Bank of Singapore CEO Bahren Shaari to retire by year end; interim CEO appointed
BANK of Singapore’s chief executive officer (CEO) Bahren Shaari will be retiring by the end of this month after over 13 years at the bank, a private banking subsidiary of OCBC.
When first announcing this in an internal memo on Friday (Dec 16), OCBC CEO Helen Wong said Bahren’s successor will be announced “as and when it is appropriate”.
In the interim, Vincent Choo – OCBC’s outgoing group chief risk officer who has been a director on the board of the Bank of Singapore since 2014 – will take over from Jan 1, 2023, according to the memo, a copy of which was seen by The Business Times.
Following the memo’s circulation, Bahren, who will retire with more than 30 years of banking experience, made a public post on LinkedIn, in which he reflected on his tenure at the bank.
“I’m immensely grateful and proud of the 13 years I’ve spent at Bank of Singapore, Asia’s global private bank. It has been a great privilege for me to work with a team of dedicated colleagues who are the best at what they do,” he wrote.
“I’m also thankful for the opportunities and guidance given to me throughout my more than 30-year private banking career, in particular by my former boss Marcel Kreis during UBS days and my predecessor at Bank of Singapore Bing De Guzman, both of whom played a critical role in this journey that has taken me to where I am today.”
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He ended the post saying that he is “looking forward to the next chapter” of his life, but did not reveal what he will do next.
Bahren was appointed CEO of Bank of Singapore in 2015. He joined the bank when OCBC acquired and merged ING Private Bank into its wealth management franchise around 2010. He was then the head of South-east Asia.
According to Wong, the private bank under his leadership successfully completed the acquisition of Barclays Asia, and grew its business from a modest US$55 billion in assets under management to US$114 billion today.
Wong also noted Bahren’s instrumental contributions in driving the Bank of Singapore’s hub strategy to capture the wealth growth in its core markets across South-east Asia, Greater China, Middle East and India, as well as the expansion of its products and platform to global investors, family offices and business-to-business financial intermediaries.
Bahren’s contributions to the financial industry were also recognised externally, as he was conferred the Singapore Institute of Banking and Finance Distinguished Fellow award in 2016.
Bahren currently serves as a member of the Council of Presidential Advisers, a body that advises the President on exercising her custodial powers, especially those related to fiscal matters and appointments.
He also serves as a member of the boards of SPH Media and the National University of Singapore.
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