[SINGAPORE] Boards of directors play a key role in navigating complex risks while steering companies toward sustainable growth.
The Business Times speaks to gold award winners of Best Managed Board at the Singapore Corporate Awards 2025 for their take on balancing short-term pressures with long-term priorities in a turbulent global environment.
ROUNDTABLE PANELLISTS
- Peter Seah, chairman of DBS
- Stephen Ho, executive director and chief executive officer (CEO) of Hong Leong Asia
- Kelvin Lim, chairman and CEO of LHN
Moderator: Navene Elangovan, correspondent, The Business Times
How is the board balancing short-term pressures with long-term strategic goals in the face of global uncertainty?
Peter Seah: Short-term pressures require us to pivot nimbly as needed. The board undertakes regular reviews of the group’s financial performance and developing risk areas, giving due consideration to the impact of evolving geopolitics, macroeconomic developments and market volatility over the short to medium term. We also assess the impact that these could have on our portfolio and funding profile.
At the same time, the board remains firmly committed to the long-term success of DBS. We evaluate long-term developments that would shape the group’s strategy and monitor management’s ongoing effort to build a resilient franchise, with diversified engines of growth, across geographies and businesses. We also remain committed to capital management and are guided by the need to create shareholder value.
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Talent development is another ongoing, long-term priority. We are committed to nurture talent from within the organisation to drive continued success. The CEO leadership change in 2025 was the result of a decade-long succession strategy.
Stephen Ho: As an Asian multinational, Hong Leong Asia is confronted with complex, multi-faceted challenges on a wide range of interconnected fronts – trade tensions, geopolitical conflicts, energy transition, technological disruption and mounting environmental concerns.
Nonetheless, the board has in place sound corporate governance practices and adhere to robust compliance processes that are integrated into all our decision-making, ensuring businesses are resilient and can operate sustainably.
We believe by conducting business with integrity, upholding high ethical standards and maintaining proactive board oversight, the board will be able to deliver value for shareholders, customers, employees and the communities over the long term.
Kelvin Lim: At LHN, our board recognises the tension between maintaining business resilience amid short-term macroeconomic challenges – such as pandemics, geopolitical conflicts and trade disruptions – and the need to invest for long-term growth. In volatile times, global economic shifts and sector-specific developments can significantly affect market demands and operating costs.
However, despite these uncertainties, the board remains focused on maintaining a disciplined capital allocation and prudent investment approach. To ensure that the group’s responses to short-term pressures align with its long-term growth goals, the board actively monitors these goals, while maintaining regular and meaningful dialogue with business unit heads. This enables the board to effectively assess the impact of macroeconomic factors, as well as emerging risks and potential opportunities.
How does the board measure its success?
Seah: DBS’ governance framework is anchored on competent leadership, effective internal controls, a strong risk culture and accountability to stakeholders. Our board plays a key role in ensuring that our governance standards meet stakeholders’ expectations.
A strong partnership with management is key. Our directors have ongoing interactions across various management levels, functions and countries within DBS. I have a positive and constructive working relationship with the CEO.
Our nominating committee makes an annual assessment to determine whether our board and board committees are performing effectively. An external evaluator is engaged regularly to provide an independent assessment on our board’s performance and offer suggestions on possible areas of improvement when we are benchmarked against peer boards and best practices.
I believe the board’s success is ultimately manifested in the structural transformation that DBS has undergone over the past 15 years. Most recently, we were named World’s Best Bank, World’s Best Bank for Customer Experience and World’s Best Bank for Corporate Responsibility by Euromoney.
Ho: The board of directors of Hong Leong Asia uses a multifaceted approach to measure its effectiveness, focusing on strategic oversight, performance monitoring and adherence to governance. This includes assessing the board’s composition and expertise, its role in setting and overseeing strategy, and the effectiveness of its oversight of the company’s business performance and risk management.
With the increased focus on integrating sustainability into Hong Leong Asia’s business operations, key performance indicators on the company’s ESG performance, tied to key management personnel’s remuneration, are in place and also serve as a measure of the board’s effectiveness in achieving strategic goals.
Lim: Success for the LHN board goes beyond merely scrutinising periodic financial performance. While key financial indicators such as revenue growth, return on equity, and share performance remain important, the board also tracks strategic metrics such as new project launches, portfolio occupancy rates, and customer retention.
