SINGAPORE Exchange (SGX) defended chairman JY Pillay's $750,000 annual salary yesterday when a shareholder questioned whether his pay should track SGX's performance, which suffered during the market slide.

SGX director Low Check Kian said that unlike the chairmen of other stock exchanges, Mr Pillay serves full-time on the SGX board. He also said that because Mr Pillay holds a non-executive position, he is paid a fixed fee without a bonus component.

'What we're proposing to pay the chairman, given his credentials, is actually a bargain for SGX,' said Mr Low, who chaired yesterday's annual general meeting.

'I feel very strongly that his fee should not be dependent on the performance of the company like a bonus,' he added.

The shareholder, Asha Hemrajani, questioned Mr Pillay's salary package, which consists of $750,000 in annual pay and transport benefits including a car and driver.

According to her, the 'pathetic' performance of the bourse operator and the pay cut that the other staff took in the form of a smaller variable bonus should prompt a cut in the chairman's fees on a performance comparison.

She also claimed that the fees paid to the chairman of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing were about one seventh of Mr Pillay's.

'I'm talking about a gesture, a sign of solidarity,' she said. 'I'm sorry to be doing this, you remind me of my father,' she added, inviting a swift quip from Mr Pillay that 'you look a bit like my daughter'.

Meanwhile, the exchange remains unfazed by talk of more S-chips looking to delist and head to Hong Kong to pursue higher valuations, with SGX chief executive Hsieh Fu Hua saying that bigger IPOs are expected in Singapore soon.

'I don't think we should be too concerned,' he told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting. 'So long as we address the needs of the marketplace, these situations will come and go. If you look at the history of SGX, we've gone through cycles where there was a little bit of delistings.'

All resolutions were passed.