Money Matters with Hongbin Jeong and Chua Tian Tian

The biotechnology scene in Asia is rapidly growing and has become a major player in the biotech industry globally. And in recent years, Singapore has also become a hub for biomedical startups. Vishal Doshi, Chairman & CEO, AUM Biosciences shares how he is paving the way for disruption in Asia’s biotech landscape and oncology drug space. 

Grab Singapore has introduced a feature on its app that allows passengers and the driver to record audio for safety purposes. But how would such a feature help passengers and drivers in any dispute? Privacy out of the window?  Jeremiah Chew, Associate Director, Ascendant Legal shares his views. 

At this time of the day we want to ask the question - what’s for - not dinner, but what’s for tea break!  How about bubble tea? Speaking of bubble tea - here’s a fun fact. Did you know that Southeast Asia spent US$3.7 billion on bubble tea and similar “new tea” drinks in 2021?  That, by the way, is according to a report published by venture outfit Momentum Works and payments startup qlub, which also found that Indonesia’s bubble tea industry ranked first in terms of market size with an annual turnover of US$1.6billion.  Singapore, despite being the smallest nation in the region, came in fourth with an annual turnover of US$342 million.  The numbers tell us just how much Singaporeans or Southeast Asians love our bubble tea. But it also raised more questions as to what the sheer market size means for bubble tea chains and the expansion of their franchise operations.  Also with over 60 active bubble tea brands in Singapore and 31,000 stores and other retail channels in Thailand, is the market oversaturated now? On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Martin Berry, Founder & Chairman Gong Cha Global.

Singapore shares started the day lower after US and European markets ended mostly in the red overnight, as a liquidity crisis faced by Credit Suisse sparked fears across trading floors. The Straits Times Index shed 0.9 per cent in early trade to 3,143.43 points as 48.2 million securities changed hands. In terms of companies to watch, we have Prudential. The insurer yesterday posted profit from continuing operations of US$998 million for FY2022. That’s down 54 per cent from the previous year due to a decline in profit from its Indonesia segment. Meanwhile, the global financial sector continues to be in focus after signs of trouble at Swiss lender Credit Suisse sent traders running for the hills. On Market View, the Drive Time team closer look at these developments with David Chow, Director Azure Capital. They also discussed Credit Suisse’s move to borrow from the Swiss National Bank and the launch of Baidu’s Ernie Bot shortly after OpenAI’s unveiling of GPT-4. 

With Zlatan Ibrahimovic being called up to the Sweden National Team at the age of 41, we wonder is old truly gold? 

If you own a physical Kopitiam card, you would have heard that the cards will transition to the FairPrice app. And to help patrons with the transition, Kopitiam have deployed more than 80 digital buddies at 15 high-volume outlets from March to June to help patrons transition from physical Kopitiam cards to the FairPrice app. Pauline Png, Head, Customer Experience and Marketing (Food services), FairPrice Group shares more on how the Group is helping patrons with the transition. 

If you recall, we spoke about ship chartering on the segment last week. Today we want to double down on that conversation by giving you an inside look into a Singapore-listed integrated marine logistics company called MarcoPolo Marine.  The company works with customers of varying industries on ship chartering and even transhipment services of tugboats and barges. Besides that, Marco Polo Marine also builds and repair ships. It has a shipyard occupying over 34-hectares of land area in Batam Indonesia, and has supplied at least 100 tugs and barges and Anchor Handling Tug Supply Vessels.  The firm recently posted a gross profit of S$6.6 million for the first quarter ended December, up 153.8 per cent from the year ago period thanks to more ship-repair activities and larger contracts from customers. But how are things like for the current quarter? On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian sat down with Sean Lee, Chief Executive Officer, Marco Polo Marine for more.

The Padang Civic Ensemble has been placed on Singapore’s tentative list of Unesco World Heritage Sites, paving the way for it to be nominated as the country’s second World Heritage Site after the Singapore Botanic Gardens. The National Heritage Board says the ensemble is most likely to fulfil one of 10 criteria for World Heritage Sites, as an "outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape" that illustrates a significant stage, or stages, in human history. On Culture Club, Drive Time's Elliot Danker speaks with Jean Wee, Director, Preservation of Sites & Monuments, National Heritage Board to find out how the ensemble could fulfil the requirements.

A US military MQ-9 surveillance drone crashed into the Black Sea on Tuesday after being intercepted by Russian fighter jets, in the first such incident since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine more than a year ago. What ramifications will that have for already tense Russia-US relations? In the UK, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt delivered his first Budget on Wednesday, vowing a US$114 billion in cost-of-living support for this year and next, as it forecast the UK to stay out of recession and inflation to slow sharply. As strikes continue to rage on, will we see more being done to alleviate this issue? On Euro Watch, Drive Time's Elliot Danker speaks with Dr Samir Puri, Visiting Lecturer in War Studies at King's College London and author of 'Russia's Road to War with Ukraine' for more insights. 

With Singapore set to host the Olympic Esports Week between 22 to 25 June 2023 - we speak to Mark Chay, co-chair of the Singapore Organising Committee of the Olympic Esports Week.  Find out more here: https://olympics.com/ioc/news/ioc-confirms-singapore-as-host-of-first-olympic-esports-week-in-june-2023