The Singapore Exchange has appointed Loh Boon Chye as its new chief executive officer, replacing Magnus Böcker.
In a statement on Monday, SGX said Loh will begin his appointment on July 14.
With a career spanning 26 years, Loh is well-known within financial circles. Until earlier this year he was deputy president and head of global markets for Asia-Pacific at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Before that, from 1995 to 2012, 51-year old Loh was at Deutsche Bank where he held various posts including chief executive of the global markets division in Singapore, head of global markets Asia, and head of corporate and investment banking for Asia-Pacific.
Loh began his career as an investment officer with the Monetary Authority of Singapore in 1989. He joined the Singapore branch of Morgan Guaranty Trust Co of New York in 1992.
Böcker, who has been the CEO of SGX for the last five-and-a-half years, will complete his assignment on June 30. Current SGX president Muthukrishnan Ramaswami will then briefly take charge from July 1 to July 13.
Loh joins the swelling ranks of bankers who have left the industry to pursue other opportunities in the corporate world or within private equity as investment banking fees in Asia contract and banks shutter businesses.
Earlier this year, Nikhil Eapen, previously head of telecommunications, media and technology for Asia Pacific at Citi, left the US bank to join Temasek-owned ST Telemedia as its chief strategy and investment officer. Elsewhere, Ronnie Behar, previously a senior M&A banker, at Credit Suisse joined Affinity Equity Partners this year.
“A lot of bankers are thinking of the next step," one Singapore-based investment banker said. "Things are going slow and a lot of banks are losing fat so some bankers are taking the opportunity to take good packages to move on.”
Loh is seen as a good hire for SGX, given that he is well versed in capital markets. He was also a director on the board of SGX from October 2003 to September 2012.
Nonetheless, he could well have his work cut out.
Lagging badly
The Singapore bourse has struggled to attract new listings and has dramatically fallen behind Hong Kong. According to data provider Dealogic, new initial public offerings in Singapore have totaled a mere $41 million so far this year, far below the $12.6 billion chalked up in Hong Kong over the same period.
There were $2.6 billion-worth of new listings in Singapore in all of last year compared with $30 billion in Hong Kong.
And while stock markets in China have seen a resurgence of investor interest, following last year's launch of Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect -- which enables international investors to directly access mainland China's biggest stock market through the Hong Kong Exchange -- trading volumes in Singapore remain muted.
Loh graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Engineering degree.