Furthermore, the board’s effectiveness is further evaluated through governance metrics like board composition, succession planning, and adherence to Singapore Exchange (SGX) regulatory requirements. Periodic stakeholder engagement, including voluntary business updates, investor feedback and employee surveys, helps ensure that the group’s strategic direction resonates with both internal and external stakeholders.
Ultimately, the board’s success is measured by the ability of each business pillar to deliver consistent, sustainable returns while strengthening organisational resilience.
As technology reshapes business models, how does the board guide the company to keep ahead?
Seah: In recognition of the increasing importance of robust technology governance, we established the Board Technology Committee to oversee technology strategy, architecture and risk management. Its key responsibilities include ensuring alignment of technology strategy with business initiatives, reviewing major technology investments, overseeing technology risks and cybersecurity, and ensuring data quality and governance.
As a financial institution, we will not compromise resiliency and security to protect our customers and meet regulatory expectations. While technology resiliency remains a key focus area, we continue to innovate with guardrails and create efficiency through automation to deliver differentiated customer experiences. At our board offsite last year, we looked at the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI.
Ho: Digitalisation is central to Hong Leong Asia’s overall business strategy. Over the past few years, Hong Leong Asia has embraced digital transformation with heavy investments on research and development for the powertrain solutions business in China, high-tech facilities such as the integrated construction prefabrication hub and our latest batching plant at Jurong Port’s Ready-Mixed Concrete Ecosystem in Singapore, robotics and automation technologies in our green transition journey.
In the face of an evolving business environment, the board’s approach has always been balancing priorities with business strategies through a proactive, informed and strategic decision-making process. This involves understanding the markets we operate in, fostering a culture of innovation and ensuring Hong Leong Asia’s digital transformation aligns with its long-term goals.
Lim: The LHN board recognises the critical role of technology and actively encourages a culture of innovation within the company. The board regularly reviews industry trends and ensures that digital transformation is a strategic priority. We support management in piloting new digital platforms and innovations for tenant engagement and operational efficiency.
The board also works closely with business unit heads and Human Resources department to develop relevant upskilling programmes, ensuring that LHN’s employees are well-equipped with cutting-edge technologies and stay relevant with ever-evolving industry standards.
How does your board persuade the company’s leadership to stay the course on sustainability?
Seah: The board and senior management share a deep commitment to sustainability, with the CEO chairing our Board Sustainability Committee. This stems from our roots as the Development Bank of Singapore, which was mandated to finance Singapore’s industrialisation.
We remain purpose-driven and integrate sustainability into our strategic planning and decision-making, aligning with our vision to be the “Best Bank for a Better World”. We engage with stakeholders – investors, customers, and employees – regularly to address their expectations and concerns.
We remain committed to enabling a just transition within the context of Asia, balancing environment, social and economic considerations, notwithstanding the exit of large banks from the Net Zero Banking Alliance. We seek to intensify our social impact through the work of the DBS Foundation, along with our commitment of up to S$1 billion over 10 years to improve the lives of the low-income and underprivileged.
Ho: At Hong Leong Asia, we are guided by a shared vision to develop and deliver sustainable and innovative urban solutions for cities of the future. Since the rollout of our sustainability framework in 2020, we have focused on strengthening alignment across the group and through a combination of regular communication, robust governance frameworks and tangible incentives. We have integrated sustainability into our core business strategies, making it a key performance indicator for the management team.
Since 2024, we have linked the group’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance with the remuneration of key management personnel. The ESG key performance indicators include those of the health and safety of employees and the use of recycled and alternative materials in cement and concrete. These ESG key performance indicators form a minimum of 20 per cent of total performance evaluation annually.
With this approach, the board ensures that sustainability is not a separate initiative but an integral part of how Hong Leong Asia operates and achieves its business goals.
Lim: At LHN, the board views sustainability not as a cost centre but as a core value driver. That is why it is considered as a key indicator of long-term competitiveness and risk management, and remains a shared leadership priority across the group.
The board integrates sustainability into the group’s core business strategy by demonstrating clear value in areas relevant to LHN. These include reducing energy usage in our properties, designing flexible spaces for urban needs, and actively engaging tenants in green practices. The board sets tangible sustainability key performance indicators – such as improving energy efficiency across managed sites and increasing the use of recycled materials in property fit-outs – so leadership can track meaningful progress and operating impacts. Regular updates on how sustainability initiatives contribute to greater client satisfaction, regulatory compliance, and cost savings help keep our team motivated and aligned.
In addition, the LHN board also closely oversees and involves in sustainability reporting, and ensures alignment with global frameworks such as the SGX Sustainability Reporting Guidelines.
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