Three Singaporeans have been named in Forbes Magazine’s 100 Most Powerful Women 2025 list, including a new face.
DBS CEO Tan Su Shan, 57, came in at number 29 on the list, which was released on Wednesday (Dec 10).
Appointed the bank’s CEO in March 2025, she is DBS’ first female chief executive, as well as the first to be appointed from within the ranks of the bank.
Prior to this, Su Shan built DBS’ wealth management business before going on to run its consumer banking and institutional banking businesses. These units are responsible for about 90 per cent of the bank’s earnings, according to Forbes.
As she took over the reins of the bank, Su Shan said she had “big shoes to fill,” but pointed out that she and retired CEO Piyush Gupta “wear different kinds of shoes”.
Another Singaporean woman on the list is Ho Ching, the wife of Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong. This year, she came in at number 34, two spots down from her previous ranking in 2024.
Ho Ching, 72, was the CEO of Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek from 2004 to 2021, helping to grow its portfolio.
In 2021, she was named chairman of Temasek Trust, the entity responsible for Temasek’s philanthropic endowments.
The last Singaporean woman on the list is Jenny Lee, a senior managing partner at Granite Asia. This year, she retained the same spot as last year, coming in at number 96.
The 52-year-old, who focuses on edtech, fintech and the metaverse, has a portfolio including 21 companies valued over $1 billion each, with 17 IPOs across five global exchanges.
In 2012, she became the first woman to break into the Midas List Top 10, and has also been ranked in Forbes’ 100 Most Powerful Women list for four consecutive years from 2022 to 2025.
Jenny also serves on the board of Temasek and advises Singapore’s Future Economy Panel, Duke-NUS Medical School and Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.
This year, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, continues to hold the title of the world’s most powerful woman. The first woman to serve in this role, she is “responsible for legislation affecting more than 450 million Europeans”.
Coming in at second and third are Christine Lagarde, president of European Central Bank, and Sanae Takaichi, Prime Minister of Japan.
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