SG’s Temasek cuts staff compensation

SINGAPORE: Singapore state investment fund Temasek said on Monday it had slashed compensation for the team and senior management responsible for its investment in collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

FTX and its sister trading house Alameda Research went bankrupt in November, dissolving a virtual trading business that at one point had been valued at $32 billion.

Prosecutors allege that then-chief Sam Bankman-Fried cheated investors and misused funds that belonged to FTX and Alameda Research customers.

Bankman-Fried is due to go on trial in New York in October.

Temasek wrote down $275 million of investments in FTX and launched an internal review.

“Although there was no misconduct by the investment team in reaching their investment recommendation, the investment team and senior management, who are ultimately responsible for investment decisions made, took collective accountability and had their compensation reduced,” Temasek Chairman Lim Boon Heng said in a statement posted on the firm’s website.

He did not give any details.

Temasek said it invested in new sectors and emerging technologies to better understand how they could affect its existing portfolios and drive future growth.

“With FTX, as alleged by prosecutors and as admitted by key executives at FTX and its affiliates, there was fraudulent conduct intentionally hidden from investors, including Temasek,” the statement said.

“Nevertheless, we are disappointed with the outcome of our investment, and the negative impact on our reputation.”

Temasek said it had invested $210 million in FTX International and $65 million in FTX (United States), across two funding rounds from October 2021 to January 2022.

The cost of the investment was 0.09 percent of its net portfolio valued at SG$403 billion ($297 billion) as of March 31, 2022, the end of its financial year, the fund said.