Your Way Home with Hongbin Jeong

More than ever, organisations are requiring sustainability-focused and specialist employees across all departments and skill sets. And this need is very apparent across Asia Pacific, with the region looking to quickly increase its ESG credential. Prime Time's Bharati Jagdish speaks with Andy Cartland, Founder and Director, Acre to find out how they’re bridging the talent gap in the region.   See o...

Singapore Blockchain Innovation Programme is offering S$80,000 to the nation's best hackers to bring their blockchain innovation to life. In the Spotlight on Prime Time, Bharati Jagdish and Timothy Go speak with Dr Dumitrel Loghin, Research Assistant Professor, School of Computing (SoC), National University of Singapore (NUS) and Singapore Blockchain Innovation Programme (SBIP) about the second ed...

In Powering Your Property, Prime Time's Timothy Go and Bharati Jagdish spoke with John Howald, Executive Director and Head of International Capital, Capital Markets & Investment Services Asia Pacific, Colliers to find out how property markets in Asia Pacific are faring and the outlook for long-term investment opportunities across the region. Highlights from the conversation: 01:01: Notable mar...

A major clinical trial, which included 13 patients from National University Hospital, showed that the drug lecanemab slowed cognitive and functional decline in participants aged 50 to 90 with early Alzheimer’s disease. In The Straits Times’ The Big Story, Multimedia Correspondent Cheow Sue-Ann speaks with Associate Professor Christopher Chen, a Visiting Consultant in the Department of Psychologica...

With December being a strong month for the US stock market over the past seven decades, to what extent can investors look forward to a Santa Rally this time round? Meantime, China eased its pandemic restrictions in some cities over the weekend, including a reduction in mass testing. But what would this mean for markets in China and Hong Kong? On Market View, Prime Time's finance presenter Chua Tia...

In the Spotlight on Prime Time every Monday, we speak with our friends at the BBC in London about some of the global headlines and stories they are tracking in the week ahead. Bharati Jagdish speaks with Rob Hugh-Jones, Editor, BBC Partner Hub in London, who is monitoring a major court case that opens in Belgium's capital, Brussels; strikes are expected in various sectors in the UK in the run-up t...

We’re going to talk all about beauty today. Speaking of beauty, have you ever gone out with little or no makeup only to realise you need to take a selfie or a photograph to put on your social media? In these situations, beauty apps that provide virtual makeup in real time would prove to be extremely useful. Taiwan’s virtual beauty brand Perfect Corp, is the company behind one of these apps. But be...

The agrifood industry in Asia is undergoing a technological revolution at present, which is projected to broaden the scope of agritech business. As the agritech revolution converges in South East Asia, how should investors be navigating agriculture in the digital decade? Prime Time's Bharati Jagdish speaks with Philippe Ceulen, Head of Strategy, Mandalay to find out. See omnystudio.com/listener fo...

Fostering trust in the digital world is vital in today’s age of industry digitalization, the proliferation of misinformation, and changing societal attitudes towards privacy.  SG Tech, the trade association for the tech industry in Singapore, recently launched a landscape report into digital trust, which details how Singapore could grow the digital trust sector by nearly three-fold by 2027 – from...

With the ‘Live Now Pay Later’ phenomenon catching on among consumers here, how will the growth of the Buy Now, Pay Later model impact consumer debt trends in Singapore? And can the introduction of the BNPL Code of Conduct help to reduce revenge spending and debt-traps? Prime Time's Bharati Jagdish finds out more from Ivar Bjorklund, Chief Commercial Officer at Collectius. See omnystudio.com/listen...

Global markets seem to be taking comfort in Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s balanced tone with regard to further interest rate hikes.  Following that comment by Powell, we have more economic data including initial jobless claims and personal income figures out of the US last night. Question is - to what extent do the data releases support the case for the central bank to tone down its pace o...

We cast the spotlight on the world’s top economies, namely the US, China, and India today. In the US, investors sift through Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell’s speech at a Brookings Institution event last night for hints on the magnitude of future rate hikes.  Back in Asia, Chinese health officials had announced measures earlier this week to improve vaccination rates among the elderly - but to w...

