Why Temasek’s CFO is moving into a new power role

Good morning, CFO Daily readers! Angelica Ang here, reporting from Singapore and standing in for Sheryl today.
Temasek—Singapore’s state-owned investment company—is reshaping its leadership team as it undertakes its largest restructuring in decades. CFO Png Chin Yee, a mainstay on the Fortune Most Powerful Women list, is moving into a newly created role at the center of the overhaul. Her move reflects a wider trend in which finance chiefs’ expertise is playing a larger role in organizational strategy.

Png will step down as CFO in October to become president of Temasek Singapore, the unit responsible for some of the country’s most prominent portfolio companies, including DBS, Singapore Airlines, Singtel, and Seatrium. Wendy Koh, currently group CFO at Temasek-owned real estate group Mapletree, will succeed Png and will be named CFO-designate on Aug. 1 before fully assuming the role on Oct. 1.
This year, Png was ranked No. 77 on the Fortune Most Powerful Women list, marking her third consecutive year on the ranking. The transition at Temasek will place two veteran women finance executives in influential leadership positions at a global investment organization overseeing hundreds of billions of dollars in assets. Women accounted for 21% of global incoming CFO appointments in 2025, according to Russell Reynolds Associates’ Global CFO Turnover Index, compared with 26% in 2024 and 14% in 2019.

The appointments come as Temasek undertakes a sweeping reorganization designed to navigate a more fragmented global investment environment and position the firm for its next phase of growth. In April, Temasek reorganized into three entities managing different portfolios: global direct investments; Singapore-based Temasek portfolio companies (TPCs); and partnerships, funds, and asset management companies (PFAs).

“The rules-based order that we’ve been used to, that we’ve been able to rely upon as an investment firm … is changing,” Temasek CEO Dilhan Pillay said during a 2025 press conference. “The United States has got a very clear objective of ‘America first,’ and other countries are now trying to figure out how to operate within that framework.”

Png’s new role sits within this strategic reset. As president of Temasek Singapore, she will oversee investments in large homegrown companies which employ more than 160,000 people in Singapore and generate about 200 billion Singapore dollars in revenue.

Png joined Temasek in 2011 after a career at UBS and has held some of the firm’s most demanding roles, including head of financial services and senior managing director for China investments. She became CFO in January 2023, succeeding longtime finance chief Leong Wai Leng.

In 2025, Temasek reported a net portfolio value of 434 billion Singapore dollars ($342 billion). As of last March, Singapore-based companies made up 41% of its holdings, with global direct investments and PFAs contributing 36% and 23%, respectively. The firm aims to rebalance its portfolio so that about 40% is in global direct investments, 40% in Singapore-based portfolio companies, and 20% in funds and asset managers.

Png has emphasized that divestments should be as deliberate as investments. “You want to make sure that the employees, customers, and even the minority shareholders are taken care of,” she said in a 2024 interview. “When we invest, we try to do it responsibly. And when we divest, we ensure we do that responsibly as well.”

She helped found the Temasek Women’s Network and has urged leaders to be intentional about elevating women’s voices. “Whether you’re in a leadership position or just starting out, we all have a duty to act,” she wrote in a recent LinkedIn post.

Angelica Ang
[email protected]

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com