Chia is currently the Ministry of Manpower’s permanent secretary for development. His upcoming role marks a return for MAS’s former deputy managing director for corporate development. Chia was a 16-year veteran of the MAS before he joined the manpower ministry in 2020.
Singapore’s Public Service Division, which appoints top leaders across the city’s public agencies, didn’t immediately provide a comment.
It’s unclear what will be Menon’s next step. His predecessors including Heng Swee Keat, Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Richard Hu joined politics and served as finance ministers after leaving the central bank.
Menon told Bloomberg News in 2021 he has “absolutely no intention to enter politics”. This came after he weighed in on various hot-button topics in the city-state from wealth taxes to foreign labour.
The central bank chief, who describes himself as “an optimist and an idealist,” began his career at the MAS in 1987. He’s also had stints at the trade and industry ministry as well as the Bank for International Settlements.
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In his 12 years at the helm of MAS, Menon helped steer Singapore’s economy through the post-Global Financial Crisis era. The MAS was among the first to start tightening monetary policy in a post-pandemic world. Menon also pushed Singapore banks to develop financial technology early.
In 2018, Menon was in the running to head the Basel-based Financial Stability Board. The following year, his name was floated to head the Bank of England — another sign of his global stature among central bankers.
When Chia was at the MAS, he helped to improve the risk sensitivity of the authority’s regulatory frameworks. He also oversaw the implementation of monetary policy and investment of MAS’s official foreign reserves. He will rejoin the regulator as Singapore gains in importance as a key financial hub while confronting challenges from a slowing economy and inflation that remains at a 14-year high.
