Former PSA chairman and veteran banker Fock Siew Wah dies at 84

Former PSA International chairman Fock Siew Wah, who steered the port operator for over 13 years and grew its global footprint, died on Jan 6. He was 84.

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The veteran banker played a key role leading several public and private sector boards, notably in transport.

He started his career as a junior clerk at OCBC Bank at the age of 19. After a stint as DBS Bank's head of commercial banking, he led the regional investment banking operations of US banking giant JPMorgan before becoming president and chief executive of Overseas Union Bank in 1988.

He was appointed special adviser to the finance minister, who was then Dr Richard Hu, from 1991 to 1995.

Mr Fock was on the board of DBS Group Holdings from 1999 to 2005, and continued as a special adviser on the bank's expansion plans and operations in China till 2007.

He was a pioneer in the transportation sector, becoming SMRT's first chairman in 1987 before helming the board of the then newly formed Land Transport Authority (LTA) from 1995 to 2002.