SINGAPORE - The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has approved veteran fund manager Dr Tan Chong Koay, 65, as chief executive officer and an executive director of Pheim Asset Management (Asia).
Last month, The Straits Times reported that he has applied for a fund management licence and was awaiting approval.
Mr Tan is one of Singapore's pioneering boutique fund managers. He is the founder of Pheim Asset Management (Asia) in Singapore, and founder and chief executive of Pheim Asset Management (Malaysia).
A prohibition order against Dr Tan that barred him from carrying out fund management activity in Singapore and from involvement in running a fund management business here expired on Nov 29 last year.
When contacted, Dr Tan said: "I am thankful that MAS has given me a chance to build our business. I believe Pheim's investment philosophy of not fully investing at all times will add value to the volatile equity investment industry in Asia and inspire others especially the young ones to overcome the challenges of investing."
Funds under his management have consistently won accolades for outperforming the market even during downturns.
With a cumulative return of 497.3 per cent (in US dollar term) over a 20-year period ending Feb 3 this year, his Pheim Asean Fund took top position for all the one-to-20-year periods among all equity Asean funds in the Lipper Global classification.
Pheim Asset Management (Malaysia) manages about RM1 billion (S$329 million) in funds, while the Singapore unit has a fund size of between S$80 million and S$90 million.
The prohibition order had resulted from a contravention of the Securities and Futures Act for window dressing shares of Singapore-listed wastewater firm United Envirotech from Dec 29 to 31 in 2004.
Dr Tan recently launched his book, Rising Above Financial Storms, here and in Malaysia, in which he shares his investment philosophy and gave tips on how to be a successful investor.
