Your Way Home with Hongbin Jeong

In the Spotlight on Prime Time, Bharati Jagdish speaks with Jonathan Frewin, Senior Journalist with BBC World Service partner hub in London, about some of the top stories they are tracking this week, including the significance of the US midterm elections, prospects of a future Donald Trump’s presidency and what to look out for at this week’s ASEAN summit in Cambodia.  See omnystudio.com/listener f...

If you’re familiar with Advanced Air Mobility, the industry has been talking about air taxis and doorstep drone deliveries – but what about the everyday people that will drive this reality? Prime Time's Bharati Jagdish speaks with Skyports’ Head of APAC, Yun Yuan Tay on how the industry will impact the manpower sector and how Singaporeans can prepare for a career in this emerging space.  See omnys...

When we think about the telecommunications industry, we often think about the major telco players such as Singtel, StarHub and M1 and you have it. But which are the telco providers facilitating your call with your ride hailing driver while hiding the phone number of either party? That’s where cloud communications operators like Toku come in. But how do these companies differ from traditional telec...

As markets continue to mull the Fed’s interest rate hikes, we want to switch gears to take a look at growth forecasts for the following year.  Well, according to an Economist Intelligence Unit or EIU report, global real GDP growth is expected to come in at just 1.7% in 2023, as the war in Ukraine, lockdowns in China and supply chain disruptions continue to hurt growth. But why is this the case, an...

The world faces a life threatening climate crisis. One big question is who should pay for all the damages caused by climate change? With the COP27 taking place in Egypt, in the Spotlight, Prime Time’s Melissa Hyak speaks with Annika Brouwer, Sustainability Analyst, Ninety One - a global investment manager with a strong commitment to the planet - on what to expect when world leaders meet. Produced...

A survey of more than 1,000 food delivery workers here found that they are working long hours with modest pay. What can be done to help workers in this sector? On the Straits Times The Big Story, Multimedia journalist Cheow Sue-Ann speaks with Mathew Mathews, Principal Research Fellow and Head at IPS Social Lab for more. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Southeast Asia’s booming internet economy is set to double to $363 billion by 2025, eclipsing the previous forecast of $300 billion. With digitalization evolving at such a rapid speed, host Melissa Hyak speaks with Winsley Bangit, Chief Customer Officer, GCash, the Philippines’ biggest mobile wallet, mobile payments and branchless banking service to find out how they're making a stronger push for...

US and Asian economies are at the front and centre of our discussion. Over in the US, the Federal Reserve had raised interest rates by yet another 75 basis points overnight.  While the Fed’s decision was largely in line with market expectations, we want to deep dive into the Fed’s statement for clues on whether a slowdown in rate hikes is in sight. Elsewhere, more tensions between Russia and Ukrai...

Work-lifestyle changes post-COVID have spurred new tech solutions for homes, including innovations that promote sustainability and increase cost savings. In The Spotlight, Prime Time’s Bharati Jagdish speaks with Bijoy Mohan, Leader, LIXIL International on some of these trends and on how developers remain profitable while pursuing sustainability in their development projects. Produced and edited b...

While fintech has accelerated the onboarding of the unbanked and underbanked onto the financial ecosystem in the last two decades, there are still over a billion people who remain outside and on the fringes. On Prime Time, Bharati Jagdish speaks with Nicole Valentine, FinTech Director of the Center for Financial Markets at the Milken Institute to find out what more can be done to improve financial...

Tech Talk, Prime Time’s Bharati Jagdish speaks with Sandeep Malhotra, Executive Vice President, Products & Innovation, Asia Pacific, Mastercard to find out why consumers in Asia Pacific are among the most enthusiastic adopters of digital payments globally and what that means for businesses’ adopting technology to generate new revenue streams and reach new audiences in an increasingly digital w...

A dedicated research programme was launched on Thursday which will allow Singapore to pull together pandemic experts to respond to future infectious disease outbreak threats. The Programme for Research in Epidemic Preparedness and Response, or Prepare, will link up experts from various disciplines as well as government agencies to tackle such threats. We hear from Health Minister Ong Ye Kung and W...