The UN and sustainability watchdogs noted that countries around the globe pledged in 2015 to halve food waste by 2030, but few are on track to do so. In the Spotlight on Prime Time, we find out how a local company is doing their part in tackling climate change when Bharati Jagdish speaks with Jessica Zhang, R&D Manager, Singnergy Corporation, as they produce high-value food ingredients from ed...

With the Covid-19 pandemic presenting challenges to many organisations, pushing businesses to ramp up on digital transformation. Prime Time’s Bharati Jagdish speaks with Khoong Chan Meng, CEO, NUS-ISS to find out how they working with the industry and workforce to climb the next curve of digital excellence. We’ll also find out more about NUS-ISS rebranding efforts which was officially unveiled by...

Have you ever had to constantly adjust your sunglasses which never seems to stay on, especially for Asians with lower nose bridges, made worse by the sweltering Singapore heat? Plus, for those who are into active sports, we’re sure this is more than just an inconvenience. What if we told you that there are sunglasses that can stay on your nose without slipping off, frame your face, and are easy on...

The drive to get people back into offices is clashing with workers who’ve embraced remote work as the new normal. Like other employees around the globe who have become accustomed to a hybrid work environment, Singaporeans are pushing back on employers who insist they return to the office full-time. According to a new study by Employment Hero, polling over 1,000 Singaporean knowledge workers, 46% o...

The commercial property market in Asia is in focus today. According to the latest Asia Pacific Capital Trends report from MSCI Real Assets, inflationary pressures and a spike in borrowing costs had weighed on dealmaking in APAC in the third quarter of the year,  Investment volume came up to be just US$32.6 billion in Q3, a 38 per cent drop from a year ago.  And across major income producing proper...

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva recently pointed out that 345 million people in the world were now suffering from a food crisis as a result of Russia’s war in Ukraine, high inflation and climate disasters. It is a race against time now to address global food hunger. In the Spotlight on Prime Time, Bharati Jagdish speaks with Duke Hipp, Director, Public...

The Lion City Sailors’ arrival as Singapore’s first privatised club shook the local football scene in 2020. Now two years on, the Sailors have released several of their highest-paid local footballers and The Straits Times understands that the club has also parted ways with a host of backroom staff. In The Straits Times' The Big Story, Multimedia Correspondent Hairianto Diman speaks with journalist...

The rising interest rates in Singapore are eroding buyers’ purchasing power which is dampening property demand in a significant manner. What will happen as these interest rates keep increasing given Singapore’s open economy and its strong correlation with the US interest rates?  In Powering Your Property on Prime Time, Bharati Jagdish speaks with Wong Xian Yang, Head of Research, Cushman & Wak...

While we may not be able to teleport you to the metaverse, we hope to get you thinking about the financial and economic implications of building the metaverse. Well, a recent analysis performed by Deloitte estimated that the impact of the metaverse to GDP in Asia could be between US$0.8 to 1.4 trillion per year by 2035. That’s roughly about 2.4 per cent of overall GDP.  Called “The metaverse in As...

Rare protests broke out across China over the weekend as groups of people vented their frustration over the zero-Covid policy. In The Spotlight, Prime Time’s Chua Tian Tian spoke with Jonathan Frewin, Senior journalist with BBC World Service Partner Hub in London for more on those developments as well as some of the other biggest stories they’re tracking in the week ahead.  See omnystudio.com/list...

Hong Kong has finally had its financial crown snatched by Singapore, moving up to third most important city for global finance after New York and London. Prime Time’s Chua Tian Tian speaks with David Black, Founder and CEO of Blackbox Research for a deep dive into Singaporeans and Hongkongers’ perceptions about the changing dynamics in the region.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informati...

US stocks got a boost last week from the latest minutes from the Federal Reserve’s November meeting, where the central bank is looking to hand out smaller rate hikes in the coming months. While economic data out of the US showed the US economy responding to the Fed’s four straight 75 basis point interest rate hikes, is it too early for markets to be optimistic?  Similarly, Fundstrat’s Tom Lee pred...

At the US midterm elections, Democrats took a majority in the Senate and while they lost the House, the result was very close. At the same time, Donald Trump announced his 2024 presidency bid. What does the US midterm election results mean to the Asian region? And if Trump becomes President again, and with Asia being more sensitive to Chinese growth and US financial conditions, how would that impa...