StarHub CEO on staying the dividend course through headwinds By Julian Wong
Julian Wong of Beansprout - When Nikhil Eapen became group CEO of StarHub in early 2021, he inherited a company in need of reinvention. StarHub had been built on a single insight: bundle everything. And for years, that was enough. Mobile, broadband, pay television, fixed line. StarHub was among the first telcos in the world to ...
Alpha, twice over: governing AI is good business
Kay Pang - DBS Bank runs more than 2,000 AI models across 430 use cases, generating approximately $1 billion in economic value in 2025. By any measure, it is one of the most AI-intensive financial institutions in the world. But AI adoption alone is no longer the differentiator. The question for Singapore’s b ...
Countdown to Anthropic’s trillion-dollar IPO in October
Assif Shameen - Get ready for another humongous IPO. The US$2 trillion ($2.54 trillion) listing in late June of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which controls satellite broadband giant StarLink with nearly 11,000 satellites orbiting the earth, will be followed by another IPO, at least half as big, four months later. Artifici ...
OCBC Hong Kong wants to grow wealth income by fivefold from 2023 levels
Kwan Wei Kevin Tan - Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) Hong Kong is looking to grow its wealth income this year by fivefold as compared to 2023, says the bank’s CEO Wang Ke during a media briefing on May 15. “That [gives us a] meaningful target. Though I cannot continue to grow at that neck breaking pace go ...
OpenAI is so yesterday — even for SoftBank
Shuli Ren of Bloomberg Opinion - SoftBank Group Corp founder Masayoshi Son is known for making audacious multibillion-dollar bets. Some acquisition deals, such as the one involving chip designer Arm Holdings, have paid off nicely, while others, most notably WeWork Inc, have become big flops. So what about OpenAI, by far Son’s lar ...
‘Quite confident’ of double-digit top-line growth in 2026: OCBC’s Hong Kong chief
Renald Yeo - To support the franchise’s wealth ambitions, the lender will increase its relationship manager headcount in the city by 30% in 2026
Giving thanks for small blessings
Chew Sutat - My semi-annual retreat to Japan in May this year brought me to Shikoku, the smallest of the country’s four main islands, which is notable for its round-island pilgrimage route in honour of the ninth-century monk Kukai. Pilgrims undertake a 1,400km round-island trek over 60 days, visiting 88 Buddhi ...
China and the new trade reality
Daryl Guppy - Recent weeks have brought game-changing developments for companies working with China. While larger firms are feeling the immediate impact, smaller businesses cannot ignore these shifts, as the effects will inevitably spread through the market. Any entity operating between China and the US now finds ...
Meet the biggest winners of Bursa’s IPO boom
John Lai of The Edge Malaysia - What do Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, the husband-and-wife team behind 99 Speed Mart, the founding brothers of Mr DIY, and private equity firm Creador have in common? They all walked away with a massive windfall of hundreds of millions — and, in some cases, billions — of ringgit follo ...
From billions to trillions: Can platforms unlock climate finance at scale in Asia?
Munib Madni and Varad Pande - The conflict in the Middle East is a reminder that dependence on fossil fuels carries not only climate costs, but also strategic and economic risks. The focus on energy security also strengthens the case for mobilising capital into renewables, grids and other transition investments to reduce Asia’ ...
Investing what-ifs: Conducting a scenario analysis
Thiveyen Kathirrasan - Nothing is ever certain in finance and investing, except taxes, maybe. Whether investors are practically investing or trying to understand the concept of risk and return, they should attempt to account for as many probabilities as possible. These probabilities can broadly be grouped into three what- ...
Singapore’s Horizon Quantum seeks to capitalise on quantum computing’s turning point
Benjamin Cher - The company creates tools that allow conventional software developers to code for quantum systems
BOJ expected to raise rates to 1.0% in June, hike again in October-December
TOKYO, May 15 : The Bank of Japan will raise its key interest rate to 1.0 per cent in June, nearly two-thirds of economists said in a Reuters poll, as it presses ahead with efforts to normalise monetary policy amid rising inflation concerns from the war in Iran.The policy rate was held steady at 0.7 ...
Regrouping in the fog of war, with market narratives derailed
Robert Tipp - Year four of the bond bull market started calmly, albeit with a range of ongoing concerns. AI investment was driving a surge in long-dated issuance amid nagging doubts about eventual revenue generation and potential negative economic impacts. Meanwhile, a few credit “mishaps” begged the question ...
World Bank forecasts Vietnam 2026 economic growth to slow to 6.8%
HANOI, May 15 : Vietnam's economic growth is expected to slow to 6.8 per cent this year from an expansion of 8 per cent last year, the World Bank said on Friday. The country's outlook remains solid but risks remain elevated in the near term, the bank said in a statement. • "Softer g ...
