Let's Talk, Singapore

On Mind Your Business and ahead of Budget 2023 in the afternoon, we zoom in on sustainability - from green funding and financing, green bond and tax policies, green buildings, green infrastructure for our roads to green talent. Rachel Kelly and Ryan Huang are joined in the studio by Mark Addy, Partner, Energy & Natural Resources, KPMG Singapore to talk about how Singapore and the rest of the w...

Emergency teams are finding miracle survivors, but chances of locating survivors are shrinking as the clocks tick.  That’s the stark reality Turkey and Syria are facing after the magnitude 7.8 earthquake ravaged both countries early last week. Death toll has since topped 36,000.  Benjamin William, Secretary General & CEO of the Singapore Red Cross shares first-hand accounts of what aid groups...

Flower Addict is an award-winning online florist in Singapore that provides stylish flower arrangements and gifts, with a simple aim to ‘Make Life Beautiful’. Founded in 2017, Flower Addict responds to personal requirements for floral deliveries.  Adrian Abraham and Lynlee Foo speak to Kerry James , Co-Founder, Flower Addict about how we can make this Valentine’s Day, the best one yet.  See omnyst...

Why the US wanted to send a strong signal to China and how this was also about domestic politics. Synopsis: The Straits Times examines various facets of the US-China rivalry and its implications for Asia. Join Charissa Yong and Danson Cheong - ST’s US and China correspondents respectively based in Washington DC and Beijing - as they take a look at America’s response to the alleged Chinese spy ball...

Barnabas Gan, Senior Economist, RHB discusses the drag on economic growth from the manufacturing sector, as Q4 GDP came in a tad below 2.2% flash estimates. He also shares what he hopes to see from Budget 2023 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Singaporeans have been waiting eagerly to see what goodies Finance Minister Lawrence Wong is putting forth in the Singapore Budget this year, which also coincides with Valentine's Day.  With headwinds expected on the global macroeconomic front, Alvin Liew, Senior Economist, UOB shares his take on the likelihood of a delay in 2024’s GST hike to 9%.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informati...

Forward Singapore is at its midway point, and feedback collected through the the initiative's dialogues will be taken into account as the government updates its policies. Some of those plans are set to be shared at the upcoming Singapore Budget.  Dr Mathew Mathews, Head, IPS Social Lab shares his take on why a strong social compact is crucial to Singapore and gaps that need to be addressed. See om...

Project Refresh aims to improve the living environment of seniors and low-income families within the North East District through a series of refurbishment works, including painting, cleaning and decluttering. Organised by the North East Community Development Council (NECDC), the 19th edition of Project Refresh goes beyond a commercialised holiday to redefine love and uplift the community. Mr. Desm...

Thilan Wickramasinghe, Head of Research at Maybank Investment Banking Group, Singapore previews how much upside has been priced into Singapore bank earnings in the fourth quarter, and what to expect from net interest margins amid expectations of a slower pace of rate hikes by the Fed.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A.I. is eating the world. From the way it is transforming existing industries to the way it is creating entirely new ones. And the buzzword this whole week : ChatGPT, the latest A.I. bot in town that has prompted rival companies Google and China's Baidu to announce their own versions. Even if you aren't into artificial intelligence, you'd have to listen to this interview that compared questions ge...

A strong showing on the economic front, with Singapore attracting a record $22.5 billion in fixed asset investments last year despite global headwinds. But with a slew of macroeconomic uncertainties and competition on the rise, will the year ahead be just as rosy? Jillian Lim, Executive Vice President, Economic Development Board with a closer look. Produced and edited by Yeo Kai Ting ( ykaiting@sp...

SGX reported a 30.1 per cent increase in net profit to S$284.6 million for the first half of FY2023. Breakfast Anchor, Rachel Kelly, sits down with Ng Yao Loong, Chief Financial Officer, Singapore Exchange to discuss the bourses latest results, IPO pipeline, SPACs, strategy, and the evolving investment market.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Singapore will lift its remaining Covid-19 restrictions like requiring masks on public transport from 13th February. This coincides with the adjustment in  disease outbreak response from Dorscon yellow to green. The Ministry of Health says that this comes as the global and local pandemic situation is stable and the disease is mild, especially among vaccinated individuals. Could the easing of measu...

