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His background
In 1970, Mr Ng joined the public service as an investment analyst with the Finance Ministry after graduating with a physics degree from the University of Singapore.The Public Service Commission Scholarship recipient then moved to MAS a year later when it was formed.
In 1986, five years after GIC was formed, Mr Ng joined it to head the equities and bonds department. He was the fund’s first non-expatriate director.
In 2007, he was made GIC’s first group chief investment officer, a post he held until he retired in 2013.
Mr Ng was also the founder and chairman of the Singapore International Monetary Exchange in 1984, which was later incorporated into the Singapore Exchange as its derivatives arm.
Apart from his role at Avanda, Mr Ng’s other commitments now include being chairman emeritus and founder of the Wealth Management Institute that was established in 2003 by GIC and Temasek, and serving on Pimco’s global advisory board.
The board includes the likes of former British prime minister Gordon Brown and former US Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke.
Avanda has turned a profit in the last three financial years from 2020 to 2022, according to documents obtained by ST from the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority.
It has had an average of about $73 million in shareholder equity in the last three years.
Applying under public sector track
On Wednesday (19/7/23) , Mr Ng said he was applying for eligibility to run for president based on his public service experience, not his Avanda experience.“I am applying on the basis of my work at the GIC, where I was the group chief investment officer for six years before I retired,” he told reporters.
Under the public sector service requirement, one pathway for qualification is to have held the most senior executive post in one of the entities listed on the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution.
Fifth Schedule entities include the Central Provident Fund Board, the Housing Board, Temasek and GIC, among others.
While Mr Ng’s public service contributions do fall within the 20-year window of consideration, they are not among the stated list of public service roles that qualify for the presidency, as he did not hold the most senior executive post of chief executive at GIC, or at any of the other eligible government-related entities.
