Wico Yeo

Practice Areas

Banking & Finance; Capital Markets; Corporate Regulatory & Compliance; Islamic Finance

Career

Wico has over 20 years of experience in corporate finance, and is well regarded in the practice area. He achieved the record of working on both the largest IPO and the largest bond offering in Singapore in the same year. Since the inception of business trusts (“BT”) in Singapore, Wico has built up leading experience in infrastructure BT, including working on a multi-billion IPO of the largest ever infrastructure BT. Beyond award-winning and landmark transactions in both equity and debt capital markets, his experience extends to securitisation and structured finance.

He is well known in the field of Islamic banking and finance. He pioneered the largest sukuk transactions in Singapore, which includes the first sukuk issue, the first sukuk programme, the first statutory board issuer of sukuk and the first sukuk to cross the S$1 billion value.

In the field of innovative retail bond offerings, he advised on the pioneering retail offering of bonds under the exempt bond framework as well as the world’s first offering of listed retail bonds backed by cashflows from private equity funds.

He also advised on a new method for issuing Singapore Government Securities (SGS) through the introduction of syndication and establishment of a new programme for SGS (Infrastructure). The initial bond issue of S$2.4 billion under this programme was the first 50-year (and longest) bond issued by the Singapore Government as well as Singapore’s inaugural sovereign green bonds and the longest-tenor green bond issued by a sovereign.

Professional Memberships

Wico is appointed by the Minister-in-Charge of the Monetary Authority of Singapore as a member of the Appeal Advisory Panels constituted under the Business Trusts Act, Financial Advisers Act, Insurance Act, Securities and Futures Act, Trust Companies Act, Financial Services and Markets Act and Credit Bureau Act. In addition, he is appointed by the Minister for Finance as a member of the Income Tax Board of Review. Wico is also a member of the Corporate Law Advisory Panel, which is a standing advisory panel to the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority.

Languages Spoken

English