THERE will be a new chief executive officer helming insurer Great Eastern from November this year.
Greg Hingston will be taking over as the group’s CEO from Khor Hock Seng, who will be retiring on Oct 31, said the insurer in a bourse filing on Wednesday (Aug 28).
Great Eastern said that its nominating committee looked at internal candidates in the company, and also commissioned an executive search firm to conduct a search within and outside Singapore to identify a suite of strong candidates.
After a rigorous and extensive process, a final shortlist of internal and external candidates was considered.
The nominating committee and the company’s board finally selected Hingston as the most suitable candidate for the group CEO role, given the insurer’s strategy to grow and expand beyond its core markets of Singapore and Malaysia, said the media release.
Great Eastern noted that Hingston has worked in Hong Kong for over 20 years, 18 of which were with HSBC.
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He has held various senior executive management positions across retail banking, wealth management and life insurance, including managing wealth and personal banking businesses in Hong Kong and for the Asia-Pacific region.
In his most recent role as CEO of HSBC Global Insurance and Partnerships, Hingston was primarily responsible for setting the strategy, as well as managing and growing the life insurance businesses of the group.
Soon Tit Koon, chairman of Great Eastern, said the company would be “well-positioned to continue strengthening its leadership position in Singapore and Malaysia, and further expand (its) insurance franchise in the region” with Hingston in charge.
“His global market expertise, proven ability to lead a large multi-geography team, and track record of successfully growing an insurance business through close collaboration with a banking group will be put to good use as we embark on our renewed growth strategy,” he added.
Helen Wong, director of Great Eastern and chief executive officer of OCBC, which is the parent company of the insurer, said that Hingston’s experience “will be helpful in fostering synergy and collaboration between OCBC and Great Eastern Group under OCBC’s ‘One Group’ approach”.
“Both OCBC and Great Eastern Group are committed to serving the financial needs of customers in Singapore and the region. A lot more can be offered to our customers when we work closely together,” she added.
OCBC in May made a voluntary unconditional general offer of S$1.4 billion for the remaining 11.56 per cent stake in Great Eastern Holdings (GEH) that it did not already own, with the aim to delist the insurer.
At the close of the offer on Jul 12, however, the lender and its concert parties garnered just 93.52 per cent of GEH’s total shares – below the 98.87 per cent shareholding required to trigger a compulsory acquisition. Trading in GEH’s shares has since been suspended, as the number of shares in public hands has dipped below the 10 per cent free float threshold.
An independent financial adviser to the deal had earlier determined that OCBC’s offer was “not fair but reasonable”, and noted that the offer price was lower than its derived range of values for Great Eastern’s shares.
Khor’s retirement comes after having served as CEO for nine years. Great Eastern said that its total assets grew steadily from S$65.8 billion at the end of 2015 to S$109 billion at the end of last year under his leadership.
