17 March 2009
The Straits Times
DBS Group Holdings chairman Koh Boon Hwee plans to donate $2 million he is set to receive in additional pay to causes that support the ‘importance of learning and education’.
This ‘special remuneration’ from DBS is in recognition of Mr Koh’s services when he assumed an ‘active management oversight’ role from Jan 1 to April 30 last year. This was prior to Mr Richard Stanley’s appointment as DBS chief executive on May 1, last year.
Usually, as non-executive chairman of the board, Mr Koh does not have a direct management role. He received an additional sum of between $250,000 and $500,000 for that role last year.
The payout, part in cash and part in shares, is subject to shareholder approval at the annual general meeting on April 8, according to DBS’ latest annual report.
This is not the first time that Mr Koh, 58, married with four children, is giving out money to educational causes.
Last year, he donated $1 million to Nanyang Technological University and to St Andrew’s schools, his alma mater.
That $1 million was also special remuneration for an active management oversight role after former chief executive Jackson Tai resigned in September of 2007.
It is not yet known who the beneficiaries of Mr Koh’s latest donation will be, should the special payout be approved.
DBS’ annual report also showed that the bank’s 15-member senior management team, excluding directors, saw total compensation drop 20 per cent to $25 million last year compared with the previous year.
The sharp fall in compensation coincided with the bank’s full-year net profit plummeting 17 per cent to $2.1 billion.
Mr Stanley – who is out of action for the time being after falling ill with leukaemia – earned between $4.75 million and $5 million last year. That was for the period from May 1 to Dec 31.
The annual report also showed that Mr Frank Wong, the group’s former chief operating officer, received a package of between $4.25 million and $4.5 million, 78 per cent of which was in cash. That was for the period Jan 1 to Aug 31.
As a comparison, Mr Tai and Mr Wong earned between $7 million and $7.25 million each in 2007.
United Overseas Bank and OCBC Bank have yet to release their annual reports.