Your Way Home with Hongbin Jeong

Since the start of the pandemic, the number of digital nomads with traditional jobs has more than tripled. More than 50% of the world’s digital nomads in 2022 were from the US. But one Singaporean is joining this growing trend. In the Spotlight on Prime Time, Timothy Go and Bharati Jagdish speak with Gabriel Wong, CEO of Ascend Marketing, who will be moving his family of 3+1 (2nd child due Feb) to...

The credit market is in focus today as tightening monetary conditions and trade tensions continue to dampen global market activity.  We’ll start from home in Singapore. Earlier, market reports suggested that Singapore’s three largest banks could see a possible increase in bad loans and softer loan growth this year, but which are the risks to watch and which bank will be best-placed to weather the...

In May 2022, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat said that helping SMEs scale up is one of Singapore’s three drivers of economic growth. Unfortunately, SMEs in Singapore face various challenges in the business landscape, which becomes even more difficult in the face of global competition. So how can SMEs in Singapore fight the Goliaths in the online competition both locally and globally? In the S...

Singapore's core inflation, which excludes costs of private transport and accommodation, came in at 5.1 per cent year on year in December. The measure is projected to stay elevated in the first half of this year before slowing more discernibly in the second half of 2023. In The Straits Times' The Big Story, Multimedia Correspondent Hairianto Diman spoke with Associate Editor Vikram Khanna to delve...

2022 has been a challenging year for markets as participants experience major pullbacks with their portfolios and investors struggling to protect their capital.  Against the backdrop of a high inflationary environment and geopolitical uncertainties, hedge funds felt the pains but managed to absorb some shocks in the market.  While the asset class declined 9.3% for the first nine months of the year...

A recent survey by Couchbase showed that 83% of IT leaders in banks, insurers and other financial services providers, are under pressure to deliver digital transformation. While it’s clear that the innovation in digital services spurred by the pandemic has been welcomed by customers, how can the Financial Services sector stay in the driving seat in what is forecast to be a tough business climate i...

Sustainability is increasingly becoming a necessity for corporations due to changing perspectives around the world. And yet, becoming a green company takes a sizable amount of resources, time and risks. So how can businesses better navigate this space and ensure they are authentic in their sustainability initiatives? Prime Time's Timothy Go spoke with John Pabon, Sustainability Consultant and Auth...

The supply of certificates of COEs will rise by 3.4% for the period of February to April 2023, the first increase after two quarters of decline. Overall, there will be an average of 3,144 COEs available for bidding spread across the five categories each month during this period, said the Land Transport Authority (LTA) on Friday. This is up from the monthly average of 3,040 COEs for the November 20...

We’ll keep you up to speed with the key macroeconomic and market movements in the US as we end the week. Earlier, US producer prices out mid-week showed the producer price index decreased 0.5% on a monthly basis for December. That’s lower than November’s revised 0.2% increase. December’s annual PPI figure also came in lower than the previous month. Question is -  to what extent can this be taken a...

A 19-year-old has taken a year-gap in her studies to focus on her tuition business, where she has cracked the code to help fellow peers ace that GP paper. In the Spotlight on Prime Time, Bharati Jagdish and Timothy Go chat with Brooke Lim, Founder of Classicle Club about her decision to stop her studies for her fledgling business as well as the latest challenge to English teachers - ChatGPT - an e...

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's shock announcement on Thursday (Jan 19) of her resignation has stunned the country and even her party. She said she “no longer has enough in the tank” to do the job, and would step down no later than early February. In The Straits Times’ The Big Story, Multimedia Correspondent Cheow Sue-Ann spoke with Correspondent Jonathan Pearlman for more on these dev...

Ransomware attacks remain the number one cyber threat in the Asia Pacific, with groups adopting corporate structures and using zero-day vulnerabilities and supply-chain attacks to infect victims. On Tech Talk, Prime Time’s Timothy Go and Bharati Jagdish speak with Feixiang He, Adversary Intelligence Research Lead, Group-IB to find out his forecasts on the biggest threats we should be looking out f...

