shanmugaratnam
Tharman Shanmugaratnam has been Senior Minister since May 2019, after serving for several years as Deputy Prime Minister, Finance Minister and Education Minister. He is currently also Coordinating Minister for Social Policies, and advises the Prime Minister on economic policies. Concurrently, Tharman is Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). In addition to his responsibilities in the Government, he is Deputy Chairman of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) and chairs its Investment Strategies Committee.
Tharman has spent his working life in public service. Besides serving as Deputy Prime Minister (2011-2019), he was Coordinating Minister for Economic and Social Policies (2011-2015). He was also Minister for Finance for nine years (2007-2015) and Minister for Education for five years (2003-2008). He spent most of his earlier professional career at the MAS, Singapore’s central bank and financial regulator, where he later served as Chairman from 2011 onward. He has been committed for several years to building inclusive social policies and improving jobs and pay for lower-income Singaporeans. He introduced major educational reforms while serving as Education Minister, aimed at achieving a broader and more flexible system of meritocracy. He later led the ‘SkillsFuture’ programme, which was launched in 2014 to enable life-long learning and upskilling among Singaporeans. He also chaired the tripartite Council for Skills, Innovation and Productivity (CSIP), set up to drive and integrate national efforts to transform industry and skills, and was the precursor to the Future Economy Council. During the pandemic years, he chaired the National Jobs Council, which oversaw efforts to support and rebuild jobs for Singaporeans in the wake of COVID-19. Tharman has also chaired the Ong Teng Cheong Labour Leadership Institute since 2002. In 2017, the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) conferred on him the Medal of Honour, its highest award, citing his varied contributions to the labour movement including “driving national initiatives to better the lives of workers”.
Tharman has led several international councils, focused especially on economic and financial reforms. He was Chair of the Group of Thirty, an independent global council of economic and financial leaders from the public and private sectors, over 2017-2022 – where he took over from Jean-Claude Trichet, and was recently succeeded by Mark Carney. He currently chairs the Board of Trustees of the Group. He also currently co-chairs the Global Commission on the Economics of Water, whose first round of recommendations shaped discussions at the UN Water Conference in March 2023 (the first since 1977). He served recently on the High-Level Advisory Board established by the UN Secretary-General to make recommendations on multilateral reforms for the UN’s 2024 Summit of the Future.
Tharman co-chaired the G20 High Level Independent Panel on Global Financing for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, together with Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Lawrence Summers, in 2021. He also chaired the G20 Eminent Persons Group on Global Financial Governance, which in Oct 2018 proposed reforms for a more effective system of finance for development, sustainability, and financial stability. He was earlier selected by his international peers to chair the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) for an extended period of four years; he was its first Asian chair. He has also been chairing the Advisory Board for the last three UN Human Development Reports – in 2019, 2020 and 2021/2022. In addition, he co-chairs the Global Education Forum, and is on the External Advisory Group to the IMF Managing Director, and the World Economic Forum’s Board of Trustees.
Locally, Tharman has also chaired the Economic Development Board’s International Advisory Council since 2014, and the International Academic Advisory Panel that advises the Government on strategies for the university sector since 2012. He co-chaired the Singapore-Liaoning Economic and Trade Council from 2004 to 2008 and the High-Level Russia-Singapore Inter-Governmental Commission from 2011 to 2020.
Outside of his roles in government, he also chairs the Board of Trustees of the Singapore Indian Development Association (SINDA), which seeks to uplift educational performance and social resilience in the Indian Singaporean community. Other local and international awards conferred on Tharman over the years include Honorary Membership of the Singapore Medical Association in 2019, its highest award, and Honorary Fellowship of the Economic Society of Singapore in 2010. In 2019, Tharman received the Institute of International Finance’s inaugural Distinguished Leadership and Service Award (together with Mark Carney), citing his role as a leading proponent of global reforms to de-risk and grow development finance. He also received the Freedom of the City of London in 2019 in recognition of his contributions to global financial governance and strengthening ties between Singapore and London. He was earlier given the Finance Minister of the Year award by Euromoney magazine in 2013, which cited his role in Singapore’s economic restructuring and as the region’s statesman on the international stage. Tharman was first elected Member of Parliament in Nov 2001 in Jurong GRC, and has been re-elected four times since.
Following his schooling in Singapore, he did a B.Sc. in Economics at the London School of Economics and an M.Phil. in Economics at the University of Cambridge. He later obtained a Master’s in Public Administration at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, where he was conferred the Lucius N Littauer Fellow award for outstanding performance and leadership potential. Tharman is married to Jane Yumiko Ittogi, a lawyer by background and now actively engaged in social development initiatives. They have a daughter and three sons.
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