Singapore CEOs stay in their roles longer than global peers

By Dat Nguyen November 27, 2025 | 09:13 pm PT

CEOs in Singapore stay in their roles for almost nine years on average, almost two years longer than the global figure, a survey has found.

CEOs of companies listed on the Straits Times Index averaged 8.8 years in the role in the third quarter, compared with 7.2 years globally, according to the Global CEO Turnover Index by U.S.-based advisory firm Russell Reynolds Associates (RRA), as reported by The Business Times.

Central Business District from top of Marina Sands Hotel, Singapore. Photo by Robert Harding RF via AFP

Leaders of companies on Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index had shorter tenures, at 3.7 years.

Across the Asia-Pacific region, the average time spent in the top job was 5.9 years, slightly below the 6.1 years recorded in the same period in 2024.

Shorter tenures may stem from "board demands for agility and responsiveness amid rapid market shifts and regulatory changes", RRA suggested, noting that companies are replacing CEOs earlier in the business cycle to maintain strategic momentum.

The index also showed that more than four in five CEO appointments in Asia-Pacific so far this year were internal hires, compared with a global average of about seven in 10.

"This strong preference for promoting from within suggests a deliberate strategy," RRA said. It added that global CEO departures have reached an eight-year high and are 5% higher than in the corresponding period in 2024.

In the third quarter of 2025, the Asia-Pacific region recorded 12 CEO departures, with Australia accounting for 10 of them.

The region is also seeing a sharp rise in first-time CEOs. Nearly all new CEO appointments in Asia-Pacific this year went to first-timers, with the 97% share exceeding the global figure of 88%.

The RRA index tracks CEO departures across major stock benchmarks, including Singapore’s STI, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, Japan’s Nikkei 225, India’s NSE Nifty 50 and Australia’s ASX 200.