Allan Ng

Allan Ng Poh Meng ("Allan Ng") was born in Singapore in 1941. He was the Deputy Chairman of United Overseas Bank ("UOB"), one of the three leading banks in Singapore, for five years after having served UOB for 18 years with total dedication and integrity. He resigned as UOB's Deputy chairman in December 1985 to pursue other business interests.

In 1985, Allan Ng served as the Chairman of the Singapore Association of Banks, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, and a member of the Crime Prevention Council in Singapore.

Also in 1985, he was appointed a member of the Singapore Government Economic Committee, headed by the then Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr. Lee Hsien Loong, and was also Chairman of the Banking and Finance Sub-Committee.

In 1986, Allan Ng teamed up with Tan Sri Khoo Teck Puat, a former banker and hotelier, to acquire a 29.9% interest in EXCO International, a UK financial services group, and a 13.5% interest in Standard Chartered Bank Plc ("StanChart"). He was appointed a director and Chairman of the Executive Committee of EXCO International and an alternate director of StanChart. This StanChart stake was subsequently sold to Singapore's Temasek Holdings in 2004 following Tan Sri Khoo's death.

Also in 1986, he was Chairman of First City Holdings Group Limited ("First City"), a 50/50 joint venture between Allan Ng and Tan Sri Khoo, which acquired a 23% interest in Sealion Hotels Limited ("Sealion"), owner of the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Singapore. First City's wholly owned subsidiary, First City Investment Pte Ltd ("FCI"), accepted an offer to acquire an additional 1 million shares in Sealion at 60 cents per share from Tsang & Ong Stockbrokers when the shares of Sealion were still suspended. This additional purchase of 1 million shares by FCI was publicly announced and disclosed to the Stock Exchange of Singapore.

In 1988, Allan Ng was charged with insider trading for causing FCI on 8 October 1986 to purchase 1 million shares in Sealion, (later renamed as First Capital Corporation Limited) while having prior knowledge that Sealion had requested the to lift the suspension of trading of its shares. Allan Ng pleaded guilty following a trial in 1989 that lasted 77 days and many days of cross-examination by Glenn Knight, the Deputy Public Prosecutor, making it the longest trial in Singapore at that time. In May 1989, Singapore abolished the right to appeal to the UK Privy Council except for criminal cases involving the death penalty or in civil cases where the parties had agreed to such a right of appeal.

On 16 September 1989, he was convicted and sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment by the district court judge for violating the Securities Industry Act. The imprisonment term was suspended pending appeal.

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