Source:
TR EMERITUS
New ‘Son of Punggol’ is Head of CIMB Bank
December 30th, 2014 | Author: Editorial
Yee Chia Hsing (Photo: Mr Yee's FB page)
Dr Koh Poh Koon, a loser in the Punggol East by-election in January last year, has been observed to move his grassroots activities from Punggol East SMC to Ang Mo Kio GRC.
Last month (1 Nov), he was spotted by the media among PM Lee’s entourage at an Ang Mo Kio grassroots event. He explained to the media that he will be spending more time on the ground in Ang Mo Kio to see in what areas he can contribute.
He also told the media that he has officially relinquished his post of Chairman of the PAP Punggol East Branch.
“I came at the invitation of Mr Seng Han Thong, but obviously this is a big GRC so there could be many areas that we could participate and help in,” said Dr Koh. “So I’ll serve in whichever area they feel I can contribute.”
During the Punggol East by-election last year, Dr Koh tried to position himself as a “Son of Punggol” during his campaign.
“Punggol has always occupied a very special place in my heart and with special memories,” Dr Koh told the media during the by-election campaign. “Coming back to Punggol East is a bit like coming home to me.”
Dr Koh was roundly defeated by WP’s Lee Li Lian in the Punggol East by-election and now, appears to be trying his luck at becoming the “Adopted Son of Ang Mo Kio”.
New “Son of Punggol” starting his Residents Engagement Sessions (ERS)
In any case, PAP appears to have appointed a new “Son of Punggol” to take over from Dr Koh and he is Mr Yee Chia Hsing. He is the new Chairman of PAP Punggol East Branch. According to Mr Yee’s Facebook page [
Link], he described himself as:
“Chia Hsing is currently involved in grassroots activities at Punggol East (Rivervale) and also volunteers at Ren Ci Hospital. He has previously served at Chong Pang (since 2011). His volunteer work at Ren Ci Hospital dates back to 2009. Chia Hsing has been in the finance industry since 1996. He is currently Head, Catalist of CIMB Bank, Singapore branch. The Catalist board on the SGX is primarily targeted at small and medium enterprises.”
Even though he has yet to be elected by the people to become the genuine MP of Punggol East, Mr Yee is already starting his official Meet-the-People sessions in Jan 2015, nonetheless. He wrote on his Facebook page:
“Starting my Residents Engagement Sessions from next year. Every Monday, starting from 5 Jan 15, except for 5th Monday of the month or eve of public holiday or public holiday. Will be held at Blk124A, Rivervale Drive, 8pm – 10pm.”
Notice that he cleverly used the term “Residents Engagement Sessions (RES)” instead of “Meet the People Sessions (MPS)” so as to avoid questions asked why he is helping residents and behaving like an MP when he is not one yet.
Who is Yee Chia Hsing?
Mr Yee started his career with DBS in 1996. After 4 years in DBS, he moved to Vicker Ballas Co Ltd before joining CIMB-GK securities in 2002 [
Link].
In his security line, he has worked in numerous equity transactions like IPOs, rights issues and placements. In his job in CIMB-GK, he has been aggressively involved in assisting mid and small size Chinese corporation in public listing and IPOs as well as restructuring.
In seminar talks, he revealed that in his line, to get deals, it’s important to network with potential clients. He particularly emphasized on the role of “business contacts” that plays in making or breaking a deal. He listed the importance of inter-personal skills and awareness about the market as one of the critical skill sets in his line of work. He also talked about the importance of “distribution” in equity market where sales strategies need to be adopted to help firms organize roadshows in co-ordination with institutional salesmen to place out the equities.
Without doubt, joining PAP certainly would have helped Mr Yee in building up many “business contacts”.
He is also an independent board director of First Sponsor Group Limited, a China-focused property developer, which also acts as a shadow bank and loans money to Chinese municipal governments [
Link][
Link].
Certainly, Mr Yee has many confidence in the property market in China. On 5 Aug this year, he spent an easy $124,500 to buy up 100,000 shares of First Sponsor Group [
Link]. First Sponsor Group was listed on 22 July this year. Mr Yee bought the shares at $1.245, much lower than the IPO price of $1.50.
End Of Article