With Chinese New Year just round the corner, many of us may still be shopping for something to wear over the festive season.  But did you know that the world is currently seeing a shortage of cotton used to make our clothes, after extreme weather conditions wreaked havoc upon virtually all of the world’s largest suppliers? For instance, India saw heavy rains and pests last year dampening demand so...

To combat inflationary pressure, many people are looking at investment options. And some are raising a glass to wine investments. So from the bottle to the bank, Bharati Jagdish and Timothy Go speak with Jeremy Howard, Co-Founder, Cru World Wine on Prime Time's In the Spotlight to find out more about this alternative asset and how to position wine in your portfolio in 2023? Produced and edited by...

As we enter a new year, small and medium enterprises, as well as mid-sized companies, are looking at a challenging future with geopolitical tensions, hyperinflation and supply chain disruptions. Will 2023 break the curse? Prime Time's Timothy Go and Bharati Jagdish speak with  Dr Rashimah Rajah, Lecturer of Management and Organisation at the National University of Singapore Business School to find...

Consumers and businesses can now more easily spot companies that support better wages for lower-wage workers to buy goods and services from, by looking out for their Progressive Wage  Mark. The two-tier accreditation scheme was officially launched on Wednesday at an event held at Japanese apparel brand Uniqlo’s local flagship store at Orchard Central. Recommended by the Tripartite Workgroup on Low...

The Chinese economy and market is at the front and centre of our discussion today, after the country announced its GDP figures earlier in the week.  If you recall, Gross Domestic Product was up 3% last year. While the figure beat an earlier Bloomberg forecast of 2.7%, it was far lower than the 8.4% in 2021 and below the official 5% target.  But with China reopening its doors to international touri...

Countries at U.N talks in Uruguay in December, discussed a future global plastics treaty which would cut pollution, with the hope of doing so entirely by 2040. Over in Singapore, we are also doing our part to reduce plastic usage. A new compostable hawker centre - a first in Singapore - to use fully 100% biodegradable and compostable packaging and zero plastics single use disposable boxes opened a...

A breakneck surge in private residential rents hammered Singapore’s tenants with increases of about 21% in the first nine months of 2022, and the pain looks set to continue this year. Despite the pace slowing, analysts predict that rents are set to rise by another 10-15% this year. In Powering Your Property, Prime Time's Timothy Go and Bharati Jagdish speak with Nicholas Mak, Head of Research and...

We’ll put the focus on the state of the global economy today.  According to the International Monetary Fund, severe fragmentation of the global economy could reduce global economic output by up to 7%. But which will be the economies most affected by the change?  And with the World Economic Forum underway, to what extent could we expect the meeting to help policymakers navigate challenges in Europe...

In the Spotlight on Prime Time every Monday, Bharati Jagdish and Timothy Go will speak with our friends from the BBC in London on some of the top stories they are tracking in the week ahead. This week, they are joined by Jonathan Frewin, Senior Journalist with BBC World Service Partner Hub in London to discuss China, with the new year travel rush  roaring back to life despite uncertainty around Co...

An Institute of Policy Studies survey shows that different generations value different aspects of their jobs. Over 50 per cent would be willing to accept less pay or a lesser work role for the benefit of their family or personal life. In The Straits Times’ The Big Story, Multimedia Correspondent Cheow Sue-Ann spoke with Dr Laurel Teo, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies to fi...

Employers across Singapore appear to be investing in talent when it comes to sustainability-related initiatives. Prime Time's Timothy Go and Bharati Jagdish speak with Dr Noorashikin Rahman, Co-Lead for NP’s Personalised Learning Pathway (PLP) Minor in Sustainability to find out how they’re equipping the future talent pool with the right ESG skills.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informa...

We’ll talk all about exchange traded funds today and in particular, we’re going to be talking about thematic ETFs. These are ETFs that are positioned to benefit from long term structural changes such as changes in technology, society, the environment and demographics over time.  And on that note, fund management company Global X ETFs has launched their December 2022 edition of the Thematic ETF Rep...

Hotels are increasingly being turned into co-living spaces in markets, where institutional investors are hunting for cheaper alternatives to residential conversions and high rental growth potential. But come February, those who are looking for alternative living options can look forward to a first boutique hotel with co-living and hospitality services for a truly flexible stay experience. In the S...