Every year, when Singapore’s biggest listed companies release their annual reports, most people focus on the dividend announcements and profit numbers. That’s where all the media headlines gravitate to. Yet there is another important figure worth paying attention to: how much the company paid its CEO.
CEO remuneration is a direct signal of how a board values their performance. Pay is often tied to the stock’s performance, so it gives retail investors a useful indicator of the overall performance of senior management. Since 2023, SGX-listed companies have been required to disclose exact CEO remuneration. That makes it a lot easier for ordinary investors to track how much these leaders take home and the breakdown between salary, bonuses, and deferred share awards. Here’s what five of Singapore’s biggest listed companies paid their CEOs in 2025.
#1 Helen Wong, OCBC, $12 million
Helen Wong retired as Group CEO of OCBC at the end of 2025, with new CEO Tan Teck Long taking over from 1 January 2026. Her pay came in at $12 million in 2025, slightly down from the $12.8 million she received in FY2024. That’s because OCBC’s net profit fell to $7.42 billion from $7.59 billion a year earlier. Her remuneration package included a $1.2 million base salary, $6.3 million in cash bonus, about $4.2 million in deferred shares, along with $323,000 in other benefits.
Despite the slight dip in net profit, OCBC still generated a record income of $14.6 billion in FY2025, up 1% year-on-year. Wong’s final year at the helm wrapped up a tenure that saw the bank significantly grow its wealth management business, and her pay partly reflected that strong performance.
#2 Wee Ee Cheong, UOB, $12 million
UOB deputy chairman and CEO Wee Ee Cheong received $12 million in total remuneration for 2025, down from $15 million in 2024, mainly due to a lower bonus. His base salary stayed flat at $1.44 million, but his bonus fell to $10.6 million from $13.6 million a year earlier. This one is a clear case of pay following performance as UOB reported weaker earnings in 2025, with full-year net profit falling 23% to $4.7 billion.
The bank attributed the drop in annual profit to general allowances set aside earlier in the year to strengthen provision coverage amid macroeconomic uncertainty. It’s also worth noting that 60% of Wee’s variable pay will be deferred over the next three years, with 40% paid in cash and the rest in share-linked units.
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#3 Tan Su Shan, DBS, $9.64 million
DBS CEO Tan Su Shan received total compensation of over $9.64 million for the 12 months ended 31 December 2025, according to the bank’s annual report. Her package comprised a salary of just under $1 million, a cash bonus of $3.69 million, a deferred award of $4.92 million, and other benefits of around $70,000.
While this is lower than the other two banks, it’s important to note that this figure covered two roles: Tan served as deputy CEO from January to late March 2025, before taking over fully as CEO on 28 March 2025 following former CEO Piyush Gupta’s retirement after 15 years at the helm. On the performance side, DBS reported a net profit of $10.9 billion for 2025, down about 3% due to higher tax expenses from the implementation of the global minimum tax.
#4 Lim Hock Chee, Sheng Siong, $8.02 million
Sheng Siong CEO Lim Hock Chee received total remuneration of $8.02 million for the financial year ended 31 December 2025, up 13.5% from the $7.06 million he received in 2024. His package comprised a base salary of $375,000, a variable bonus of $7.6 millionand other benefits like director fees.
The pay structure here is striking as it’s quite different from the banks. Lim’s base salary of $375,000 is a fraction of what his banking counterparts earn in fixed pay, but the real money is almost entirely in the variable bonus, which made up 95% of his total remuneration. This is a common feature of founder-led companies, and Sheng Siong is one such firm. Lim owns around 8% of Sheng Siong’s total shares. The company’s performance supported the pay rise, with Sheng Siong growing its revenue by 9.9% to $1.57 billion in FY2025, driven by 12 new store openings.Net profit rose 8.5% to $149.2 million.
#5 Loh Boon Chye, Singapore Exchange (SGX), $7.8 million
Singapore Exchange (SGX) Group CEO Loh Boon Chye was paid $7.8 million for the financial year ended 30 June 2025, up 3.3% from the $7.6 million he received in FY2024. His fixed pay remained largely unchanged year-on-year at $1.2 million but the increase was driven by his cash bonus, which rose 3.6% to $3.3 million, while his long-term incentives, including share-linked performance, rose to $3.3 million.
The performance shares component is tied to pre-determined targets measured over a three-year period. According to SGX’s annual report, the metrics for FY2025 included SGX’s strategic priorities, earnings per share growth, and relative total shareholder return against both selected peer exchanges globally and companies within the Straits Times Index. The pay increase was modest and in line with what was a fairly steady year for the exchange operator. SGX has been working to diversify its revenue beyond equities and Loh’s time at the helm, since 2015, makes him one of the longer-serving CEOs among Singapore’s major listed companies.
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CEO Pay Varies By Structure
A few takeaways stand out looking across all five companies and their CEOS, the clearest of which is that bonus pay moves materially with performance. It shouldn’t come as any surprise that when profits fall, bonuses fall – Wee Ee Cheong’s UOB package dropping $3 million year-on-year is the clearest example of that. Base salaries, on the other hand, tend to be relatively sticky. Most of the CEOs here earned base salaries in the $1.1 million to $1.5 million range, with the heavy lifting done through bonuses and deferred share awards.
That deferred component can make up a significant part of the overall package for company leaders but it’s also interesting to note that a strong founder-led business (like Sheng Siong) differs in how they reward their CEO versus traditional names like the banks. Overall, for investors, this kind of transparency is useful as appropriate pay structures ensure that the right kind of decisions are made in the best long-term interests of shareholders.
