First published in Business Times on 13 October 2020 Companies with a robust and ethical culture in place are better equipped to deliver superior performance for their stakeholders and gain the market’s confidence. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) last month issued its Guidelines on Individual Accountability and Conduct, which contain measures that financial institutions (FIs) should put in place to “promote the individual accountability of senior managers, strengthen oversight over material risk personnel, and reinforce standards of proper conduct among all employees”. This is very welcome as FIs play a crucial role in safeguarding the integrity of the financial system. Indeed, if trust in FIs is eroded, the entire market suffers and this can have dire consequen

By Mak Yuen Teen This is the fifth, and concluding, part of the series on the Ezra group. If the collapse of the Ezra group was purely about the drop in demand caused by a fall in oil prices and miscalculations by the board and management, we could file it under “business failure”, learn lessons and move on. However, there were lapses that are not so easy to ignore. Here are some that are evident... Source

By Mak Yuen Teen Within the Ezra group, there were a number of puzzling investments and transactions. One was the JV between Ezra and the Chiyoda Corporation of Japan (with NYK joining later). Another was Ezra’s and EMAS Offshore’s relationship with Perisai Petroleum Teknologi Berhad, including the latter’s JV with Perisai. They also raise a number of disclosure issues. Photo by Ray Bilcliff from... Source

By Mak Yuen Teen EMAS Offshore (EOL) started reporting quarterly losses in January 2016 – just 15 months after its secondary listing on SGX. By October 2016, there were more signs that Ezra was in serious trouble. On 30 October 2016, it made its first announcement that it had applied for an extension of time to announce its results for FY2016.[i] On 22 December, it announced that it had been... Source

By Mak Yuen Teen This is not the story about a 60s rock and roll band called “Ezra and the Tri-tanic” but it is my interpretation of the rise and fall of the Ezra group of companies – Ezra Holdings, Triyards Holdings and EMAS Offshore. I call them the Tri-tanic. There are five parts to this series and here is the first part. The Good Old Days Established in 1992 by Lee Kian Soo and his wife... Source

By Mak Yuen Teen In January 2014, Ezra announced that it had appointed J.P. Morgan (SEA) to advise the company on strategic options with the aim of optimising its international profile and the competitive position of its Subsea Services Division, EMAS AMC. Potential options included a listing in the U.S.[1] Six months later, it was announced that the offshore support services business will be... Source