GXS Singapore CEO Charles Wong steps down, remains as an adviser

GXS Singapore’s chief executive officer Charles Wong has stepped down from his role, sources said.

In response to queries from The Business Times, the digital bank confirmed the news and added that he remains as an adviser. GXS sent another statement confirming that GXS group CEO Muthukrishnan Ramaswami would take on the responsibilities of the Singapore CEO.

“As we move into our next phase of growth, there is a change to our management team. Charles Wong has stepped away from his role as GXS CEO,” said a GXS spokesperson.

GXS is a consortium between Grab and Singtel.

In a recent media event on Jul 11, Ramaswami was seen to be the face of senior management rather than Wong, perhaps already signalling then that a shakeup was on the cards.

Ramaswami could double hat as the Singapore CEO, according to market watchers.

Having Ramaswami take over the Singapore role would make sense, as the other digital banks in Indonesia and Malaysia operate as part of joint ventures reporting to their own boards.

As GXS Singapore is wholly owned by Grab and Singtel, Ramaswami, who is based in Singapore, could oversee the Singapore operations and the entire group’s.

Wong was tapped to lead the digital bank’s Singapore operations.

He joined in April 2020 from Citibank, where he was head of retail banking. Wong has been with GXS since its opening days and played a significant role in growing it to the current scale today.

During his tenure, GXS has launched a number of products including FlexiLoan and a debit card.

Wong has grown deposits to over S$400 million as at Dec 31 2023. He also oversaw regulatory changes to digital banks, such as when the deposit cap was raised by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

The latest financial results for GXS showed net interest income growing to S$13 million in 2023 from S$2.2 million in 2022. Similarly, losses grew in tandem from S$113.7 million in 2022 to S$152.1 million in 2023.

“We would like to thank Charles for leading GXS to this strong position and for being available to GXS for any advice we may need. We wish him the very best in his future endeavours,” said the spokesperson.