Validus Appoints Chong Khai Siang as Group CFO

Singapore, Singapore Jul 8, 2024 (EMWNews.com) – Validus, Southeast Asia’s leading one-stop SME financing platform, today announced the appointment of Chong Khai Siang as Group Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Validus, effective immediately, reporting to Group CEO Nikhilesh Goel. Khai Siang will oversee the finance and corporate development function and lead its business strategy across South East Asia.

Khai Siang is a financial services veteran with over two decades of leadership and expertise in business strategy, finance, treasury, and capital markets, specialising in SME, retail, and global financial markets across Asia. Prior to joining Validus, he held senior leadership roles at Fullerton Financial Holdings and Standard Chartered. During his tenure at Fullerton, he enhanced overall enterprise value and strengthened governance frameworks between boards and management teams.

Nikhilesh Goel, Co-founder and Group CEO of Validus, commented, “With Khai Siang at the helm as the Group CFO for Validus, we are strategically positioned to accelerate our financial strategies and drive growth across all markets through innovative methods. I am delighted to welcome Khai Siang to Validus. As we continue to address the US$270 billion financing gap faced by SMEs in the region, his expertise will be pivotal in identifying opportunities and implementing robust financial solutions across Southeast Asia.”

Validus recently crossed a significant milestone of S$5 billion in SME loan disbursals across Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand. The company is backed by strategic investors and VCs, including Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India, Vertex Growth, FMO, 01Fintech, NongHyup Financial Group, Norinchukin Bank, Aizawa Asset Management, Lotte F&L, AddVentures by SCG, VinaCapital Ventures, SEA Frontier Fund, K3 Ventures, and Openspace Ventures. 

Appendix – Biography

Chong Khai Siang is a financial services veteran with over two decades of experience spanning business strategy, finance, treasury and capital markets, corporate governance and operations with coverage across retail, SME, corporate and global financial markets, in both investment and banking industries.

Prior to joining Validus, Khai Siang was a senior leader at Fullerton Financial Holdings (FFH), an investor in financial services focusing on SMEs and the mass market. During his tenure with FFH, he served on the management team, overseeing treasury & capital markets, corporate communications, and a wholly-owned subsidiary in China. As a key member of the assets & liabilities committee for various FFH investment portfolios, he significantly enhanced enterprise value and bolstered governance frameworks between boards and management teams.

At Standard Chartered Bank (SCB), Khai Siang previously held the position of Head of Liability Management, ALM in the Financial Markets front office, where he managed the balance sheet and regulatory requirements. His tenure in SCB covered both front and middle offices including ALM investment management, business finance and country finance in Singapore, and spent 3 years as the ALM chief dealer in Shanghai, China. Khai Siang began his career at Deutsche Bank in global custody.

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About Validus Group 

Founded in 2015 to address the unmet financing needs of SMEs, Validus is Southeast Asia’s leading SME growth financing platform, which provides lending solutions, aimed to become ASEAN’s first SME-focused, full-suite financial services provider. Validus is headquartered in Singapore and is growing rapidly across its four markets – Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. An award-winning FinTech, Validus uses data analytics and AI to drive growth financing to the underserved SME sector via funds from individual and institutional investors. Validus holds a Capital Markets Services License by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and is also licensed by Otoritas Jasa Keuangan (OJK) in Indonesia and debenture crowdfunding licence by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand (SEC) in Thailand. For more information, please visit www.validus.sg.