Your Way Home with Hongbin Jeong

Singapore shares slipped in the first few minutes of trade today, extending the previous day’s losses. The Straits Times Index headed down 0.6 per cent to 3,112.54 points in early trade after 176.7 million securities changed hands. Some notable names seeing new developments include Sembcorp Industries, with its 80 per cent-owned joint venture clinching a contract to build, own and operate a 500 megawatt solar power plant in Oman.  Meanwhile, global bank stocks continued to take a beating around the world amid the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank even as US President Joe Biden declared that the US banking system was safe and vowed stiffer bank regulations.  On Market View, the Drive Time team unpacked these developments with Robert St Clair, Managing Director and Strategist at Fullerton Fund Management.

From China’s two sessions wrapping up plus China’s President Xi Jinping’s plans to visit Russia as soon as next week.  Dr Bates Gill, Executive Director of the Center for China Analysis, Asia Society Policy Institute gives us an analysis of those headlines and more. 

Have you ever wondered what’s behind our 4G, or wifi connectivity? How about a network of shoebox-sized devices sending lasers to one another?  Well, that’s what Singapore-based startup Transcelestial does to bring superfast connectivity to the masses. The company also recently bagged US$10 million in its Series A2 funding led by Airbus Ventures.  Other investors including Cap Vista - which is the strategic investment arm of Singapore’s Defence Science and Technology Agency - have participated as well.  Transcelestial has said then that the funds will be used to ramp up growth in Indonesia, India, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore. But to what extent is the company on track to achieve that? The company is also planning to enter the US market soon, but what can we expect on that front? On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian sat down with Rohit Jha, CEO and Co-founder, Transcelestial for more. 

In October 2014, Valencia were taken over by Peter Lim, making the Singaporean businessman the first foreign owner in the club’s history. Then lauded as a hero who saved the well-established La Liga club from bankruptcy, Lim's stock has  drastically dropped to an all-time low in 2023 - with Valencia mired in a relegation battle, and fans unhappy with the way Lim operates at the club. James Walton, Sports Business Leader for Deloitte Singapore and Southeast Asia, weighs in on Peter Lim's tumultuous reign.

Singapore shares opened slightly weaker today, with banks opening in the red on contagion fears after the US regulators shut Silicon Valley Bank to protect customer deposits. On the local bourse, the Straits Times Index headed down 0.2 per cent to 3,171.41 points in early trade after 101.5 million securities changed hands. Meanwhile, state regulators in the US had on Sunday shuttered a second bank - the New York based- Signature bank on Sunday.  That bank had total assets of about US$110.36 billion and total deposits of roughly US$88.59 billion as at Dec 31. The big question here is to what extent is this a reflection of the performance of the tech sector in the US? Also - to what extent will this affect the financial and technology sectors here in Singapore.? On Market View, the Drive Time team posed these questions to David Kuo, Co-founder, The Smart Investor.

When people think about cybersecurity, they often think of technical security measures to help protect their businesses. While these measures are important, the behaviour of employees is also critical for an organisation's cyber defence. How can organisations better strengthen their security posture by investing in its people?  Drive Time's Elliot Danker speaks with Benjamin Tan, CEO of Red Alpha Cyber Security to find out. 

Shopee Singapore has recently unveiled its report, ‘Past the Starting Line: Adapting to Singapore’s Digital Consumers in 2023’.  But how can such data driven insights allow businesses to more strategically leverage e-commerce and digital services to stay relevant and achieve their goals in this changing digital landscape?  Veron Thong, Brand & Comms Lead, Shopee Singapore shares how brands can use findings from this study to help them with stay relevant in the e-commerce scene. 

On Washington Report, Drive Time's Elliot Danker and Trisha Craig, Vice President (Engagement) and Senior Lecturer of Social Sciences (Sociology and Political Science), Yale-NUS College break down the biggest headlines out of the United States from Silicon Valley Bank’s sudden collapse, the mega submarine deal under the AUKUS agreement to the controversial Willow oil drilling project in Alaska.

Singapore is known to be a medical tourism hub due to its good facilities and services, with the country’s healthcare system ranked first in Asia and fourth in the world in the Medical Tourism Index by US-based Healthcare Research Centre. According to the Yusof Ishak Institute Singapore, about 500,000 foreign patients visited Singapore annually for medical treatment prior to the pandemic. While a bulk of them stopped entering Singapore in 2020 due to the pandemic, it seems like premium regional medical tourists are returning again. But to what extent has that boosted business for private healthcare providers? Well, that's what we are going to find out from Mount Elizabeth Hospital today.  On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian sat down with Yong Yih Ming, CEO, Mount Elizabeth Hospital to find out.

For the first time since his 2011 debut, Joseph Schooling will not represent Singapore at the biennial SEA Games. Saddled by National Service commitments and matters away from the pool, is this the end of the road for Singapore's only Olympic champion? Nicholas Fang, Managing Director at Black Dot & a well-known sportsman who has represented Singapore in both fencing and triathlon weighs in.