GIC Sets Up Three Panels To Oversee Operations, Investments And Risks

Source : The Business Times, April 22, 2008

Lim Siong Guan to chair management committee

The Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC) has set up three new committees to help it better manage its business operations, investments and risks.

The group management committee, group investment committee and group risk committee will have oversight over their respective areas for the entire GIC group.

GIC deputy chairman and executive director Tony Tan announced the move yesterday in his opening address at the inaugural GIC Staff Conference at Swissotel The Stamford.

'GIC runs a tight ship, minimising risks where possible and taking advantage of our strengths as a long-term investor to manage one portfolio with good coordination among our various investment activities,' he said.

The group management committee will be chaired by GIC's group managing director Lim Siong Guan. It will tackle organisational, business and personnel issues.

The group investment committee will be chaired by GIC's group chief investment officer Ng Kok Song. It will develop and implement asset allocation policies and investment strategies at group level. This committee will also review the risk and performance of the various asset classes on a regular basis.

The group risk committee will be chaired by GIC's chief risk officer Sung Cheng Chih. It will provide oversight and guidance for the development and implementation of risk-management policies and practices for the entire group.

'This management structure enables GIC to have the group-wide oversight on our business operations, investments and risks, while giving sufficient autonomy to our investment subsidiaries so they can respond in a timely fashion to changes in investment circumstances,' Dr Tan said yesterday.

The new committees will be in addition to GIC's three subsidiaries - GIC Asset Management, which looks after public market assets; GIC Special Investments, which looks after private equity and infrastructure investments; and GIC Real Estate, which is responsible for its real-estate investments.

Such a structure has provided GIC with the flexibility and responsiveness to make investment decisions when it needed to act quickly in the face of rapidly changing market circumstances, Dr Tan said.

The new group committees - with GIC's three subsidiaries - will report to the group executive committee, chaired by Dr Tan.

The group executive committee will deliberate and decide on major investment and risk policy issues before submission to relevant board committees and the GIC board. It will also review and approve major personnel and business policies that apply to the entire group.

Dr Tan acknowledged that management structures by themselves will not ensure GIC succeeds in its mission to look after Singapore's reserves.

'The most important factor that will determine the success of GIC is our people,' he said. 'GIC's creditable performance over the past 27 years, since our formation in 1981, would not have been possible without the dedication and hard work that you (the staff) have all put in.'