Money Matters with Hongbin Jeong and Chua Tian Tian

Have you broken a bone before? If you have not broken a bone in your lifetime, chances are, you would know someone who did. In 2019, an estimated 178 million bone fractures occurred, roughly equivalent to 1 fracture per 44 people. So how does regenerative bone medicine come into the picture when you fracture a bone?  Dr Lim Jing, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Technology Officer, Osteopore shares more. 

From the outcome of China and the US meeting in Germany last weekend to one of China's most high-profile billionaire bankers, Bao Fan reportedly missing.  Dr. Oh Ei Sun, Senior Fellow, Singapore Institute of International Affairs gives us an analysis of those headlines and more

Buy Now Pay Later or BNPL is a term that has become increasingly popular in recent years. But ever wondered what the phenomenon means for credit data companies and credit bureaus?  Well that’s what we’re going to talk about in this segment with the world’s largest credit data company Experian, which was also appointed to operate Singapore’s buy now, pay later bureau by the Singapore FinTech Association and the BNPL Working Group last year.  Aside from Buy Now Pay Later, we’re also going to look at some of Experian’s future plans. The company, for one thing, is working with small businesses to help them tap credit data to reduce costs. But how worthwhile is it for data companies to work with SMEs?  On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian sat down with Kabir Khanna, General Manager, Credit Services, Experian Singapore for more.

Singapore stocks slid today following losses in the US and European markets.   The Straits Times Index fell 0.1 per cent early trade to 3,324.65 points after 68 million securities changed hands.  Singapore Airlines made the news today after its subsidiary Scoot announced on Friday that it will add nine new Embraer <> E190-E2 aircrafts to its fleet to support its network growth strategy. How are investors reading into this? At the same time, SIA Engineering Company reported a 64.1 per cent year-on-year fall in net profit to S$12.8 million for its third quarter ended Dec 31, 2022. But to what extent is this a one-off performance as wage support ends? On Market View, the Drive Time team posed these questions to David Kuo, Co-founder, The Smart Investor.

Today we discuss how the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) has made football more entertaining and how would you feel if you had VAR applied to work and personal disputes. 

Are you looking to invest in a high-end timepiece, especially in this current economy? In the world of luxury watch collecting, prices for in-demand classics are soaring. And in some cases, their prices have doubled in just a year or two.  But before you go about purchasing that ultra prestigious wrist accessory … the Drive Time team finds out what you should be mindful of when trying your hand at this asset class.  On Culture Club, Elliot Danker and Timothy Go speak with Ali Nael, Chairman and CEO, Future Grail for his insights on the luxury watch space. They also talk about Singapore’s first watch museum to host one of the largest collections of historical timepieces going back to the early 1800’s.

China's top diplomat Wang Yi and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference this weekend, as the rift between the US and China over the balloon saga widens. With the US warning its allies that China may increase support for Russia, what does it spell for US-China relations?  And as Russia's takeover attempt of Ukraine nears its one-year mark, what will be unveiled in China's peace plan for Ukraine? On Washington Report, Drive Time's Elliot Danker and Timothy Go spoke with Steve Okun, Senior Advisor, Mclarty Associates to find out. 

If you recall, we spent quite some time talking about startups and unicorns over the past week. Today, we’re going to look at how a financial institution specialising in SPACs and deal advisory help blank cheque companies access a quality deal pipeline. Speaking of SPAC IPOs, the market for special purpose acquisition companies has slowed quite a bit over the past few months. According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, there were 86 SPAC IPOs in 2022. That’s a sharp drop from the 610 deals seen in the year before, as increased regulatory scrutiny and rising interest rates weighed on activity.  But how will this change as economies recover from the troughs of the pandemic, and should interest rates level off towards the end of the year? What would this mean for advisory firms then? On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Crystal Zhang, Managing Partner at Arc Group.

In a recent study by Vonage, it has been found that businesses have technology gaps that prevent them from making meaningful connections with customers. Even after two years of non-stop digital transformation among businesses, only 45 percent of consumers are “very satisfied” with the way they connect with companies. Sunny Rao, Senior Vice President of API Global Sales, Vonage shares with us on what more companies can do to close the gaps in their digital transformation front. 

Singapore shares declined in early trade today after the country’s non-oil domestic exports posted worse-than-expected performance and the US market reported losses amid interest rate concerns. The Straits Times Index fell 0.2 per cent in early trade to 3,303.14 points after 31.4 million securities changed hands.  Some notable names seeing new developments today include Sembcorp Marine and Keppel Corporation.  If you recall, Sembmarine’s shareholders voted overwhelmingly for the merger with Keppel Corp’s offshore and marine unit, with over 95 per cent of votes cast in favour of the proposal.  On Market View, the Drive Time team took a closer look at the developments for the day with  Benjamin Goh, Head of Research and Investor Education, SIAS.