Bank of Singapore appoints Richard Jerram as its Chief Economist

Jerram will be tasked to furnish macro-economic research reports with an emphasis on Asia and the Emerging Markets.

Bank of Singapore on Thursday announced the appointment of Mr Richard Jerram, an industry veteran, as its Chief Economist. In his new position, Richard will be responsible for formulating the macro-economic views of Bank of Singapore and play an integral role in shaping the overall investment strategy for the Bank. He will report directly to the Head of Product Management Group, Mr Marc Van de Walle.

According to a Bank of Singapore report, Richard will be responsible for generating various macro-economic research reports with an emphasis on Asia and the Emerging Markets. He will work closely with its Chief Investment Officer, Mr Hou Wey Fook in setting the Bank’s overall investment directions and its asset allocation guidelines.

Richard has more than 20 years of experience in various similar positions.

In his last-held position, he was the Head of Asian Economics for Macquarie Capital Securities.

Until 2009 Richard was Macquarie’s Chief Economist for Japan, but had since taken on a wider regional role. In 2004 Macquarie acquired ING’s Asian equity business where Richard had worked since 1996. He is regularly among the top three ranked economists in the main survey of US and European-based investors.

Richard has a Bachelor in Science from the University College London, a Masters in Science and PhD from the London School of Economics.

He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder.

Commenting on Richard’s appointment, Mr. Renato de Guzman, Chief Executive Officer of Bank of Singapore said, “In line with our commitment to build on our core strength of offering clients specialist investment advice, we are glad to have Richard, who is a well regarded economist, join us. I am also heartened that he has chosen to grow his career with Bank of Singapore, affirming that we have a compelling brand.

We are confident that Richard’s astute economic insights especially of Asia and the Emerging Markets will further entrench our position as a leader in offering in-depth analysis and emerging marketing trends in this region.”

In addition, Bank of Singapore has appointed Ms Koh Siew Kim as an Investment Counsellor. Siew Kim has close to 15 years of private banking experience and will be supporting the Bank’s South-East Asia marketing team by providing investment advisory support. She will work closely with the Bank’s Product Management team and the Relationship Managers to formulate investment ideas that will not only reflect the Bank’s house views, but are also aligned to clients’ investment objectives and risk profiles.

Siew Kim’s last position was previously with HSBC Private Bank (Suisse) SA, Hong Kong where she was a Senior Director of Investment Counselling since 2009.

Prior to that, Siew Kim had been with various divisions of UBS AG since 1996. Her last appointment was Executive Director, Investment Advisory of UBS AG (Hong Kong).

Siew Kim holds a Bachelor of Business in Financial Analysis (Merit) from the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

She is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder.