MAS Names New Head

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is facing a change of leadership for the first time in 12 years with the announcement that current managing director Ravi Menon, is to retire on 31 December, after more than 29 years with the central bank.

Chia Der Jiun has been named as his replacement, he will step into the role on an interim basis on 1 November and take the reins officially on 1 January 2024. Although currently permanent secretary (development) at Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower, Chia previously spent 18 years at MAS, where he played a leadership role across the central bank’s major functions, including monetary policy implementation, reserve management, banking supervision, prudential policy, and macroeconomic surveillance.

MAS says During his first 10 years at the central bank, Chia played a key role in developing and implementing policies to restructure the local banking groups and to liberalise the banking sector, and was instrumental in the set-up of the Singapore Deposit Insurance Corporation. It adds that during the Global Financial Crisis in 2008, Chia led the conduct of financial stability assessments.

In 2011, he was seconded to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for two years as executive director for Southeast Asia, where he contributed to board discussions and decisions on issues such as capital flow management, IMF financing programmes, and financial stability assessments.

In 2013, on his return to MAS, Chia was appointed assistant managing director (markets and investments), and in 2019 was named deputy managing director (corporate development), as which he strengthened the operational resilience of the national payment systems and led the effort to transform MAS’ technology architecture and corporate functions.

During his time in charge of MAS, Menon led the reform of Singapore’s financial regulatory framework following the GFC, strengthened the enforcement regime against money laundering and market misconduct, and developed MAS’ macroprudential policies to ensure a sustainable property market.

He also played a pivotal role in positioning Singapore as a fintech hub as well as steered the growth of Singapore’s electronic payment ecosystem, initiated a regulatory sandbox to promote experimentation, and oversaw the introduction of digital banking licences.