SINGAPORE: On Dec 22, Singapore Post ( SingPost ) plunged into its latest crisis when it announced the sudden termination of three senior executives.
The group’s chief executive officer Vincent Phang, party chief financial officer Vincent Yik, and party chief financial officer Li Yu, the company’s global business unit, were accused of being “grossly irresponsible” in conducting inside investigations into a whistleblower’s report.
All three have stated that they will take steps to challenge their blasting, calling it unlawful and cruel in the process.
As the company completes the sale of its Australian business, which was announced on December 2, SingPost’s most recent crisis adds to its continuous business difficulties and leaves a management pump.
At that time, Mr Phang had said:” Once the deal is complete, the table and control will review and update the group’s tactical program, with a continued emphasis on shareholder value”.
Mr. Phang has passed away, and shareholder value has been further destroyed, with SingPost’s share price falling almost 11 percent the day after the news.
Its share cost of 52 percent as of December 27 is significantly lower than its January 2015 apex of S$ 2.16.
Despite the functional and support issues that SingPost has experienced over the past 20 years, it is regrettable that this is the next major controversy.
SingPost had made a proposal to invest in another SGX-listed business, Accord Customer Care Solutions (ACCS), in March 2005. The company had experienced a share price decline after losing almost all of its Nokia arrangements, had overstated its profits, and was currently facing investigation from the Commercial Affairs Department. Eventually, it was revealed that three SingPost executives owned bets in ACCS. One of the managers later resigned.
Ten years later, the next class CEO Wolfgang Baier immediately resigned. The company’s business leadership came under scrutiny. There were problems of lack of proper reporting of attention in a conflict of interest involving three organizations that SingPost acquired.
In the future, two additional significant US expansions were cancelled. The business requested a unique assessment to do. Following this, executives and top management resigned in a row. Four of the present directors on SingPost’s panel, including the president, were part of the new granite of managers appointed following that incident.
Each new incident is another punch to its popularity. SingPost, in my opinion, has not completely rebuilt customer confidence following its earlier catastrophes.
Last year’s developments only serve to increase more questions about SingPost’s corporate management, including its conversation, internal controls, internal assessment, whistleblowing plan, analysis process, succession planning and organizational culture.