MASTER OF SCIENCE IN WEALTH MANAGEMENT (MWM)
ALUMNI GROUP

Established in 2008 and officially launched in 2015, the Master of Science in Wealth Management (MWM) Alumni Group aims to provide social and networking platforms to encourage graduates from the course to stay in touch with each other and to connect the current MWM students with MWM Alumni.

The Group’s current mission is: Beyond MWM Alumni 500! To engage, empower our MWM Alumni and foster strong lifelong ties between SMU and the financial industry. Adding on, President of the MWM Executive Committee (Exco) Heng Koon How said, “This year, our MWM Alumni just crossed 500 members. The MWM Alumni family is growing and the objective now is reach out and engage these alumni to encourage them to be active not only within SMU but also within the industry to raise awareness of the MWM programme.”

Passing on the baton to Koon How was Immediate Past President Fong Wai Sun. In his last two years of service as an alumni group leader, he has led his committee in 2014 to raise an endowment fund of $220,000 for the Programme’s 10th Year Anniversary. “Increasingly we see a lot of our MWM Alumni coming back not only to contribute their time and resources but also their service to SMU by gathering alumni together and helping one another. Hopefully we can also extend this alumni ecosystem to the financial industry as well.”  

If you are a MWM graduate and wish to be part of the alumni group, do get in touch with any of the Exco members below, or email mwm.alumni.exco@gmail.com. You can also join the SMU MWM Facebook group.

MWM ALUMNI GROUP EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

President - Heng Koon How (MWM, 2010)
Director, Senior Investment Strategist (FX), Credit Suisse

What is he doing now? 
Koon How started his financial career in 1997 as an FX dealing assistant at the former Chase Manhattan Bank. The first day he stepped into Chase's bustling dealing room was when Indonesia declared debt moratorium during the dark days of the Asian Financial Crisis. He subsequently joined Credit Suisse in 2006 and is currently Director, Senior Investment Strategist (FX) responsible for Asian currency forecasts and formulating FX related investment strategies. Koon How is a chartered holder of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association (CAIA). He is also a member of the Economic Society of Singapore (ESS).

What are his aspirations?
Koon How aims to be financially independent by 50 and hopes to manage his own funds from then on! He is a firm believer of constant life-long learning and is always paranoid his financial knowledge will get outdated. He is grateful of the opportunities the SMU MWM course has given him. He tries not to look too closely at credit card bills when travelling because he does not want to be reminded of how wide the elephant FX spreads the credit card firms take on overseas bills.

Immediate Past President - Fong Wai Sun (MWM, 2007)
Executive Vice President, Regional Private Wealth, Maybank

What is he doing now? 
Wai Sun started his career at Maybank Singapore in 1997. In his 17 year career with the bank, he held appointments in various aspects of banking including business banking, service quality, branch operations and branch management. In 1999, he was in the pioneer team that started wealth management business in Maybank Singapore. Prior to his current appointment, Wai Sun was Head of Retail Banking where he managed the consumer banking business of all 22 branches in Singapore. Under his watch, retail and wealth management business grew by more than 200%.  In his current role, Wai Sun is responsible for the long term strategy of Maybank’s private banking business. As part of the regional team, his portfolio include charting the business direction of booking centres in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore, and exploring business opportunities in countries where Maybank has a significant presence. Wai Sun holds a Master of Wealth Management from the Singapore Management University and Bachelor of Accountancy (Hons) from Nanyang Technological University. He is a Chartered Accountant (Singapore). 

What are his aspirations?
Wai Sun is a strong believer of CSR (corporate social responsibility) and volunteers his time to causes of his choice. Despite his busy travelling schedule, he advocates that family is an important component of a successful career and often debunks the notion that having children (he has 3) in Singapore is expensive. He is happy to share his findings with detailed cash flow analysis.

