SINGAPORE - Public service veteran Koh Juat Jong will take over as chairman of the Financial Industry Disputes Resolution Centre (Fidrec) from April 8 from retired Supreme Court judge Goh Joon Seng.
Mrs Koh, who was Solicitor-General in the Attorney-General's Chambers from 2008 until her retirement in 2014, has been a director on Fidrec's board since Jan 2.
Mr Goh has been Fidrec chairman since the launch in 2005 of the one-stop centre for resolving disputes between financial institutions and consumers.
During the global financial crisis of 2008, Firec handled over 2,000 credit-linked notes cases which arose from the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the ensuing crisis. Over the years, its jurisdiction has increased progressively.
Incoming chairman, Mrs Koh, has been in public service for over 30 years. In the early part of her career, she was involved in public policy work in the Ministry of Finance in the area of taxation and personnel policies. Subsequently, she took up a legal career and spent many years as a judge, presiding over civil and family cases in the Subordinate Courts. She also headed the Family Court for a number of years. She was Registrar of the Supreme Court from 2003 to 2008 and then Solicitor-General.
Said Mr Goh: "I have full confidence in Juat Jong's ability to lead Fidrec and to ensure that the organisation's mission to provide an affordable alternative dispute resolution scheme which is independent and impartial, is upheld. Fidrec will certainly benefit from her many years of experience as a judge and mediator."
