Singapore

Malaysia and other Asian economies prepare for the effects of the Trump trade war as tariffs present both opportunities and risks.
Asia, China, Market, Singapore, USA, World

Malaysia and other Asian economies prepare for the effects of the Trump trade war as tariffs present both opportunities and risks.

Some Asian countries stand to gain if US president-elect Donald Trump pushes ahead with his promised massive tariffs on China and triggers a new wave of factory relocations to the rest of the region. But a trade war between the world’s biggest economies would also destabilise markets everywhere, with Asia — which contributes the largest share of global growth — the most affected. Trump, who won a crushing presidential victory this week, vowed during his campaign to slap 60 per cent tariffs on all Chinese goods entering the United States in an attempt to balance trade between the two nations. Analysts however question whether the new president will stick to such a high figure, and dispute the blow such tariffs could inflect on the Chinese economy, estimating GDP could be lowered b...
Asian Financial Institutions Are at Risk Due to AI Adoption Lag in the Face of Increasing Financial Crime
Asia, China, Market, Singapore, USA, World

Asian Financial Institutions Are at Risk Due to AI Adoption Lag in the Face of Increasing Financial Crime

AI-based transaction monitoring, sanctions screening, and fraud prevention deliver proven benefits as adoption gains traction New research from SymphonyAI and Regulation Asia reveals legacy systems, data quality, model explainability, data privacy, and regulatory uncertainty hinder AI adoption in financial crime compliance. Only 15% of Asian FIs report "advanced" AI integration in their compliance functions, leaving significant untapped potential. Financial crime, particularly money laundering, represents an escalating threat, accounting for up to 6.7% of global GDP. Palo Alto, Calif., (ANTARA/PRNewswire)- SymphonyAI, a leader in predictive and generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) SaaS products for the enterprise, today launched a new report with Regulation Asia, revea...
Asia, China, Market, Singapore, USA, World

Review of climate-related financial disclosure regimes around the world

1. Australia On 27 March 2024, the Australian Government released the Treasury Laws Amendment (Financial Market Infrastructure and Other Measures) Bill 2024 (Cth) (Bill) outlining the implementation of the country’s proposed mandatory CRFD regime. The Bill contained only minor amendments to the original exposure draft developed by the Treasury at the start of 2023. The Bill is currently before Parliament, where it has passed the Lower House without amendment and is expected to pass the Upper House by the end of June or early July 2024. It is proposed that the reporting requirements will be phased in over the next few years across three groups of corporations. These groups will be determined based on whether companies meet at least two of the three criteria pertaining to re...
Asia, Market, Singapore

India attends Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) Ministerial meeting in Singapore

Indian delegation led by Secretary, Department of Commerce, Shri Sunil Barthwal participated in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) Ministerial meeting held in Singapore on 6 June 2024. The IPEF Ministerial Statement of 14 November 2023 declared substantial conclusion of negotiations for Clean Economy, Fair Economy, and the overarching Agreement on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity. Pursuant to this, the IPEF partners completed legal review of the text for these agreements and domestic approval processes. Today, IPEF members signed these agreements which are first-of-their-kind approaches to addressing 21st century challenges and strengthening economic engagement across a critical region. India actively participated in the signing proceedings a...
China, Market, Singapore

Monetary Authority of Singapore and People’s Bank of China Advance Collaboration in Green and Transition Finance

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the People’s Bank of China (PBC) discussed initiatives to advance cooperation in green and transition finance between China and Singapore at the 2nd China-Singapore Green Finance Taskforce (GFTF) meeting held on 20 May 2024. The initiatives discussed covered the alignment of taxonomies, facilitation of green finance flows, and the development of a decarbonisation rating platform. The GFTF was set up in 2023, with three workstreams led by private and public sector players which focus on initiatives to scale up green and transition financing flows between Singapore, China and the region. The 2nd GFTF meeting progressed on the joint initiatives under each workstream and discussed the following: Taxonomies and Definitions: MAS and P...
China, Market, Singapore

