Chong Moves To Private Equity Group At DBS Bank

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DBS Bank Appoints Raymond Lim To Head Securities Arm

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Seamless Transition Expected As Industry Prepares For De-regulation And Heightened Competition

SINGAPORE, AUG 16 - DBS said today that DBS Securities' Managing Director, Chong Chin Cheong is moving to a senior leadership position within DBS' Private Equity Group.

The Private Equity Group, part of DBS' Investment Banking Group, is an important priority business for DBS going forward. DBS' goal is to better leverage its international network, and more quickly identify direct investment opportunities in Singapore and the region.

Taking Chong's place at DBS Securities will be Raymond Lim, most recently a senior executive at ABN Amro in Singapore. His appointment as managing director of DBS Securities is effective August 21, subject to regulatory approvals.

Lim brings to DBS Securities extensive international experience in the regional equities business. Before joining DBS Securities, Lim was executive director and Chief Asian Economist with ABN Amro in Singapore. Earlier, Lim served as an executive director of Kim Eng Holdings and was part of its management team.

A Colombo Plan scholar, Lim holds a First Class Honours degree in Economics at the University of Adelaide. He was subsequently awarded the Rhodes Scholarship for Singapore where he read law at Balliol College, Oxford and King's College, Cambridge where he was awarded First Class Honours in his Masters of Law degree. He is on the board of the Singapore Broadcasting Authority and its Finance Committee, serves on Singapore's Public Utilities Board, a founding president of the Roundtable, a non-partisan policy discussion group and a member of the panel of advisors to the juvenile court.

The changes are part of key business initiatives begun last year by DBS Securities in anticipation of industry deregulation and enhanced competition.

Spearheading these initiatives is the development of DBS Securities' online brokerage, which forms part of the Bank's award-winning Internet banking and e-commerce delivery systems. The new on-line trading system will be launched publicly in mid-Sept.

In addition, DBS Securities has upgraded staff, and is investing in new technology which allows straight-through processing capability that improves back office efficiency and makes possible additional value-added services.

Greg Seow, Chairman of DBS Securities and head of DBS Bank's Private Client Group, said Lim's appointment would continue the momentum started by his predecessor.

"The securities business in Singapore and the region is fast deregulating, and we intend to be ready. Raymond Lim's appointment builds upon Chong Chin Cheong's good work in introducing global best practices and repositioning DBS Securities as a leading participant in this more competitive environment."

In a related development, DBS Securities has also appointed Josephine Lam as executive director & head of retail dealing in Hong Kong.

A graduate of the University of San Francisco, Lam started her career in the financial industry with Charles Schwab San Francisco in 1992 as an investment specialist marketing equity products such as US stocks, mutual funds, fixed income and financial planning. In 1995, she moved to Schwab's main branch in San Francisco to head its Asian team, and in 1997, relocated to Hong Kong to start the Charles Schwab operation in Hong Kong, an office that grew into a US billion dollar operation within three years. Among her other responsibilities, Lam is in charge of leading DBS Securities' online brokerage services in the region.

DBS Bank is the flagship bank of DBS Group Holdings in Singapore. It is ranked among the top banks in Asia, the 70th largest in the world, a recognised leader in Internet banking and e-commerce and the market leader in Singapore-dollar loans and deposits. Beyond Singapore, DBS Group serves corporate, institutional and retail customers through subsidiaries in Hong Kong, The Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand, and international banking services through a network of 13 overseas branches and offices.