Singapore Budget 2026 Tax Conference

Mr Dinesh Vasu Dash is a strong believer in serving the nation, our communities and our people.

Coming from a modest family background, Mr Dinesh is an advocate and supporter for the vulnerable in society, particularly our seniors. He volunteered for over eight years in a charity that operated Nursing Homes and Senior Care Centres.

Prior to joining politics, Mr Dinesh was the CEO of the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC), an agency that focusses on supporting seniors and nurturing the Community Care Sector. There, he operationalised government policies to enhance the health and wellbeing of Singaporeans, particularly our seniors. He expanded the scope and scale of senior care facilities and launched multiple media campaigns to combat ageism in Singapore. He was instrumental in the successful rollout of Healthier SG, a preventive health programme, where over 1.2 million enrolled Singaporeans benefit from today.

Before AIC, Mr Dinesh played a pivotal role as the overall head of operations in MOH during the COVID-19 pandemic. There, he mobilised the public and private sectors to deal with the crisis. He was the chief architect of the National COVID-19 Vaccination campaign, resulting in one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, which in turn resulted in a very low death rate due to the virus.

Mr Dinesh is also a passionate volunteer who firmly believes in giving back. He served in multiple organisations that benefited Singapore and Singaporeans including as a grassroots volunteer, Party activist, School Advisory Committee member for over fifteen years, and as a member of the Advisory Council on Community Relations in Defence (ACCORD). He was an EXCO member of SINDA and a Board member of the Hindu Advisory Board.

Chenhua Shen is a Fund Partner of I Squared Capital, where she leads the investment and asset management in Asia.

She joined ISQ Hong Kong in 2014, and has been working closely with portfolio companies in platform rollout, operation, financing, financial reporting, human resource and communication with regulators. She set up Asia Cube Energy, one of the largest renewable energy developers in Asia, invested in Asia Cube Water, a dedicated China wastewater treatment platform, and HGC Global Communications, a leading Hong Kong and international fixed line operator. She set up ISQ Taipei office in 2021 and re-launched renewable energy strategy in Taiwan in the name of HEXA Renewables in Fund II and further extends it to a $1.5 billion pan-Asia renewable platform in 6 countries in Fund III. She also led the first social infrastructure investment in Asa, Formera Senior Care in Growth Market Fund. She focuses primarily in renewable, utilities and social infrastructure sectors in Asia.

Chenhua was previously an associate on the investment team at Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners, a $4 billion infrastructure investment fund. The portfolio included investments in several countries and diverse sectors including investments in several countries and diverse sectors including power generation, co-generation, gas distribution, transmission and distribution companies, airports, toll roads and container ports. Chenhua covered the renewables, gas transmission pipeline, waste to energy, water/wastewater treatment and storage facilities sectors in China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Taiwan and Southeast Asia. She participated in the $150 million Zhaoheng Hydropower deal and closed another $150 million investment in the company with a consortium of investors.

Chenhua holds a Master of Economics from the New York University, a Bachelor of Finance from Peking University, and is a CFA charterholder.

Daphne is a managing director in the Client Solutions Group (CSG) within Goldman Sachs Asset Management, serving as head of CSG for South and Southeast Asia with responsibility for Pan Asia Insurance clients. She also serves as chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs Asset Management Singapore and is a member of the Singapore Leadership Group. Previously, Daphne was head of the Asia Ex-Japan Third Party Wealth Business, where she was responsible for formulating and executing client strategy, developing investment solutions and building out strategic partnerships in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia. Daphne has also held roles on the Southeast Asia Institutional Sales team and the Liquidity Sales team. She joined the firm as an executive director in 2010 and was named managing director in 2017.

Prior to joining the firm, Daphne spent 11 years with Societe Generale Asset Management in Singapore and Australia, holding senior roles in distribution, client relations, marketing, product development and compliance. Prior to that, she was a senior auditor with Arthur Andersen.

Daphne earned a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting and Finance from the University of Western Australia and is a CFA and CPA charterholder.

Kai-Niklas Schneider is a Partner in the Singapore office and a member of the APAC Private Funds Group. He is a US-qualified lawyer with over 20 years of specialist experience in the funds sector and advises clients on the formation of and investment in a wide variety of private equity funds, real estate funds, infrastructure funds and credit funds. He also counsels clients on co-investments, secondaries and spin outs.

Kai is the co-chair of the Executive Committee of the Singapore Funds Industry Group (SFIG), a public-private partnership between the MAS and the funds industry.

