Singapore

Document turnaround time for banks which adopted DocuSign was cut by an average of 50%.

More than 100 units were sold in November.

EV and tech are the key themes amongst Singaporean investors.

The SBR team will see you on 9 January 2023.

The company wins at the 2022 SBR Management Excellence Awards.

The buyer, Royal Group of Companies, plans to redevelop the site.   Family office Royal Group of Companies has purchased shopping mall Ming Arcade for S$172m via a public tender exercise which closed on 15 December, announced the sale’s exclusive marketing agent Savills Singapore.   The purchase set a new price benchmark in the Lion City, exceeding the previous price record of $2,910 per square foot per plot ratio that was set with the purchase of Park House by Hong Kong-listed Shun Tak Holdings in 2018.   Situated at a corner plot along Cuscaden Road, Ming Arcade is a 7-storey commercial complex with 3 basement levels and a total of 88 strata units. Royal Group of Companies plans to redevelop Ming Arcade.   The freehold 12,132 sq ft site is zoned commercial and has an existing gross floor area of 55,046 sq ft. This is equivalent to plot ratio of 4.54, and has a height control of up to 20-storeys.   Royal Group of Companies is a Singapore-based family office with investment in a wide array of asset classes ranging from hospitality, office towers & retail, residential, industrial, and conserved assets across the Asia Pacific region and beyond. Notable assets include the Sofitel Singapore Sentosa Resort & Spa and Singapore’s upcoming second Raffles Hotel in Sentosa. 

The property is a freehold residential site located within Cairnhill.

Overall, residential prices will increase by 7% next year.

Decreases in both electronics and non-electronics exports drove the decline in NODX.

The group’s passenger capacity also increased during the month.

The assets have an average age of less than three years.

The information and communications sector saw the most increase in retrenchment rate.

Euromonitor said Singapore is the first place globally in economic performance.

Ben Breen of PMI talks about the importance of power skills and the role they play

Investments in AI are at an accelerating pace for DBS, UOB, and OCBC.   Banks in the Lion City have been deploying AI and big data at an accelerating pace, analysts from Maybank said.   Amongst the banks that are investing in these technologies are DBS, OCBC, and UOB.   For instance, DBS allocated $1b annually for the past four years. In fact, the bank sent out 30 million personalised insights to 3.5 million customers.   Another bank investing in such tech is UOB, which sought to spend $500m to scale digital offerings until 2026, on top of the average $535m spent on technology yearly in the past four years.   OCBC also made its technological investments such as the AI lab it already launched in 2019.    “These investments are now reaching commerciality, enabling the banks to leverage customer data and relationship-driven insights,” read the report.   What these advancements are doing is to allow banks to leverage customer data as well as relationship-driven insights.   For example, in retail banking, it is initially translating into serving up personalised product offerings including discounts and targeted deals.   The advanced tech also offers customised insights on customer spending habits and automated assistance on payments and subscriptions are becoming standard offerings on their digital apps.

Almost all travellers plan to travel at least once next year despite inflation.