Money Matters with Hongbin Jeong and Chua Tian Tian

Singapore’s indie film community is reeling: The Projector, long cherished as a cultural refuge for cinephiles and creatives, has shut its doors after more than a decade.  Rising costs and dwindling cinema audiences played their part, but its closure raises bigger questions.  Is this the end of an era for independent cinema here, or a symptom of shifting cultural appetites in a city that’s always racing ahead? On The Big Story, Hongbin Jeong speaks with Dr Jinna Tay, Senior Lecturer, Communications And New Media, National University of Singapore, to find out more.

Precious metals continued their powerful climb, with gold and silver gaining momentum as inflation concerns, dollar weakness, and industrial demand all came to a head. Investors are flocking to hard assets, not just for safety, but for opportunity, as green tech and clean energy sectors drive a surge in demand, especially for silver, platinum, and palladium. At the same time, the US dollar is under pressure, with fiscal instability and expected rate cuts weighing heavily on confidence. And while crypto assets like Bitcoin have shown resilience, regulatory uncertainty still clouds the picture.  So how should investors position themselves in this rapidly shifting environment? What’s the smart move amid a world of rising debt, slowing growth, and accelerating structural change? On Wealth Tracker, Hongbin Jeong speaks to Zvika (Zack) Rotbart, Director of Business Development, J. Rotbart & Co., to find out more. 

Gex Academy is a pioneering digital upskilling platform and a subsidiary of Gex Ventures, dedicated to empowering Singaporeans, particularly older workers and those affected by market disruption with practical, income-generating skills. The Academy bridges the gap between traditional education and real-world opportunities, focusing on hands-on learning that enables students to immediately monetize their knowledge. And with students ranging from their 40s to even their 70s, Gex Academy provides tailored support, combining digital strategy, practical workshops, and community mentorship to ensure learners succeed in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. On The Right Business, Hongbin Jeong speaks to Dr Patrick Liew, CEO, Gex Ventures, to find out how they’re helping older professionals overcome barriers, gain new skills, and unlock meaningful opportunities in today’s workforce.

Singapore shares rose to buck regional movements today.  The Straits Times Index was up 0.26% at 4,227.31 points at 2.23pm Singapore time, with a value turnover of S$825.56M seen in the broader market. In terms of counters to watch, we have CapitaLand Investment. That’s as the global real asset manager said yesterday that it will provide retail advisory services to Malaysian property developer Astaka for a new mixed-use project in Johor worth RM1.2 billion (S$364.5 million) in gross development value.  Elsewhere, from how prices on Grab briefly jumped about a hundred times from the usual rates briefly today, to how shares of Pop Mart International Group rose to a new record on the back of news of a mini Labubu – more corporate and international headlines remain in focus. On Market View, Money Matters’ finance presenter Chua Tian Tian unpacked the developments with Too Jun Cheong, Dealing Manager from Moomoo Singapore.

Imagine giving your life to football - close to 100 caps for Singapore, 250 club games, countless memories...only to be left without a contract. That was Shahdan Sulaiman’s reality until late July. And his struggle mirrors that of many local players battling rule changes, foreign influx, and uncertain futures. Now handed a lifeline by Geylang International, the 37-year-old is out to prove that experience and leadership still matter. Got a story to tell? Get in touch! raushan@sph.com.sg

The leadership of enterprise identity security firm SailPoint is in Singapore for a business trip, and Money Matters’ finance presenter Chua Tian Tian headed downtown to meet with the team and to find out what’s brewing for the firm. But first, who is SailPoint and what exactly is identity security? Founded in 2005, SailPoint delivers innovative solutions that address what it describes as some of the world’s most dynamic security issues. In particular, the company focuses on identity security by automating and streamlining the complexity of delivering the right access to the right identities at the right time. It might sound like a mouthful, but think of SailPoint as a security guard that ensures only the right personnel enter the right office buildings and gain access only to information that they are authorised to hold.  Except that in this case, SailPoint manages and grants access to enterprise applications and data automatically, at speed and at scale. With a presence in over 60 countries and a team of over 2,600 employees, SailPoint serves some of the biggest enterprises in the world ranging from automaker General Motors, to chocolate manufacturer Hershey.  And SailPoint is an interesting company to talk about, given how it raised US$1.38 billion in its upsized IPO on the NASDAQ in February 2025 – the first major tech listing of 2025.  Now, this is not the first time that the firm has gone public. It first did so back in 2017, three years after being acquired by private equity firm Thoma Bravo.  The story gets more exciting here, because Thoma Bravo was the one who took the company private in a second acquisition after SailPoint’s first IPO. So what was the rationale behind the second IPO, and how is SailPoint faring in the months since going public again? Meanwhile, SailPoint said the company is setting its sights on Singapore and Asia Pacific at a time when demand for advanced, AI-driven identity security solutions is surging.  But what are the specific opportunities present in the region? What are some major investments by the firm in the region then? In this “On the Go Special” episode of Under the Radar, Tian Tian posed these questions to Mark McClain, CEO, SailPoint.

Youth vaping in Singapore is on the rise, with cases reported even among children as young as 10. Many young people turn to vaping to cope with stress, fit in with peers, or experiment with drug-laced products like Kpods, which can have serious health consequences. And social service agencies and schools are seeing a growing number of referrals, spanning youths from different academic, social, and economic backgrounds. On The Big Story, Hongbin Jeong speaks to Dr Annabelle Chow, Principal Clinical Psychologist, Annabelle Psychology, to explore why youths are drawn to vaping, the psychological and social factors at play, and what can be done to address this growing concern.

Meme stock mania is back, and it’s shaking up the market once again. From AMC and GameStop to newcomers like Opendoor and Kohl’s, retail investors are driving wild swings fueled by viral social media buzz. But what’s behind this comeback? How are big players reacting? And what could it mean for the market’s future? On Wealth Tracker, Hongbin Jeong speaks to Zane Aw, Senior Research Analyst at Phillip Securities Research, to dive into the latest wave of meme trading and what it means for investors everywhere.

Inside Technologies is a next-generation, AI-powered workforce management platform dedicated to transforming shift-based organizations.  Their cloud-based software automates complex tasks such as scheduling, attendance tracking, timesheet consolidation, and leave management, reducing administrative overhead and enabling managers to save up to 90% of the time typically spent on manual processes. Their product includes Smart Schedule for automated shift planning, Attendance & Timesheet Automation for accurate data capture, Leave Management for streamlined PTO processing, an Employee Self-Serve App for easy access to schedules and requests, Casual Workforce Management for third-party staffing, and the Organisation Pulse Module for real-time labor insights and dynamic shift planning. On The Right Business, Hongbin Jeong speaks to Nicholas Lim, Co-Founder & CEO, Inside Technologies, to find out more.

Singapore shares rose today as investors continue to mull global developments including the upcoming Jackson Hole Economic Symposium. The Straits Times Index was up 0.63% at 4,213.79 points at 2pm Singapore time, with a value turnover of S$971.46M seen in the broader market. In terms of counters to watch, we have Yangzijiang Financial. That’s after the investment holding company said yesterday that it will be the anchor investor in a S$100 million fund by ICH Asset Management, led by the Singapore-listed company’s former chief executive Vincent Toe.  Elsewhere, from what promising diplomatic signals toward ending hostilities between Russia and Ukraine could mean for investors, to how SoftBank has agreed to buy US$2 billion in Intel stock – more international and corporate headlines remained in focus.    On Market View, Money Matters’ finance presenter Chua Tian Tian unpacked the developments with Thilan Wickramasinghe, Head of Equity Research, Maybank Securities.