Foreign Exchange

"Foreign exchange is the lubricant that oils the drive towards globalisation in the world today, not less in GIC, where we have cast our nets far and wide in our search for superior investment results. Together with responsibilities for corporate treasury functions as well as interest rates and commodities, the FXD has embraced the challenge of working in a multi-faceted world to bring about sustainable returns in these asset classes."
- Ms Adelene Tan, Acting Director, Foreign Exchange

The Foreign Exchange Department (FXD) manages GIC's global currency, cash and commodities exposure and performs important corporate treasury functions which include currency and commodities rebalancing, liquidity and cash flow management.

As GIC invests globally in over 40 countries, it is unavoidably subject to currency risk. FXD's investment process includes analysis of economic fundamentals, political developments, monetary and exchange rate policies, market flows and other structural factors. These factors are like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that complete our view of the markets we operate in.

On liquidity management, the team monitors the cash flow profile of the company closely to ensure that all funding requirements are met. We aim to enhance the yield derived from investing the excess liquidity held in GIC, while maintaining a conservative approach to investment to ensure we can provide liquidity to the company should the need arise.

The commodities team was formed to manage the new asset class of commodities. While gold is an age-old reserve asset, the value of a broader mix of commodities that includes energy, agriculture, industrial and precious metals, as an inflation hedge and diversifier from traditional assets is more recently recognised.