Money manager Lion Global Investors, with $28 billion under management, announced on Friday its CEO Daniel Chan Choong Seng had quit to spend time with his family and pursue other personal interests.

Chan, who helped Lion win 77 fund awards for its performance since 2006, agreed to continue in his role until his successor is appointed, the fund said in a statement.

Lion, an arm of Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp’s (OCBC.SI) insurance unit Great Eastern (GELA.SI), was in March named the top performing Singapore/Malaysia fund manager over 3, 5 and 10 years by The Edge newspaper and Thomson Reuters’ Lipper.

According to Lipper, Lion’s fund returned an annualised 5.6% in Singapore dollar terms in the 10 years to end-2009. For 2009, it was the best performer among nine Singapore/Malaysia funds tracked by Lipper with a gain of 70.6%.

Chan has been in the asset management industry for over 30 years, having spent 19 years as Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer of rival UOB Asset Management, Lion said on its website www.lookforlion.com.