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Newsmakers

Singapore’s GIC Announces Leadership Appointments

The Sovereign Wealth Fund will see 8 senior leaders change roles or step down.
By Matt Toledo



GIC Private Ltd., Singapore’s $770 billion sovereign wealth fund, announced a shuffling of its senior leadership on Wednesday. All management changes will be effective April 1.

“With this refreshed leadership bench, I am confident that we can continue to pursue excellence in our operating and investment capabilities, and navigate the investment environment,” said Lim Chow Kiat, CEO of the GIC, in a press release. 

The following leadership changes were announced: 

  • Sam Kim, deputy chief operating officer, will be appointed COO and will join the group executive committee, a management body within the fund on which many of the fund’s CIOs sit;
  • Bryan Yeo, CIO of public equities, will become deputy group CIO and will oversee the fund’s integrated strategies group, which seeks to expand the fund’s public and private investments into less conventional opportunities;
  • Mark Ong, head of Asia Pacific equities, will become CIO for public equities, replacing Yeo;
  • Goh Chin Kiong, deputy CIO of real estate, will become CIO for real estate, succeeding Lee Kon Sun, who will retire from GIC; and
  • Boon Chin Hau will be appointed as deputy CIO for infrastructure.

The fund also announced that several senior leaders will step down but remain part of the fund’s global leadership group. Tay Lim Hock will step down from his roles as deputy group CIO and COO, and Lim Kee Chong will step down from his role as deputy group CIO and director of the integrated strategies group.

Between 2018 and 2022, the GIC was the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund by capital deployed, but it was dethroned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, according to Global SWF’s 2024 annual report. According to the report, the GIC reduced its investment activity by 37% in volume and by 46% in value in 2023, although the fund received record inflows of $144 billion from Singapore’s central bank.

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The fund announced in July 2023 that it had achieved a real rate of return of 4.6% during the 20-year period that ended March 31, 2023.

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Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund Was Biggest Spender Among Peers in 2023

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Home > News > Pensions > US Public Pension Funds Sensitive to Market Correction, per Fitch Report
Pensions

US Public Pension Funds Sensitive to Market Correction, per Fitch Report

Investment volatility has re-emerged as a concern for pension plans.
By Matt Toledo



U.S. public defined benefit pension plans are increasingly sensitive to market corrections and are at risk of cancelling out the progress made to stabilize funded ratios, according to a report from Fitch Ratings, which reviewed the audits of 100 of the largest state pension funds.  

The funded status and returns of surveyed pension plans fluctuated over the past couple of years, according to Fitch. The value of assets managed by these funds increased by 24.4% in 2021, only to decline 7% the following year. In 2023, the value of these assets increased near or less than the average investment return assumption of 6.9%. 

According to the Fitch report, the agency does not anticipate imminent market drawdowns similar to those of 2008, but any severe market correction would put pressure on the funded status of these public pension funds. Such a hypothetical drawdown scenario could then raise the need for increased contributions to the funds from government employers in a bid to stabilize these plans.  

“We’re not suggesting that we expect a gigantic market correction at all,” says the report’s author, Douglas Offerman, senior director of public finance at Fitch Ratings. “But plans need to keep in mind that, should it happen, contributions would likely increase pretty substantially.”  

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The Fitch report noted that several public pension plans disclose the risk of asset underperformance that could lead to the need for increased contributions. One fund that makes such disclosure is the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, which estimated the chances of its plans falling below 50% funded status at 22.8% for its miscellaneous plans and 25.3% for its public safety plans. 

Overall, state pension funds have taken several steps to mitigate the risk of a decline in asset value. CalPERS, for example, has reduced benefits for covered public employees that were hired recently, and it has lowered discount rates, but it is hard for any measure to have an immediate effect. 

“You really can only change benefits for future employees,” Offerman says. “So you don’t necessarily get a big bump of corrective improvement from a benefit modification right away.” 

Related Stories:

Slowdown in PE Exits, M&A Activity Leads to Smaller, Slower Distributions to Public Pension Funds 

Market Rally Raises US Public Pension Funded Levels to 2023’s Highest Point 

Most US Public Pension Funds Are Distressed, per Equable Report 

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