Singapore’s Temasek cuts pay for staff over US$275 million FTX fiasco: ‘we are disappointed’

Temasek said its senior management and investment team were ‘ultimately responsible’ for investing in the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange

The sovereign wealth fund did not detail the amount of compensation that was cut, but said ‘there was no misconduct’ in the investment recommendation

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FTX’s other backers such as Japanese investment company SoftBank Group Corp’s Vision Fund also marked down their investment to zero after FTX filed for bankruptcy protection in the US last year. Photo: Reuters

Published: 8:57am, 29 May 2023

Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings said on Monday it had cut compensation for the team that recommended its investment in the now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange, as well as for its senior management team.

The move comes around six months after Temasek initiated an internal review of its investment in FTX, which resulted in a writedown of US$275 million.

“Although there was no misconduct by the investment team in reaching their investment recommendation, the investment team and senior management, who are ultimately responsible for investment decisions made, took collective accountability and had their compensation reduced,” Temasek Chairman Lim Boon Heng said in a statement posted on Temasek’s website on Monday.

Temasek did not detail the amount of compensation cut.

Temasek said last year it had conducted “extensive due diligence” on FTX. Photo: Shutterstock

Temasek had said its cost of investment in FTX was 0.09 per cent of its net portfolio value of S$403 billion (US$304 billion) as of March 31, 2022, and that it currently had no direct exposure in cryptocurrencies.