Former Actor & VR Man James Lye Joins Standard Chartered Bank as the Head of International Banking

Remember the lead from Mediacorp drama VR Man in 1998?

The actor, James Lye, left the entertainment industry in 1998, and has had a fruitful banking career.

In fact, Standard Chartered has just named him the global head of international banking on 20 October, marking his departure from Citibank.

Former Actor Turned Banker 

James Lye, 53, was a former Mediacorp actor. He’s most well-known as VR Man in the titular local drama series.

In fact, he also won the 1997 Star Award for most popular newcomer for his lead role in the local police drama Triple Nine.

However, he left the entertainment industry after the 1998’s The Millennium Bug, and moved on to banking instead. He was most recently the head of markets for Citibank International Personal Bank Singapore, which is a business unit that specialises in investment and wealth management for wealthy people living outside Singapore.

While at Citibank, he grew his career from individual client relationship and product roles to regional team leadership roles. He was responsible for about 300 bankers at Citibank.

Now, he’s ready to take his more than 20 years of banking experience to Standard Chartered.

Global Head of International Banking

With effect from 1 November, Mr Lye will be Standard Chartered Bank’s global head of international banking. This is a newly created role.

He will be based in Singapore, and will lead the international banking team to “turbocharger the bank’s international banking business”.

He will be reporting to the bank’s global head of affluent clients, Mr Raymond Ang. He will also report to Mr Samir Subberwal, the head of consumer, private and business banking for Asia and the global head of digital business.

Join our Telegram channel for more entertaining and informative articles at https://t.me/goodyfeedsg or download the Goody Feed app here: https://goodyfeed.com/app/ 

Big Plans for International Banking 

Standard Chartered currently offers international banking in four cross-border hubs: Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai and Jersey.

Mr Subberwal stressed that there’s a growing need amongst wealthy clients to manage their wealth across different locations. This is due to increasing international mobility, as well as intergenerational mobility.

Standard Chartered has doubled its international banking team in the past three years, and welcomes Mr Lye as its head. They will continue to enhance Standard Chartered’s international banking offers through investment in digitalisation.

Mr Ang said that their bank’s international banking “complements the suite of affluent banking services that serves clients across Asia, Africa and the Middle East and differentiates Standard Chartered as a truly international bank”.

Read also:

Featured Image: Standard Chartered