The Government of Singapore Investment Corp, one of the world’s biggest sovereign wealth funds, invested “too early” in Citigroup and UBS, Lee Kuan Yew, its chairman, said Wednesday.

“When the market fell, we went into UBS and Citi. But we went in too early. That is part of the ride,” he told a forum of bankers sponsored by Thomson Reuters. GIC made the banking investments at the turn of 2008.