Singapore Morning News For November 2

Singapore unveils plan to bolster its status as an Asian financial hub
Singapore unveiled a roadmap for strengthening its status as a financial hub in Asia, with the aim of growing the sector more than 4 percent a year and creating thousands of jobs.
— Manila Bulletin

Commentary: The future for Singapore’s energy burns bright
According to a study by the Sustainable Energy Association of Singapore, solar energy could possibly meet as much as a quarter of Singapore’s energy needs in 2025, said Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean at the Singapore International Energy Week (SIEW) last week.
— Channel NewsAsia

Singapore offers help to promote RuPay card overseas
Singapore has offered assistance to promote India’s digital payment network RuPay card overseas by becoming its first international partner.
— The Economic Times

What Singapore’s Radical Preacher Ban Says About ASEAN’s Terror War
Earlier this week, the Singapore government said that it would not allow two foreign Islamic preachers to enter Singapore as part of a religious-themed cruise set to take place in late November. The move is just the latest in a series of steps that Singapore is taking to crack down on radical ideology, and it also exposes both the city-state’s growing alarm at the terrorism threat as well as the lingering challenges states face in addressing it.
— The Diplomat

Visa Approves Monaco Cryptocurrency Card for Singapore Residents
Visa Inc. has approved a prepaid card backed by the cryptocurrency Monaco as the world’s largest payments network continues its foray into digital currencies.
— Bloomberg

Collaborations launched in Singapore to explore sustainable energy solutions and digitalisation for maritime industry
At the annual Singapore Maritime Institute (SMI) Forum on October 31, several initiatives were launched to deepen research capabilities for a stronger maritime innovation ecosystem.
— Open Gov Asia

Concerns raised over Singapore’s MRT’s corporate culture
In light of the serious lapse in SMRT’s maintenance regime, corporate governance experts are expressing concern over its corporate culture, given that public scrutiny on rail reliability has intensified in recent years, and there were tell-tale signs of weaknesses it did not catch.
— The Malay Mail Online

Cutting-edge drones and unmanned vehicles to boost Singapore’s surveillance capabilities
As wars are increasingly won and lost on urban battlefields, defence research and development organisation DSO has produced a game-changer in the region in terms of how surveillance is done.
— Channel NewsAsia

New initiatives to modernise logistics sector
A network of parcel lockers around the island and a trading system billed as the “Airbnb of cargo space” are in the works as part of a new plan to modernise the logistics sector.
— The New Paper

Singapore looks to fintech for the future of its financial sector
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has published an Industry Transformation Map (ITM) outlining its plan to cement the country’s status as a leading global financial center in Asia.
— Business Insider

Cathay Pacific’s new customer experience in Singapore
An innovative and seamless travel experience, in addition to a spectacular and spacious lounge, is what Cathay Pacific’s South African customers can look forward to when the brand-newTerminal 4 at Singapore’s Changi Airport opens today, 31 October 2017.
— IOL

Singapore seeks to muscle in on market for catastrophe bonds
Singapore has fired the latest shots in the growing global battle for the catastrophe bond market, promising to pay the upfront costs of new issues.
— The Financial Times

MAS grant part of Singapore’s aim to be insurance capital
To provide financing quickly in the aftermath of regional disasters or catastrophic losses, Singapore has moved to develop alternative risk transfer mechanisms such as insurance-linked securities (ILS) and government pools.
— The Straits Times (paywall)

S$216,000 worth of drugs seized at Petir Road
Two suspected drug traffickers were arrested and S$216,000 worth of drugs were seized, the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) said in a media release on Wednesday (Nov 1).
— Channel NewsAsia

1.37m Singaporeans to receive GST voucher in November
About 1.37 million eligible Singaporeans will get S$280 million in GST vouchers this month, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said in a press release on Wednesday (Nov 1).
— Channel NewsAsia

Grab launches e-payment platform, with 25 eateries first to join
Twenty five eateries – including homegrown bakery chain Cedele and a row of drinks and food stalls along Telok Ayer Street – are the first to come onboard the electronic payment platform set up by ride-hailing firm Grab.
— Today Online

Private banks in Asia shifting the game towards advisory
THE private-banking segment is expected to edge away from a brokerage model towards advisory, amid moves by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) this week to grow the financial sector into a global force.
— The Business Times

S’pore firm Novoflex could turn making of SIM cards on its head
A HOMEGROWN company has developed a first-of-its-kind technological process that could revolutionise the making of SIM cards and even devices for the Internet of Things (IoT) globally, The Business Times has learnt.
— The Business Times

Mission launched to fight antibiotics-resistant microbes
Microbes are becoming increasingly resistant to drugs, largely caused by the overuse or abuse of medication like antibiotics.
— The New Paper

Feature photo Aapo Haapanen
Find our previous morning news feature photos in the AEC News Today Morning News Feature Photos gallery where you will find a pictorial display of daily life throughout the Asean Economic Community (AEC).

Singapore morning news by AEC News Today is your one stop source for Singapore news on matters of governance and policies affecting Asean business communities. It is published M-F by AEC News Today: Governance, not government; policies not politics.

Singapore Morning News For November 2 added by Leakhena Khat on November 2, 2017
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Leakhena Khat

Leakhena is a junior journalist at AEC News Today who is also currently studying International Relations, which she finds adds perspective to her work reporting on the Asean Community.

“I love what I am doing so much as it gives me a lot of great experience and provides challenges to my mind.