Top Singapore civil servant to join AIIB

A senior official from Singapore’s Ministry of Finance will join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in September.

Dr Thia Jang Ping, who is director of the ministry’s transformation office, will help set up the China-led financial institution’s economics unit.

"It's an exciting opportunity to work in an international organisation, being the first one to be set up by China with a good objective of developing infrastructure in Asia," he told the Straits Times.

Thia is concurrently director of security and resilience programmes in the ministry, and a director at the Institute of Governance and Policy at the Civil Service College.

Two other Singaporeans have already taken up senior positions at AIIB - Tony Wan is senior advisor on human resources to AIIB President Jin Liqun; and Pang Yee Ean is director-general of investment operations.

Wan is the former HR director at the Asian Development Bank and administration director at the World Bank. Pang was previously chief executive for government-linked building consultancy Surbana International Consultants.

The AIIB expects to have up to 90 member states by early 2017, with 30 countries currently in line to join the institution. This will make it larger in membership than the US and Japan-led Asian Development Bank.

Also read: Interview with Thia Jang Ping, Transformation Director, Ministry of Finance, Singapore