Temasek Holdings and GIC's Financial Losses from Investing in Cryptocurrency Platform FTX
Ministry of FinanceSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns the oversight of Temasek Holdings and GIC regarding investment losses, benchmarking performance, and adherence to sustainability and ethical investment guidelines. Ms Hazel Poa asked about investigations into negligence or misconduct and the methods used to monitor and compare the funds' performance against other benchmarks. Ms He Ting Ru inquired about the existence of a public ethical exclusion list and the requirements for environmental due diligence and climate change monitoring for state-linked investments. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong stated that he would address these specific queries in a separate reply at the 30 November 2022 Parliament Sitting. This future response was intended to cover the impact of the FTX bankruptcy on Singapore’s financial markets and the investment strategies of the state's funds.
Transcript
33 Ms Hazel Poa asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance in cases where large investment losses are made by Temasek Holdings and GIC, whether internal and external investigations are conducted to ascertain whether there is negligence or misconduct.
34 Ms He Ting Ru asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance (a) whether there is a Singapore equivalent of the Norwegian Ministry of Finance’s Council of Ethics for the observation and exclusion of companies from the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global; and (b) if so, whether the list can be shared and maintained publicly for full accountability.
35 Ms Hazel Poa asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance (a) how does the Government monitor and assess the performance of Temasek Holdings and GIC; (b) whether monitoring and assessing their performance includes benchmarking their performance with those of other funds; and (c) if so, what are the funds against which Temasek Holdings and GIC are benchmarked against and how do they compare.
36 Ms He Ting Ru asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance (a) whether there are guidelines for the requisite sustainability and environmental due diligence and audits for state-linked investments locally and overseas; (b) whether there are guidelines for monitoring investments with potentially substantial climate change impact; and (c) how can state-linked investments continue to do their part and strengthen their contributions to make progress on global sustainability and environmental responsibility.
Mr Lawrence Wong: I thank the Members for the questions. I will address them in my reply at the 30 November 2022 Parliament Sitting. [Please refer to "Bankruptcy of Cryptocurrency Trading Platform FTX and Impact on Singapore's Financial Markets, Regulation of Such Asset Class and Strategies of Singapore's Investment Funds", Official Report, 30 November 2022, Vol 95, Issue 78, Oral Answers to Questions section.]