Charting A Future in Wealth Management

While other children were dreaming of becoming doctors or lawyers at a young age, Francis Koh found himself drawn to a career path less travelled – the one of personal finance. He chalks it up to having witnessed Singapore go through hard times in his youth, and being taught by his parents to be prudent with money and save up for a rainy day.

“I was part of the Merdeka Generation, which experienced economic downturns, recessions, and recoveries,” says Professor Koh, referring to the generation of Singaporeans born in the 1950s who had to live through the country’s struggle for independence.

“These life experiences motivated me to learn about financial management, and to become an investment manager, even without knowing what the job would entail in the complex world of wealth management,” he adds.

Professor Koh is currently a full-time faculty member of Singapore Management University’s (SMU) Lee Kong Chian School of Business (LKCSB). He joined SMU in 2002, and is now the Professor of Finance (Practice), Special Adviser to the Office of the President, and the Mapletree Professor in Real Estate.

Prior to his appointment at SMU, he had honed his real-world investment knowledge at the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) from 1994 to 2002. He describes his time at GIC as “an invaluable stint, as (he) had the opportunity to be part of the private equity team at GIC which invested in various regional projects, including China, the Philippines, Thailand, and Indonesia”.

This industry experience came in handy when he was later given the opportunity to become the Founding Director of the MSc in Wealth Management (MWM) Programme, which aims to groom industry-ready wealth management professionals.

“Wealth Management is a people-centric business. It helps one to have good interpersonal and communication skills. A successful career wealth manager is competent, keeps up-to-date with event in the financial markets, and has a friendly demeanour to engage clients,” explains the Professor.

That’s why the course isn’t taught entirely within the classroom, or even within the country. Students of the graduate degree programme study wealth management on a global level, and get the opportunity to visit the University of St Gallen in Switzerland and Yale School of Management in the United States, giving them what he refers to as a “tri-continental education experience”.

In the course of his career, Professor Koh has also accumulated a number of awards and accolades to his name. He has received an honorary doctorate from the University of St Gallen, a Public Administration (Silver) Award from the Singapore Government, as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award for contributions to the industry from the global daily news and analysis service, WealthBriefing.

However, in spite of all these professional achievements, he maintains that his biggest achievement in life is “having a loving wife, three wonderful and successful children, children-in-law, and four active grandchildren”.

When asked if he would ever encourage any of them to follow in his footsteps and take on a career in wealth management, Professor Koh is quick to say no. He says: “I’m the sort of parent who gives my children the flexibility to choose their passion in life… My wife is a doctor, my two daughters are doctors and my son is a dentist. None of them followed me. I want them to be happy, and to be happy you must enjoy what you do. That’s the way it is for me (and my career).”