Globalised families, especially business-owning families, today have local and international footprints. Ping Ping combines her legal training gained in international commercial transactions and corporate law with extensive experience in dealing with complex families with global connections to guide families through the best options to address risks to wealth and family values, and to manage transitions while taking into account diversification, philanthropy, legacy building and other family goals and aspirations.

With more families in Asia forming single family offices with stewardship responsibilities, Ping Ping has vast experience guiding families on transforming embedded family offices into formal structures and selecting the best locations for the offices. As project leaders working collaboratively and practically with family members and family officers, Ping Ping assists families in the design and facilitation of family assemblies and meetings with content calibrated to supplement the learning journey of family members. In situations where families share decisionmaking across multiple generations and different family branches, Ping Ping advises on family governance structures, tailoring these to create platforms that accommodate different values and goals. Ping Ping is particularly focused on the translation of values expressed in Family Charters into actionable goals so that the wealth and ownership governance structures are aligned and reinforce shared family values.

Ping Ping holds Master of Laws and Bachelor of Laws (Hons) degrees from the National University of Singapore. She is admitted to practice as an Advocate and
Solicitor in Singapore and New Zealand and as a solicitor in England and Wales.

Ping Ping is admitted as a peer-reviewed Senior Member of the Singapore Wealth Management Institute’s Global Asia Family Office Circle, Singapore’s leading network for global families and family offices.

Rapheal Erasmus is Managing Director, Strategy and Capital Formation, at Pentagreen Capital.

Rapheal started her career with Citi in 2002 and has over 20 years’ experience spanning M&A advisory, debt advisory, financing, structuring and distribution across multi asset classes, jurisdictions and products, including infrastructure, energy, structured finance, real estate, in both public and private markets.

Prior to joining Pentagreen, Rapheal was Asia-Pacific Head of Citi’s Sustainability and Corporate Transitions team, responsible for advising corporates and sovereigns on their transition strategies and sustainable finance solutions. Prior to that, Rapheal was Managing Director in Citi’s EMEA Project and Infrastructure Finance team in London where she led various innovative and market-leading financings, with a focus on renewables and energy transition.

Rapheal holds a Bachelor of Arts with Honours from the University of Cambridge in Philosophy.

Tariq Ahmad is the Head of Asia Pacific at Franklin Templeton since 2023. Franklin Templeton is a US headquartered investment management firm, with a global presence in over 150 countries and in 8 markets across Asia Pacific.

In addition to his primary responsibilities leading the business in the APAC region, Tariq serves as Co-Head of Global Official institutions. As Co-Head of Global Official Institutions, he is responsible for strengthening global relationships with central banks and sovereign wealth funds, delivering tailored investment solutions and bespoke thought leadership. As Chair of the ICI APAC Steering Council, Tariq provides strategic guidance and leadership to the steering council in the region.

Tariq is a recognised leader in the asset management industry. His experience spans over 20 years, having worked with clients across the UK, Middle East and Asia Pacific.

Prior to joining Franklin Templeton in 2021, Tariq held senior leadership positions as CEO and Head of Asia at Brandywine Global Investment (Asia), and CEO and Partner with Rogge Global Partners Asia. He also held fixed income roles in London with Western Asset, JP Morgan Asset Management and State Street Global Advisors. Tariq is based in Singapore.

Tariq is a visionary who combines strategy with meticulous execution to drive transformation in the businesses he leads. He is passionate about helping clients achieve better investment outcomes through harnessing the best of investment management expertise, wealth management and technology solutions.

Tariq is an Associate of the Royal College of Science. He holds a MSc in Investment Management from Bayes Business School (formerly Cass Business School) and a BSc (Hon) in Business Studies from Imperial College London.

Mr Persaud is Head of Strategic Partnerships within the Investment function of AIA Group. Prior to this role he was Head of Investment Strategy and Solutions for the AIA Group where he had been responsible for the development of AIA’s Strategic and Tactical Asset Allocation process, their Derivative Program, their extensive Private Assets program and Investment Product Development, Portfolio Construction Oversight and Quantitative-Investments.

Prior to joining AIA, Trevor worked for the Financial Institutions Group of Standard Chartered Bank where he was responsible for their Commercial and Institutional Banking business for Insurers across Asia. Prior to Standard Chartered, Mr Persaud held senior management roles at Russell Investments Prudential, Insight Investment, MSCI and Schroders.

