Singapore Temasek cuts compensation for staff who made FTX investment

Singaporean state investor Temasek Holdings said Monday it has cut pay for the team that recommended its investment in the now-defunct FTX cryptocurrency exchange and its senior management team.

The move comes about six months after Temasek launched a scheme internal review Its investment in FTX resulted in a writedown of $275 million.

“While there was no wrongdoing by the investment team in reaching the investment recommendations, the investment team and senior management ultimately responsible for the investment decisions were collectively held accountable and their remuneration was reduced,” Temasek chairman Lim Boon Heng said in a statement. The statement was posted on Temasek’s website on Monday.

Temasek did not elaborate on the amount of the pay cut.

Temasek has said that its investment in FTX costs 0.09% of its S$403 billion ($304 billion) net portfolio value as of March 31, 2022, and it currently has no direct exposure to cryptocurrencies.

Temasek also said last year that it conducted “extensive due diligence” on FTX and that its audited financial statements subsequently “show that it is profitable.”

Other supporters of FTX such as Softbank’s The Vision Fund and Sequoia Capital have also lower down After FTX, founded by Sam Bankman Fried, filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States last year, their investment was zero.

“With respect to FTX, as prosecutors allege, and as key executives at FTX and its affiliates have acknowledged, there was fraud deliberately concealed from investors, including Temasek,” Lim said in a statement on Monday. express. “Nevertheless, we are disappointed by the results of our investment and the negative impact on our reputation.”

Lim said Temasek seeks to deliver sustainable long-term returns by investing in early-stage companies.

“While there is inherent risk in every investment we make, we believe we must invest in new areas and emerging technologies to understand how these areas affect the business and financial models of our existing portfolio, and whether they will be a driver of future value” A changing world,” Lim added.