Afterlife of finance bros: Leaving banking for their rock band

SINGAPORE – In April 2023, Mr Jason Lee, 49, left his high-flying job at DBS to focus on his rock band – a choice so momentous that it runs through his mind daily.

The father of three children aged 21, 18 and 16 says: “I still wake up every morning thinking, what the bleep have I done? It was either the wisest or the most foolhardy decision of my life. I’m still discerning which.”

He is the songwriter, lead vocalist and guitarist of There Be Wolves, a band he co-founded in 2017. Their presence waned as his two co-founders left and the Covid-19 pandemic took its toll with Singapore’s nightlife shutdown.

But in March, There Be Wolves – which count Led Zeppelin, Soundgarden and The Beatles as influences – played five shows in Japan. They are working on an album after releasing an EP, Time Is A Thief, in 2023, and will be holding a concert on Nov 9 at music studio Nineteen Eighty Studios in Joo Chiat. Tickets are available at

therebewolves.com

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Mr Lee used to play gigs at bars like Crazy Elephant in Clarke Quay in his free time during his career in finance. He had started out at the Monetary Authority of Singapore as a fresh economics-trained graduate from Australia’s University of Queensland. Before he left the sector 1½ years ago to focus on his music, he was the managing director of corporate treasury at DBS.

Mr Jonathan Kang, 44, who plays bass and sings in There Be Wolves, is a fellow banking alumnus who followed in Mr Lee’s footsteps, quitting his job as a senior vice-president in marketing at UOB at the end of June 2024.

Before his nine-year stint in the banking sector, he was in advertising for several years. In his 20s, around the time when he was studying media and journalism at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia, he worked as a musician for a while. 

The other band members are guitarist George Lenox, 43, who works as a graphic designer; and drummer Kalaiselvan Algasamy, 44, a drum instructor by day.

Mr Lee and Mr Kang say they left a career in banking for more freedom to pursue their passion in music and to develop new income streams.

“I constantly tell my children that I’m not going to be around forever. At some point, I realised that my own regrets on my deathbed would not be about not getting that promotion. I would regret that the songs I had written would die on paper,” says Mr Lee, who is married to a housewife.

He has been writing music since he was 13 and has penned around 80 songs since leaving banking.

Unlike some others who quit the world of high finance because of burnout, Mr Lee insists his move had less to do with push factors, and more to do with the pull of music.

He says he is financially comfortable after working in the financial sector since his 20s. “With the benefit of having some financial security over the years, I can afford to fail a little bit.”

As for Mr Kang, who is married without kids, he appreciates that the group will not be singing for their supper as playing with the band is not their main rice bowl.

He says: “Not doing it for a living is liberating. You’re not beholden to the market, your employer or a venue or concert promoter.”

For livelihood reasons, Mr Lee, Mr Kang and Mr Lenox have founded another business together. In July, they launched The Pack, a marketing consultancy in sectors like financial services, technology, engineering and sustainability. Mr Lee’s new, post-banking portfolio career also includes being an adjunct lecturer in finance at a local polytechnic.

Mr Lee says turning his back on banking is not the result of yet another finance bro mid-life crisis.

He says: “Music is something I’ve done all my life, and I’ve always wanted to pursue it more wholeheartedly. So it certainly wasn’t triggered by an impulse to make a change or anything like that. In any case, there’s also The Pack, so it’s not as though we don’t still ‘work’ in the more traditional sense.”

He adds: “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do rather than a sudden urge, as mid-life crisis transitions tend to be. When I wake up, the fear is there, but it’s not a fear that paralyses me, it motivates me.”