Why the Taiwan issue today is different from the Vietnam War's political dynamics. Synopsis: Every second Friday of the month, join The Straits Times' associate editor Ravi Velloor, as he distils his experience from four decades of covering the continent. In this episode of 2023, he chats with Nayan Chanda, the celebrated editor, journalist and Indo-China specialist on his eyewitness account of th...

Shane Oliver, Head of Investment Strategy, AMP Capital discusses why Disney is cutting jobs despite bright spots in its latest quarterly earnings, as well as his view on US President Joe Biden's push to tax the wealthy including non-realised capital gains and quadrupling the levy on share buybacks. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Financial literacy is the knowledge of how money works in the world and it is a core life skill for everyone. As they always say “Start them young”. But what is the right age to teach our children about the concept of money?  On Mind Your Business, Rachel Kelly and Lynn-Lee Foo speak with Ruperto Ancajas, Portfolio Specialist at Foord Asset Management on more about teaching our children about mone...

Biden delivers his first address to a joint session of Congress since Republicans took control of the House of Representatives in January. Is this his unofficial early bid for the 2024 presidential campaign season? Dr Lincoln Mitchell, Adjunct Associate Research Scholar, Arnold A Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies, Columbia University breaks down the nuts and bolts of Biden's second State...

With increasing scrutiny over climate goals, a phenomenon called green-hushing is slowly creeping in. That's when firms deliberately downplay, underreport, or even keep silent about their climate targets and commitments, for fear of bad publicity or being shamed if they fall short.  And how are Singapore banks faring against its counterparts when it comes to sustainable financing? Kristina Anguelo...

Singapore's credit card spending of S$20 billion in Q3 2022 is the highest since 2010's level at about S$4 billion. Will this credit card spending trend continue in 2023 and what could it mean for the broader banking sector asset quality amid a weaker growth outlook and rising recession fears? Rena Kwok, Credit Analyst, Asian Financials, Bloomberg Intelligence shares her insights on the latest rep...

Christopher Forbes, Head of CMC Invest Singapore , discusses Microsoft's announcement that it will be integrating ChatGPT technology into its Bing search engine, and Edge browser - plus plans to let other companies create their own chatbots with the technology. He discusses how much of a threat this will be for Google, as well as other post-Covid trends investors can focus on this year.  See omnys...

Passengers' satisfaction with taxi and private-hire car services dropped in 2022, with the score for wait time falling the most at 6.9,  a drop from the 7.6 in 202. That's according to the Public Transport Council’s 2022 Point-to-Point Transport Services Customer Satisfaction Survey (PCSS). P2P services received a mean satisfaction score of 8.0 in 2022, compared to 8.4 in 2021.  To find out more a...

Some 3000 waste management workers are set to see wage increases, following new laws passed under the Environment Public Health Act in Parliament earlier this week. These policies come on the back of the government’s push to strengthen Singapore’s waste management sector - which the manpower ministry says can expect new transitional support in this year’s Budget.  Andrew Tay, Exco Member of the Wa...

Jason Paltrowitz, EVP, Corporate Services at OTC Markets Group discusses the risk appetite he is seeing for capital fund raising amid expectations of a recession in the US, as well as a gloomy picture being painted by the outlook for some companies in the latest earnings season. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

According to figures from the The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), private residential property rentals in Singapore increased by 7.4% in the fourth quarter of 2022, compared with the 8.6% increase in the previous quarter.  With the rise in supply of newly completed units expected in 2023, can this ease the high rental rates in the private residential leasing market? Nicholas Mak, Head of Rese...

Singaporeans living abroad might soon be able to vote via mail in future elections, if proposed changes to two sets of electoral laws are passed.  Also among the proposed changes to the Presidential Elections (Amendment) Bill and the Parliamentary Elections (Amendment) Bill that were tabled in Parliament on Monday - are updates to election advertising laws. Eugene Tan, Associate Professor of Law,...