Wall Street Journal cuts Hong Kong staff, shifts focus to Singapore

Hong Kong, China – The Wall Street Journal has announced staff cuts at its Hong Kong bureau as it shifts its “center of gravity in the region” to Singapore, marking the latest blow to the financial hub’s once-thriving media industry. Editor-in-chief Emma Tucker told staff in a company-wide memo on Thursday that the newspaper was following the same path that “many of the companies we cover have done”. The cuts include six editorial staff in Hong Kong and two reporters at the newspaper’s Singapore office, two sources familiar with the matter told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity. In her memo, Tucker said “some of our colleagues, mostly in Hong Kong, will be leaving us”, while listing several new positions in Singapore, including an editor and several reporters. “At the ...
A revised economics for growth that is inclusive
Singapore, World

A revised economics for growth that is inclusive

In their book, Breaking the Mould: Reimagining India’s Economic Future, Raghuram Rajan and Rohit Lamba recommend that India give up its policies to build its manufacturing sector and jump straight to export more high-end services. This is surprising because this is what India has been trying to do in the last 30 years, with very poor outcomes. Insufficient jobs and incomes are the Achilles heel of India’s economy. The signs are visible outside economists’ datasets, in the social and political arenas. Farmers are demanding better prices and informal sector workers and contract workers, fair wages and social security. The economy cannot be in good shape when 60% of Indians, cutting across castes and religions, are classified as “economically weaker sections” entitled to job reservations....
Rich Chinese people escape crackdowns for Singapore, dubbed “Asia’s Switzerland”
Singapore

Rich Chinese people escape crackdowns for Singapore, dubbed “Asia’s Switzerland”

Some residents are uneasy as Chinese riches pours into the Southeast Asian city-state. Bao Fan, one of China's most well-known investment financiers, was said to have been searching for a secure location to store his riches before going missing in the middle of February. The Financial Times reported last month, citing four individuals familiar with the plans, that Bao, the creator of China Renaissance, was creating a private asset management firm in Singapore to move money out of China and Hong Kong. Bao is just one of an increasing number of rich Chinese businesspeople who have turned to Singapore, known as the "Switzerland of Asia," to avoid Beijing's crackdowns on the private sector and graft. Bao has joined a lengthy list of important businessmen who have mysteriously vanishe...
Singapore and Hong Kong compete to become Asia’s Cayman Islands.
Singapore

Singapore and Hong Kong compete to become Asia’s Cayman Islands.

New fund arrangements have been established in the two cities in an effort to draw money away from established foreign financial centers. The epidemic in 2020 prevented movement and closed boundaries. However, two of Asia's largest financial centers simultaneously recognized a chance to change the global center of gravity for hedge funds and the richest families in the world. The "variable capital company," a fund structure created by Singapore, enables a broad variety of prospective users to conceal sizable capital amounts in covert, minimally taxable vehicles based in a well-managed financial center. The "open-ended fund company," a comparable framework that Hong Kong had created two years earlier, was improved. The vehicles pose a direct threat to already-established foreign f...
South Korea needs more babies and immigrants
Asia, China, Market, Singapore, World

South Korea needs more babies and immigrants

South Korea greeted the new year by recording its first annual population decline. Unfortunately, the go-to solutions are meeting some practical challenges in the COVID-19 era. Headcount dwindled slightly to 51.8 million last year, the Ministry of Interior and Safety said Sunday. The retreat was the product of a 10.6% slide in births, coupled with a 3.1% increase in deaths. South Korea now joins neighboring Japan in suffering an actual fall in population, as opposed to the diminishing rates of growth that characterized past years. The ministry called for “fundamental changes,” national news agency Yonhap reported, without offering details. South Korea’s demographic challenges partly stem from family-planning measures imposed by military-backed administrations in the 1960s, which aimed to...