Sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings chief executive officer and director Ho Ching has been listed by multinational business magazine Fortune as among the most powerful women internationally for 2020.
According to Fortune’s profile on Madam Ho, she has “a bigger platform than most executives”, being the wife of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who spearheads the ruling People’s Action Party.
Fortune stated that Madam Ho has been using “her much-watched Facebook account” to back the Singapore government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and to “defend Temasek as it faced criticism for hiring employees who aren’t Singaporean”.
The magazine noted that while Temasek’s portfolio had been growing annually since 2016, the pandemic saw the net value of Temasek’s portfolio shrinking by 2 per cent to around S$214 billion in its latest fiscal year.
Temasek also “threw a lifeline to Singapore Airlines by backing the state carrier’s rights issue worth $6.3 billion” at the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis in Singapore, said Fortune.
It also “courted Singaporeans’ goodwill by giving away hand sanitizer and face masks through its foundation”, the magazine added.
Madam Ho’s ranking on the list fell one place from her 19th place last year.