Vice-President - Lee Chaang Ru (MWM, 2013), AVP
Fixed Income Product Manager, DBS Treasures, DBS

What is he doing now? 
Chaang started his financial career in 2008 selling credit cards and mortgages in Standard Chartered Bank. He joined DBS in 2014 and is currently AVP, Fixed Income Product Manager responsible for dealing & advisory issues covering DBS Treasures.

What are his aspirations?
As a self-sponsored candidate for the MWM program, Chaang feels strongly about getting the right job fits for MWM students. Chaang is also an experienced cheerleading coach who aspires to set up a cheerleading scholarship in Singapore. He is the founder and advisor for Wildcards Cheerleading Team based in Ulu Pandan Community Centre under the wing of People’s Association Youth Movement (PAYM) since 2008.

Alumni Engagement Officer - Shawn Goh (MWM, 2014)
Premier Wealth Relationship Manager, Maybank Singapore

What is he doing now? 
Shawn started off teaching economics in ACJC but set out into the business world so he could see if theories really worked in reality. He is currently a Premier Wealth relationship manager in Maybank Singapore.

What are his aspirations?
After completing the MWM program, Shawn is inspired and hopes to, one day, pay it forward. He hopes to get back to teaching further down the road and provide the young with a realistic expectation of the financial world. Shawn was also a member of the Amateur Muaythai Association of Singapore (till 2012) and hopes to run his own gym in future.

Mentoring Officer - Tariq Ali (MWM, 2013)
Group Investment Strategist, Wealth Management, Standard Chartered Bank

What is he doing now? 
Tariq came to Singapore in 2012 for the MWM program and joined Standard Chartered bank soon after as a group investment strategist for the wealth management unit. He is a member of the global investment council, which develops the investment outlook for the bank’s retail and private clients. He also helps advisors and product specialists provide solutions for clients.

What are his aspirations?
That’s simple. Become a leader in the industry. Full stop. On a more serious note, Tariq benefited tremendously from taking the MWM program and believes a positive attitude and a strong work ethic is as important as knowledge and opportunity. Using his own experience with the program, he aims to help MWM students acquire the right toolbox to succeed in the increasingly competitive wealth management industry. Tariq is famously (or infamously) known for telling students ‘like it is’. Not that he is pessimistic by nature, but that he feels that in the current environment, nothing less than a strong drive and perseverance are needed to succeed in the industry.

Treasurer - Joseph TY Chan (MWM, 2015)
Private Banker, Standard Chartered Bank

What is he doing now? 
Joseph has over 14 years of experience in Client Relationship and Wealth Management. He started his career as a call centre staff and then moving on to take up positions as a service relationship manager, acquisition relationship manager and relationship manager handling clients from China, Thailand, Philippines and Sri Lanka. He is currently working as a Private Banker in Standard Chartered Private Bank, Singapore.

What are his aspirations?

For his clients
To provide the best wealth management solutions to all his clients.  

For his family and friends
To do well in his role as a banker and to share his knowledge to all who want to know about investments.

For SMU
Joseph is grateful for the opportunity given by SMU MWM programme. He wants to continue to be part of the alumni and to contribute back to the school and the society.

For himself

• To retire comfortably soon

• To make time for his own investments and wealth planning

• To travel round the world

Secretary - Ang Peizhen (MWM, 2016)
Client Relations and Corporate Governance, GIC

What is she doing now?
Peizhen started her career in the Training and Development team in GIC, and started to gain interest in the financial industry. In a bid to understand how the financial theories square with the financial markets in reality, she went on to join the Client Relations and Corporate Governance team. Peizhen is a chartered holder of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association (CAIA), and has completed the Certificate of Quantitative Finance (CQF).

What are her aspirations?
In such a time of great political and economic turmoil, Peizhen hopes for more like-minded investors (and power bearers) to look beyond the immediate quick gains and invest for the longer term future. On a personal note, Peizhen highly values continuous and diverse learning (and re-learning), and is always looking forward for the next learning opportunity, formal or not.

"There is always something to be learnt. There is always a new way to look at things you have always known, and gain a new perspective in the process."