9 February 2023
Why It Matters: Is Singapore’s outsized credit card debt a ticking bomb to watch?
Singapore's credit card spending of S$20 billion in Q3 2022 is the highest since 2010's level at about S$4 billion.
Will this credit card spending trend continue in 2023 and what could it mean for the broader banking sector asset quality amid a weaker growth outlook and rising recession fears?
Rena Kwok, Credit Analyst, Asian Financials, Bloomberg Intelligence shares her insights on the latest report.

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26 January 2023
Market View: Outlook for Singapore’s banking sector and Singapore banks’ dollar Tier 2 bonds in 2023, Higher interest rates on Thailand’s household debt and mortgage default rates, Possibility of Thai borrowers turning to unsecured retail products
The credit market is in focus today as tightening monetary conditions and trade tensions continue to dampen global market activity.
We’ll start from home in Singapore. Earlier, market reports suggested that Singapore’s three largest banks could see a possible increase in bad loans and softer loan growth this year, but which are the risks to watch and which bank will be best-placed to weather the economic slowdown?
Further away, JP Morgan is expecting to see Thailand’s interest rates peak this quarter at 1.75 per cent, but how would this impact the country’s banking sector amid elevated levels of household debt? And to what extent would higher interest rates make borrowers turn to unsecured retail products?
On Market View, Prime Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Rena Kwok, Credit Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.

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10 November 2022
Market View: South Korean insurer Heungkuk Life Insurance's flip flop move, South Korean bond rout, Thailand's banking sector outlook
South Korean and Thai credit markets are at the heart of our discussion today. Speaking of South Korea, the country has been scrambling to prevent a credit market meltdown from sparking broader contagion, after local corporate bonds suffered one of the most rapid sell-offs in the past three months.
More recently, South Korean insurer Heungkuk Life Insurance said it’ll delay the buying back of perpetual bonds,citing unfavourable market conditions and the US Federal Reserve’s hawkish stance.
That move triggered a perpetual bond rout in Asia. While Heungkuk Life has decided to reverse its earlier move to exercise a call option on its perpetual notes, we want to find out the outlook for South Korea’s bond markets.
Closer to home, investors continue to watch Thailand’s banking sector even as the country recovers from the troughs of the pandemic. But why is this the case?
On Market View, Prime Time's finance presenter spoke with, Rena Kwok, Credit Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence for more.

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30 September 2022
Market View: Impact of property cooling measures on Singapore banks, rate hikes on Asian banks, performance of digital vs. traditional banks in South Korea
Credit markets and the performance of banks in Asia are on our list today after recent jumbo rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve rattled markets and hurt demand for homes and mortgages. Just look at Hong Kong - the city’s home prices, for one, fell 2.3% in August from a month ago, the lowest in over three years. In Singapore, major banks such as UOB and DBS Bank have temporarily ceased their fixed rate home loans for now to review their rates. Plus - cooling measures announced by the local government last night.

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31 August 2022
Money and Me: How likely and to what extent could Singapore Banks suffer credit losses?
What does the potential headwind of "higher-for-longer inflation" mean for Singapore banks across their entire portfolio? Michelle Martin finds out with Rena Kwok, Credit Analyst, Bloomberg intelligence

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8 February 2022
Market View: Unpacking OCBC and Singapore Banks' Approaches to Managing Surplus Capital
Bloomberg Intelligence issued a report on how Singapore's banks manage their surplus capital, and in particular OCBC's relatively more conservative approach and if it highlights any potential weaknesses for Singapore's second largest lender. JP Ong spoke to Rena Kwok, Credit Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, about their findings a week before Singapore's banks release their latest earnings.

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3 November 2021
Across the ASEAN: Reviewing Asset Quality Trends for UOB and OCBC
UOB and OCBC released quarterly earnings that impressed for the most part, but how good is the asset quality for these lenders, as well as credit cost trends facing the 2 banks? Rena Kwok, Credit Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, joined us on Across the ASEAN to recap the report cards for UOB and OCBC, and also talk about potential exposure for Singapore's lenders to housing property risks in China. She also shared her recent research on banks in the Philippines and Thailand.

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