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IF IT ain't broke, don't fix it. That seems to be the strategy incoming chief executive Magnus Bocker is going to adopt at the Singapore Exchange (SGX).
Mr Bocker sees himself as a team leader, managing a pool of talents in the SGX and offering them a new perspective in facing the challenges of a rapidly changing global financial landscape.
'I need to believe that I can add something, otherwise, I would not be sitting here,' he said at his first meeting with the media here yesterday.
He did admit that he was not exactly enthusiastic about the job when it was first offered.
'It wasn't love at first sight. I was a little reluctant to listen to the song from Singapore. But the more I learn, the more insight I get and, finally, I am very convinced that this is a unique opportunity,' he said.
Despite not having any working experience in Asia, the 47-year-old Swede was drawn by the challenges presented by the region.
He sees huge growth opportunities in products and services generated by rapidly growing regional economies, unlike bourses in Europe and the United States, which have grown tremendously in recent years through mergers and acquisitions (M&A).
'There is so much more growth prospect in Asia than what you might see in Europe and North America. That is why Asian markets are interesting,' he noted.
'Is M&A the highest priority when you see products and services growing in different directions?' he asked.
Before he took up his current post as president of Nasdaq OMX, Mr Bocker was instrumental in creating the Nordic bourse operator OMX AB, which operates seven European exchanges in the Scandinavian and Baltic regions.
He also played a key role in the US$3.7 billion (S$5.3 billion) purchase by Nasdaq of OMX in mid-2007, shortly before the global financial crisis hit the world's stock markets.
When SGX chairman J. Y. Pillay introduced Mr Bocker yesterday, he disclosed that the exchange had a 'good look at the candidates from within and thought it had some excellent material'.
'However, we owe it to ourselves to cast the net a little wider, so we instituted a global search,' he said.
When SGX decided on an outsider to take the top post, 'there is a risk of rejection, but we thought that Magnus is of the calibre that justifies taking that risk'.
Mr Pillay also dismissed suggestions that SGX had future M&As in mind in appointing Mr Bocker, adding that it was not a factor under consideration in his selection.
Mr Bocker said the remuneration offered by SGX was among the last things on his mind when he was considering the job. SGX is paying him a guaranteed base salary of $750,000 a year and a minimum variable bonus of $933,000 for his first seven months.
It was rather a combination of 'good food', the friendliness he encountered among Singaporeans and the strong management at SGX that played key roles in his decision to accept the post, which he will take up in December.
His three sons, aged nine, 11 and 13, are also excited by the prospects of moving here.
Mr Bocker, who is making his second trip to Singapore since May, will spend the next few days looking for accommodation and schools for his children.
A keen marathon runner, he ran around the Botanic Gardens soon after landing early in the morning two days ago.
LOVE AT SECOND SIGHT
'It wasn't love at first sight. I was a little reluctant to listen to the song from Singapore.
But the more I learn, the more insight I get and, finally, I am very convinced that this is a unique opportunity.'
Incoming SGX chief executive Magnus Bocker
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