It's all about sodas and snacks today. Speaking of sodas and snacks, PepsiCo released its third quarter corporate results just a couple of weeks ago, where it expects to see 2022 organic revenue rise 12%, up from 10% earlier.  Media reports point to the ability for PepsiCo to pass on higher prices as the reasons for those good numbers - but what is PepsiCo APAC's response to that? Also, how has co...

Electric vehicles (EVs) made up more than 10 percent of all new car registrations so far in 2022. The monthly EV registration adoption rate in September hit a new high of 19 percent, nearly triple the monthly adoption rate seen in 2021. On the Straits Times, the Big Story, Multimedia Correspondent, Hairianto Diman speaks with Senior transport correspondent Lee Nian Tjoe to discuss plans in place t...

According to data from Enterprise Singapore or Enterprise SG, funding activities have increased exponentially to reach S$14.7 billion in 2021, growing at a pace of more than 45% per annum between 2017 and 2021.  And for the first half of this year alone, funding has reached S$8.18 billion, up 54% from the same period last year.  Despite the healthy figures, Enterprise SG warned last week of a weak...

Ransomware remains a top cyber risk for organisations globally while business email compromise incidents are on the rise and will increase further in the 'deep fake' era. Authorities and companies are pulling out all the stops to tackle cybercriminals and central to these all is data protection. In the Spotlight, Prime Time’s Bharati Jagdish speaks with Matthew Oostveen, Chief Technology Officer &...

Malaysia’s ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) is expected to unveil its slate of candidates for the Nov 19 general election on Tuesday evening. The Straits Times has learnt that several Umno figures in the caretaker Cabinet are likely to be dropped from the candidate list, and popular Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has yet to secure a constituency. In The Straits Times' The Big Story, Multimedia Jour...

UK real estate has long been seen as a stable store of value, providing attractive yields in a politically stable environment. There have been a lot of new factors that have impacted the UK property market in recent years, from Brexit, the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, rising interest rates to new leadership changes as Rishi Sunak becomes the third UK PM in just seven weeks, succeeding Li...

US and European economies are in focus today. In the US, markets are betting for the Federal Reserve to announce its fourth straight 75 basis points interest rate hikes.  At the same time, markets are expecting the Fed to pause its interest rate hike cycle somewhere down the road to see how the economy handles the higher rates. But can the Fed afford to do so and if it can, when will this be?  Els...

In the Spotlight on Prime Time, Bharati Jagdish speaks with Rich Preston, Senior World News Reporter / Presenter, at the BBC in London on some of the global headlines they are tracking this week, starting with the tragic crowd crush in Itaewon, South Korea; and the South Korea and the US joint military drills this week, Israel elections as well as COP27.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy in...

Headline-grabbing million dollar HDB flats in Singapore sees unrelenting demand with a record 45 flats sold.  Prime Time’s Bharati Jagdish finds out what else to expect from the exuberant HDB resale market, even in the face of rising interest rates with Nicholas Mak, Head of Research and Consultancy at ERA Realty. They also discuss the Housing Board’s deficit climbing to a record $4.367 billion in...

The Housing Board’s deficit climbed to a record $4.367 billion in the financial year ended March 31, about 86 per cent higher than $2.346 billion the year before. On the Straits Times The Big Story, Multimedia correspondent, Hairianto Diman speaks with Housing correspondent at the Straits Times, Michelle Ng to explain what this deficit means to consumers. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy in...

Increasingly, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments and other institutional asset owners are evolving their investment strategies to account for impacts of a fast changing market. That could mean adopting their own unique Environmental, Social and Governance or ESG objectives or other climate investing goals.  To better tap this trend, index compiler MSCI came up with a new product tha...

In the Spotlight, Prime Time's Bharati Jagdish speaks with Pushan Dutt, Professor of economics and political sciences at INSEAD about the leadership in the US, the UK and China and how it will affect the global outlook moving forward.  Produced by Anthea Ng ( nganthea@sph.com.sg ) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Many small and medium sized businesses have seized the chance to expand into e-commerce over the past two years of the pandemic and now stand at the cusp of booming opportunities globally. So how can Singapore born and bred businesses grow locally and globally to reach customers everywhere? Prime Time’s Bharati Jagdish speaks with Anand Palit, Head of Global Selling, Southeast Asia, Amazon to find...