Troubled platform UCars founded by group of dealers wound up on S$4 million debt
Derryn Wong - Winding up application filed on Feb 23 after previous legal tussles between company and its main shareholder
The consensus on China’s economy is strong — and wrong
Arvind Subramanian - Is China’s development model short-changing domestic consumers? Although there is almost universal agreement that it is, that does not make it true. Among the various forms that this argument takes, the simplest is based on the mercantilist–free trade dichotomy: China’s model is mercantilist a ...
South Korea’s Kospi races from 7,000 to record 8,000 in seven sessions
The benchmark stock index trades at 8.6 times forward earnings
Samsung's South Korean union sticks to strike plan after talks offer; shares slide
SEOUL, May 15 : Samsung Electronics' South Korean labour union said on Friday it remained committed to a planned strike starting next week, even after the company proposed resuming pay talks without conditions, sending shares down as much as 5.9 per cent. Government-mediated negotiations betwee ...
Buybacks and capital discipline drive value-up
SmartKarma Research - Singapore’s equity market entered the second quarter against a more complex macro backdrop. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) eased monetary policy in April amid moderating inflation and softer external demand conditions, while advance estimates showed the domestic economy continuing to ex ...
Alphabet sells yen bonds worth $3.6 billion, largest such issue by foreign company
TOKYO, May 15 : Alphabet has sold 576.5 billion yen ($3.6 billion) in yen-denominated bonds, a term sheet showed on Friday, the largest-ever issue by a foreign company.It is the first yen-denominated debt issue for Alphabet, which like other tech giants is in the midst of a huge investment programme ...
‘Disappointing’ 1Q prompts analysts to lower Genting Singapore’s target price
The Edge Singapore - Genting Singapore, which operates the Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) integrated resort, suffered a sell-off after reporting much lower results for 1QFY2026 ended March, prompting lower price targets from various analysts. Chee Zheng Feng of DBS Group Research has downgraded his call for Genting Singapo ...
Should we be worried about the high LTVs of Japanese assets?
Goola Warden - Recently, an email from a reader cautioned that Japanese portfolios with leverage of almost 100% could pose a risk to S-REITs. This prompted a closer look at Japanese assets within locally listed REITs, sparking the question: Should we be worried about the high loan-to-value (LTV) ratios of Japanese ...
Burberry’s high-fashion bet faltered. Now it’s back to trench coats and check
After pushing too far upmarket, Burberry is returning to classic trench coats, scarves and its famous check pattern – a more accessible strategy that looks a lot like Coach’s playbook.
Japan may face more price hikes for food, hot spring facilities, central bank says
TOKYO, May 15 : Japan may face another round of broad-based price increases around summer, as firms ranging from food makers to hot spring facilities consider passing on soaring energy costs from the Middle East conflict, the central bank said on Friday.Shedding their long-held practice of keeping p ...
US expects ‘double-digit billions’ in Chinese farm purchases after Trump-Xi summit, USTR Greer says
Traders are closely watching for any reduction in soybean tariffs
Japan's Q1 GDP likely rose on firm exports
TOKYO, May 15 : Japan's economy is expected to have grown for a second quarter in January-March, supported by recovering exports and solid domestic demand, although the full impact of the Iran war had yet to be felt, a Reuters poll showed on Friday.• Gross domestic product (GDP) in real terms ...
Singapore’s start-up ecosystem needs more than growth capital to succeed
Kwan Wei Kevin Tan - Singapore’s capital market ecosystem has been drawing increased attention from policymakers lately. In August 2024, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) set up the Equities Market Review Group to come up with measures to strengthen Singapore’s stock market. The group, which was chaired by N ...
Broker's Digest: AIMS, Aoxin, AvePoint, Beng Kuang, MUST, Starhub, UMS
The Edge Singapore - AIMS APAC REITPrice target: RHB Bank Singapore ‘buy’ $1.70
Men with a vision
Kwan Wei Kevin Tan - Fresh off a $3 million investment from Philip Yeo’s EDIS, Mencast group executive chairman and CEO Glenndle Sim says AI and additive manufacturing will take his marine engineering company to the next level. When Mencast group founder Sim Gok Hian started his career in the offshore and marine secto ...
OpenAI explores legal options against Apple: source
The AI startup fails to see expected benefits from its deal with iPhone maker
From attracting MNCs to building up local champs
Kwan Wei Kevin Tan - Abel Ang started his career at the Economic Development Board (EDB). He continues to drive Singapore’s economic growth at Economic Development Innovations Singapore, an investment holding company founded by former EDB chairman Philip Yeo Abel Ang might have made his mark in biotech as the founding ...
Toyota files to build $2 billion assembly line in Texas
May 14 : Toyota Motor has sought approval to build a new vehicle assembly line at its existing manufacturing complex in Texas with about $2 billion in planned investment, according to a filing.• Construction at the proposed project in San Antonio, named "Project Orca", is expected to beg ...
AEM knocks DBS off pedestal as top value traded stock after crossing S$10 barrier
Shikhar Gupta - CSE Global also climbs as much as 7.9% to all-time high as tech stock rally continues
