Kwek Leng Beng

Mr Kwek has extensive experience in the real estate business, having joined City Developments Limited (CDL) in the late 1960s and since then has contributed significantly to building CDL’s more than five decades of track record. He grew the Group’s hospitality arm and has been actively involved in its development into Singapore’s largest international hotel group and one of the largest hotel owners and operators in the world. He also has extensive experience in the finance business, having grown from day one with the original Hong Leong Finance Limited which has since merged its finance business with Singapore Finance Limited (now known as Hong Leong Finance Limited). He is also experienced in the trading and manufacturing sectors.

Mr Kwek has received numerous accolades. In 1997, he was named “Businessman of the Year 1996” by Singapore Business Awards, organised by The Business Times and DHL. In 2012, he was jointly awarded the “Partners in the Office of the CEO” award in the Brendan Wood International – Securities Investors Association Singapore (SIAS) TopGun CEO Designation Award with the late Mr Kwek Leng Joo (former Deputy Chairman of CDL). This award is given to CEOs who are best in class as rated by shareholders. In 2014, he received the inaugural Real Estate Developers’ Association of Singapore (REDAS) Lifetime Achievement Award which honours a pioneering group of real estate leaders.

He received the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCCI) SG50 Outstanding Chinese Business Pioneers Award in 2015. The award honours the Republic’s outstanding Chinese business pioneers and their exemplary contributions to nation-building. That same year, he was accorded the Lifetime Achievement Award from Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific (HICAP). This accolade honours exceptional individuals who have distinguished themselves through accomplishments and contributions to the hotel industry.

In 2017, he was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Awards organised by Enterprise Asia, a regional non-governmental organisation for entrepreneurship. The award was in recognition of outstanding achievements, visionary leadership and steadfast dedication that led to the successful growth of the Hong Leong Group for over five decades. That same year, he clinched the inaugural Global Blue Ocean Shift Award, given at the Global Entrepreneurship Community Summit in Kuala Lumpur. Mr Kwek was awarded the Singapore Tatler Diamond Award (Lifetime Achievement) 2018, in recognition of his exceptional leadership that led Hong Leong Group to grow into a globally diversified enterprise.

In 2020, Mr Kwek received on behalf of Hong Leong Group, the EY Family Business Award of Excellence. It celebrated the Group’s successful, sustainable and long-term oriented strategy, effective and transparent corporate governance approach, and significant socio-economic contributions.

Mr Kwek holds a law degree, LL.B. (London) and is also a fellow of The Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators. He was also conferred an Honorary Doctorate of Business Administration in Hospitality from Johnson & Wales University (Rhode Island, US) and an Honorary Doctorate from Oxford Brookes University (UK).