PAP MP Tin Pei Ling transitions to vital role at DCS Card Centre following departure from Grab

SINGAPORE: On Monday (Oct 2), Member of Parliament Tin Pei Ling made an announcement regarding her new role at DCS Card Centre, previously known as Diners Club Singapore.

The People’s Action Party (PAP) MP for Macpherson SMC disclosed that she will be taking on a pivotal role within the company, overseeing strategic partnerships and driving business development.

“Today’s my first day at work and it’s been great! In this role, I will focus on establishing strategic partnerships to reinforce our position as a leading and innovative player in the payment landscape and driving future market expansion,” Ms Tin said in a LinkedIn post.

“This is exciting as I can now play a more active role in the commercial and strategic side of business and in an industry sector that I have been watching with interest.”

Diners Club Singapore, renowned for issuing credit and charge cards, underwent a rebranding in August, transforming into DCS.

The company has shifted its focus towards becoming a fintech firm with aspirations to pioneer new horizons in the payments sector.

“DCS aims to revolutionise traditional finance through fintech partnerships and create seamless connections between Web2 and Web3 payment solutions,” Ms Tin said in her LinkedIn post.

“For instance, and very notably, DCS introduced the DCS Token – dollar-backed payment token – to create trusted and seamless connections between Web3 and Web2 payment solutions. This new move will effectively allow customers to leverage the best of both worlds.”

Ms Tin expressed her anticipation for this exciting new chapter in her career.

Back in August, Ms Tin formally resigned from her position as Director of Corporate Development at Grab, where she had served for eight months.

At that time, she revealed her decision to transition to a tech sector role that places a stronger emphasis on external interactions and commercial responsibilities.

Her employment in this new role is set to commence on October 1st.

Tin’s previous redeployment by Grab

Previously, Tin had originally joined Grab Singapore as its director of Public Affairs and Policy, in Feb this year.

This decision was said to be largely influenced by her comprehensive grasp of the digital economy and smart nation policy from a grassroots perspective, as well as her strong connections with the local community.

However, shortly after that, she was redeployed to a different department by Grab Singapore due to public opinion over potential conflicts of interest that could arise from her dual roles as a Member of Parliament and as the Director of Public Affairs and Policy at Grab.

She shared the announcement on her social media profiles and also made it known through a statement by Grab that Tin posted on her LinkedIn page.

Tin explained that after the recent increase in public attention, she engaged in discussions with Grab and together they concluded that it would be most suitable for her to transition to a position that doesn’t entail any involvement in government relations in Singapore.

“I informed the PAP of my possible employment and nature of the role at Grab in mid 2022, and then formally informed the PAP in September 2022 about my appointment. They did not object.” She said. “(However) following the recent public attention, Grab and I discussed and agreed that it would be best for me to move into a role that did not involve any government relations in Singapore.”

“I understand and have long come to accept the public scrutiny that comes with being an MP. But I would never want it to hinder my ability to serve my constituents well as MP, or to do my job at Grab effectively. And this would be the case if my intentions and actions in the future are always called into doubt, whether justified or not.”

Subsequent to that announcement, Ms Tin revealed her plans to transition to a fresh role as the Director of Corporate Development instead. She said that it is a position that corresponds with her career interests and will leverage her previous experiences in consulting and corporate strategy.

Prior to this, Tin used to serve as the chief executive officer at Business China, a Singapore non-profit organisation cultivating Singapore-China relationships and headed by PAP Ministers and MPs.

She also spent a year as group director of corporate strategy at Jing King Technology Group, now known as Adera Global from May 2017 to May 2018. The Singapore global company is involved in data security, artificial intelligence and automation.

Tin had spent a couple of years as a full-time MP at Marine Parade GRC after she was elected to Parliament in 2011 and resigned from her job at Ernst and Young.

She has been a Member of Parliament in Singapore since 2011, and currently serve as the Chairperson of the Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) for Communications & Information, and is a member of the GPC for Culture, Community & Youth.