Temasek cuts pay of staff behind FTX decision

BANGALORE/SINGAPORE: Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings said yesterday it had cut compensation for the team that recommended its investment in the now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange, as well as for its senior management team.

The move comes around six months after Temasek initiated an internal review of its investment in FTX, which resulted in a writedown of $275 million.

“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 Temasek’s website yesterday.

Temasek did not detail the amount of compensation cut.

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

Temasek also said last year it had conducted “extensive due diligence” on FTX, with its audited financial statement then “showed it to be profitable”.

FTX’s other backers such as SoftBank Group Corp’s Vision Fund and Sequoia Capital had also marked down their investment to zero after FTX, founded by Sam Bankman Fried, filed for bankruptcy protection in the US last year.

“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,” Lim said in the statement yesterday. “Nevertheless, we are disappointed with the outcome of our investment, and the negative impact on our reputation.”

Temasek seeks to deliver sustainable returns over the long term by investing into early-stage companies, Lim said.

“While there are inherent risks whenever we invest, we believe that we have to invest in new sectors and emerging technologies to understand how these areas may impact the business and financial models of our existing portfolio, and whether they would be drivers of future value in an ever changing world,” Lim added.