Temasek Holdings (TEM.UL), a Singaporean state investor, announced on Monday that it has reduced remuneration for both the top management team and the team that proposed Temasek’s participation in the now-bankrupt FTX bitcoin exchange.
The action was taken around six months after Temasek began an internal investigation of its investment in FTX, which led to a $275 million writedown.
Temasek, a Singaporean company, lowers salaries for employees in charge of FTX investments. Temasek Holdings (TEM.UL), a Singaporean state investor, announced on Monday that it has reduced remuneration for both the top management team and the team that proposed Temasek’s participation in the now-bankrupt FTX bitcoin exchange.
The action was taken around six months after Temasek began an internal investigation of its investment in FTX, which led to a $275 million writedown.
The size of the compensation cut was not specified by Temasek.
Temasek had said that it presently has no direct exposure to cryptocurrencies and that the cost of its investment in FTX was 0.09% of its net portfolio value of S$403 billion ($304 billion) as of March 31, 2022.
Additionally, Temasek said that FTX had undergone “extensive due diligence” and that its audited financial statements had “shown it to be profitable” last year.
After FTX, established by Sam Bankman Fried, sought bankruptcy protection in the United States last year, additional FTX supporters like SoftBank Group Corp’s (9984.T) Vision Fund and Sequoia Capital either reduced or completely eliminated their interest in the company.
“With FTX, as alleged by prosecutors and as admitted by key executives at FTX and its affiliates, there was fraudulent conduct intentionally hidden from investors, including Temasek,” Lim said in a statement on Monday. Nevertheless, the result of our investment and the harm to our brand have left us unsatisfied.
Temasek invests in early-stage businesses in an effort to provide sustainable profits over the long term, according to Lim.
Even though there are risks associated with all investments, Lim continued, “we believe that we must invest in new sectors and emerging technologies in order to understand how these areas may affect the business and financial models of our existing portfolio and whether they would be drivers of future value in an ever-changing world.
“Although there was no misconduct by the investment team in reaching their investment recommendation, the investment team and senior management, who are ultimately responsible for investment decisions made, took collective accountability and had their compensation reduced,” Temasek Chairman Lim Boon Heng said in a statement posted on Temasek’s website on Monday.
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