Mr Persaud has been a trusted investment advisor to many of the leading Insurers and Asset Owners in the region with a distinguished career spanning three decades in Banking, Asset Management, Insurance and Consulting globally with the last 18 years being in Asia.

Mr Persaud is a Chartered Management Accountant, has been conferred the Distinguished Fellow designation by the Institute of Banking and Finance in Singapore and is a past Chair of the Global Investment Performance Standards Executive committee. He has also been an advisor to the Investment Management Association of Singapore and past Chair of their Risk and Performance committee and remains actively involved in industry efforts to promote and further innovation, best practice and transparency in Investment management.

Paul is PwC's Asia Pacific and Singapore Asset and Wealth Management Leader and is a member of PwC's Global Asset and Wealth Management leadership team. He is also the Risk and Compliance Solutions Leader in PwC Singapore's Asset and Wealth Managed Services business, which specialises in providing regulatory compliance, internal audit and risk advisory and managed services solutions to asset managers, family offices and funds.

He has over 28 years of experience working with asset managers, asset owners and regulators in Singapore for the last 18 years, New York, London and Sydney. Paul has extensive experience advising leading global, regional and local asset management clients on regulatory compliance, risk management, internal controls and market entry. He is also an audit partner specialised in asset and wealth management.

During the course of his career, Paul has led large cross-border risk and regulatory advisory engagements, served as the lead audit and relationship partner on several of the firm's premier asset and wealth management clients, worked with industry bodies to develop industry guidance on new regulations, and was seconded to work in a global asset manager with regional headquarters based in Singapore.

He is a Chartered Accountant of the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants and Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand.

Christina is a partner at PwC Singapore with more than 19 years of assurance and advisory experience working with a multitude of clients in the Asset and Wealth Management (AWM), and Banking and Capital Markets industries. Christina has been working at PwC Singapore for 14 years, having previously worked with PwC in London and Jersey, Channel Islands. 

Christina has a deep understanding of the operations of funds and fund management companies across the spectrum of asset managers including both traditional and private asset managers. She specialises in private markets and leads the infrastructure assurance client segment, working with large MNCs and boutique asset managers. Christina has an extensive global and regional network, having led large cross-border advisory and assurance engagements. This allows her to provide meaningful insights and quickly leverage on global/regional expertise. 

Christina leads the AWM ESG service offerings in Singapore, working closely with the AWM ESG teams across APAC and globally. Christina is the current Treasurer for the British Chamber of Commerce and is a member of the sustainability committee.

Maan Huey is a Tax Partner with PwC Singapore specialising in asset management and real estate sector. She leads the real estate tax practice in Singapore. She has over 20 years of experience in Singapore and New York with a number of global and local clients in the financial services industry.

She works with global fund managers on funds set-up, structuring and cross border investments with a key focus on investments into Asia Pacific. She also has tax advisory experience on permanent establishment issues for funds and fund managers, use of Singapore-domiciled investment/fund/VCC structures to invest into Asia Pacific as well as restructuring and mergers and acquisition transactions.

Some of the projects she has worked on include:

• Assisting a number of US-headquartered real estate managers with their open-ended and close-ended pan-Asian real estate funds on set-up, structuring and implementation.
• Assisting with the structuring of real estate funds’ investments into Asia Pacific.
• Assisting sovereign wealth/pension funds/institutional clients on fund structural tax due diligence for private equity and real estate funds.
• Assisting a global insurance company to implement an asset management platform for its regional operations leading to significant tax savings.
• Assisting various clients on dispute resolution issues with the Singapore tax authority.
• She has also helped clients to achieve tax optimal outcomes through tax incentives/concessions and rulings applications and worked with a number of government agencies in Singapore in these applications.

She is a member of the tax working committee of the Investment Management Association of Singapore and the co-chair of the tax committee of the Singapore Chapter of the Alternative Investments Management Association.

Toshiya is a Partner at Strategy& with over 20 years of professional experience in strategy consulting and alternative investments. He began his strategy consulting career in the UK, advising financial services clients across the EMEA region—including private banks, asset management companies, and Islamic wealth management firms. Since joining the Tokyo office in 2014, he has focused on advising the asset and wealth management sector in Japan. As a thought leader in the local wealth management sector, Toshiya has made it his life’s work to drive transformation in the industry. He has led strategy formulation and transformation projects for leading wealth management clients in Japan. In addition, Toshiya possesses practical expertise in the alternative investments space.