SINGAPORE: Singapore has three women on Forbes’ 2025 list of the world’s 100 most powerful women this year.
DBS chief executive Tan Su Shan makes her debut at No. 29, followed by Temasek Trust chair Ho Ching at No. 34, and Granite Asia senior managing partner Jenny Lee at No. 96.
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Tan became group CEO of DBS, South-east Asia’s largest bank by assets, in March 2025 after more than a decade at the bank where she strengthened wealth management and led consumer and institutional banking.
Ho took the helm of Temasek Trust, which manages Temasek’s philanthropic endowments, in 2022 after leading Temasek Holdings from 2004 to 2021, and was No. 32 on Forbes’ 2024 list.
Lee oversees a portfolio of 21 companies valued at over US$1 billion each, including Xiaomi, Kingsoft and autonomous vehicle firm eHang, with 18 of these companies successfully listed.
Forbes said the list is based on four key metrics: money, media presence, impact and spheres of influence, noting that 44 per cent of this year’s entrants are CEOs and 10 are founders, showing the rise of women running major organisations.
Other Asia-Pacific leaders include Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at No. 3, JD.com CEO Sandy Ran Xu at 32, and ByteDance chief financial officer Julie Gao at 47, while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde retained the top two spots.
The list also features 13 billionaires worth a combined US$180.5 billion, including US philanthropists MacKenzie Scott and Melinda French Gates, media mogul Oprah Winfrey, singer Taylor Swift, and AMD CEO Lisa Su.
Forbes executive vice-president Moira Forbes said the 2025 listees are shaping the platforms, policies and capital that are redefining the world’s most consequential industries and economies, leading through disruption across technology, finance, policy and culture.
