SVP – Product and Markets — Wealth Division

The mandate

A multinational-owned wealth division has accumulated products by market, channel and historical sponsor. Customer propositions overlap, adoption is uneven and profitability measures omit advisory effort, control activity and lifecycle service. The board has created one seat to join commercial and conduct choices.

The SVP – Product and Markets will influence approximately S$51,000 million in loans and deposits and lead around 625 employees and material partners. Responsibility includes product strategy, market propositions, pricing, lifecycle governance, distribution enablement, product operations, partnerships and remediation delivery. The Group Chief Executive or nominated executive committee sponsor holds the reporting line.

The portfolio will be rebuilt from customer needs and complete economics. For each proposition, revenue, balances, funding, risk, advice, service, technology, complaints and capital should be visible across acquisition, holding and exit. Product volume without persistent customer value will not justify continued complexity. The SVP must distinguish a genuinely strategic capability from a legacy offering protected by internal ownership.

Supervisory findings require demonstrable governance. Target markets, value assessment, suitability rules, disclosures, distributor training and periodic reviews need named accountable owners. Evidence should show how decisions were made, how exceptions were handled and what changed when customer outcomes weakened. Remediation documents cannot diverge from the routines used by advisers and operations.

Portfolio choices will include invest, combine, reprice, restrict and retire. Product closure requires client segmentation, fair alternatives, consent, tax awareness and service capacity. The executive will ensure vulnerable or complex customers are not forced through generic communications. Benefits will include removed systems, controls and support work, not merely a shorter catalogue.

Adoption will be measured beyond launch. Adviser confidence, eligible demand, conversion, funding flows, digital completion, complaints and persistency should reveal whether the proposition works. Incentives must not encourage unsuitable migration or sales that reverse shortly afterwards. Markets will be compared on consistent measures while retaining evidenced regulatory or customer difference.

Third-party products and platforms need full accountability. Due diligence, performance, data, fee transparency, resilience and termination must be integrated into product governance. The SVP will decide where partnership adds differentiated expertise and where it weakens control or captures too much of the customer economics.

Pricing will connect willingness to pay with service and risk. Discounts should carry a client or portfolio rationale, approval route and expiry. Lending attached to wealth relationships must include collateral, concentration, funding and downside rather than rely on aggregate relationship value. Finance and risk will challenge independently.

Product teams will be organised around lifecycle accountability. Leaders need authority across design, distribution, service and retirement, with clear interfaces to country and channel executives. Succession should develop executives who can balance growth and conduct rather than excel in only one stage of product creation.

Why this seat is open

This urgent new position replaces distributed product ownership while supervisory commitments are active. Interim forums protect current decisions, but no committee can substitute for one permanent accountable executive. A six-to-eight-week selection window is planned from qualified shortlist through accepted offer.

What you will own

• Recut the wealth portfolio using complete lifecycle and customer economics.
• Influence product and market choices across S$51,000 million of loans and deposits.
• Close supervisory findings in suitability, review, value and distribution governance.
• Decide where to invest, combine, reprice, restrict or retire propositions.
• Govern partner products, platforms, data, resilience and exit rights.
• Lead approximately 625 employees and partners with lifecycle accountability.
• Align adviser adoption and incentives with fair, persistent customer outcomes.
• Present capital sponsors with explicit portfolio trade-offs and downside actions.

The first 12 months

In the first 90 days, reconcile the catalogue, economics and remediation obligations. Meet the 30 stakeholders most consequential to portfolio choices, including customers, advisers, supervisors, risk, operations, technology and country leaders. Review priority propositions, assess leadership and agree closure evidence with the board.

Months four to nine should make the principal investment and retirement decisions. Rework target markets, test customer communications, strengthen partner terms and remove conflicting reporting. Early value should appear through improved adoption, reduced complaints, released cost, better persistency or a product stopped before further harm.

By year end, portfolio focus, adoption and lifecycle profitability should improve consistently. The value case must stay within 10% of approval and forecasts should reconcile customer, balance, cash and workforce assumptions for three quarters. Priority findings require independent sustainability testing; serious escalation cannot age beyond 30 days.

What the board will measure

• Customer and risk-adjusted contribution through the complete product lifecycle.
• Suitability, target-market and value evidence accepted by independent assurance.
• Adoption, persistency, complaints and service effort for priority propositions.
• Cost and control capacity removed when products are retired.
• Retention of at least 90% of critical talent and ready-now successors for 70% of direct reports.
• Partner performance and exit readiness across material propositions.

The person

You are an SVP Product, Product Line General Manager or Commercial Product Head with 22–28 years in banking or adjacent regulated financial services. You have simplified a material wealth portfolio during supervisory scrutiny and preserved sound customer relationships through difficult product changes.

Your accountable P&L, book, budget or portfolio has been at least S$29,600 million, and you have led 450 or more people. You can evidence outcomes sustained across two reporting periods after the first intervention.

You understand advice, investments, deposits and wealth-linked lending. You can identify where apparent profitability depends on hidden service or conduct cost and make decisions that withstand challenge from successful distributors.

Compensation and terms

Base compensation is S$360,000–480,000 plus annual incentive. The permanent Singapore role is onsite, supports international relocation and can accommodate notice of up to six months.

Confidentiality

The bank, supervisory findings and product portfolio remain confidential until both parties elect to proceed. Composite details cannot be used to identify the client.