Money Matters with Hongbin Jeong and Chua Tian Tian

Electric vehicles (EVs) made up more than 10 percent of all new car registrations so far in 2022. The monthly EV registration adoption rate in September hit a new high of 19 percent, nearly triple the monthly adoption rate seen in 2021. On the Straits Times, the Big Story, Multimedia Correspondent, Hairianto Diman speaks with Senior transport correspondent Lee Nian Tjoe to discuss plans in place to further boost EV adoption.

According to data from Enterprise Singapore or Enterprise SG, funding activities have increased exponentially to reach S$14.7 billion in 2021, growing at a pace of more than 45% per annum between 2017 and 2021.  And for the first half of this year alone, funding has reached S$8.18 billion, up 54% from the same period last year.  Despite the healthy figures, Enterprise SG warned last week of a weakening environment for startup fundraising. So what is it doing in the meantime to spur more investments and to grow its startup scene?  On Market View, Prime Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian spoke with Lim Seow Hui, Director of Startup Development at Enterprise Singapore for more. 

Ransomware remains a top cyber risk for organisations globally while business email compromise incidents are on the rise and will increase further in the 'deep fake' era. Authorities and companies are pulling out all the stops to tackle cybercriminals and central to these all is data protection. In the Spotlight, Prime Time’s Bharati Jagdish speaks with Matthew Oostveen, Chief Technology Officer & Vice President, Asia Pacific & Japan, Pure Storage about modern data protection. Produced and edited by Anthea Ng (nganthea@sph.com.sg)

Malaysia’s ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) is expected to unveil its slate of candidates for the Nov 19 general election on Tuesday evening. The Straits Times has learnt that several Umno figures in the caretaker Cabinet are likely to be dropped from the candidate list, and popular Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has yet to secure a constituency. In The Straits Times' The Big Story, Multimedia Journalist Hairianto Dirman speaks with Malaysia bureau chief Shannon Teoh to weigh in on this development.

UK real estate has long been seen as a stable store of value, providing attractive yields in a politically stable environment. There have been a lot of new factors that have impacted the UK property market in recent years, from Brexit, the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, rising interest rates to new leadership changes as Rishi Sunak becomes the third UK PM in just seven weeks, succeeding Liz Truss in her short-lived position. On, Powering Your Property, Prime Time’s Bharati Jagdish speaks with Stuart Leslie, International Sales and Marketing Director, Barratt London to find out what’s next for UK property and what this all means for international buyers and Singaporeans looking to invest overseas.  Highlights of the conversation: 01:36: Impact of current economic headwinds on the UK property landscape  02:46: Impact on the market’s international appeal and what it means for international investors 04:14: Are there barriers to entry that novice investors should be aware of? 04:44: Areas in the UK that international property buyers can invest in  07:07: Which parts of the UK are Singaporeans investing their money? 09:57: Outlook for the UK property market for the rest of the year and the year ahead

US and European economies are in focus today. In the US, markets are betting for the Federal Reserve to announce its fourth straight 75 basis points interest rate hikes.  At the same time, markets are expecting the Fed to pause its interest rate hike cycle somewhere down the road to see how the economy handles the higher rates. But can the Fed afford to do so and if it can, when will this be?  Elsewhere in Europe, the European Central Bank has raised interest rates by yet another three quarters of a point, while the IMF is expecting half of the 19 eurozone nations to head into a recession. So how should investors calibrate their portfolios in the meantime?  On Market View, Prime Time's finance presenter Chua Tian Tian unpacked these developments with Stephane Deo, Global Head of Strategy at Ostrum Asset Management. 

In the Spotlight on Prime Time, Bharati Jagdish speaks with Rich Preston, Senior World News Reporter / Presenter, at the BBC in London on some of the global headlines they are tracking this week, starting with the tragic crowd crush in Itaewon, South Korea; and the South Korea and the US joint military drills this week, Israel elections as well as COP27. 

Headline-grabbing million dollar HDB flats in Singapore sees unrelenting demand with a record 45 flats sold.  Prime Time’s Bharati Jagdish finds out what else to expect from the exuberant HDB resale market, even in the face of rising interest rates with Nicholas Mak, Head of Research and Consultancy at ERA Realty. They also discuss the Housing Board’s deficit climbing to a record $4.367 billion in the financial year ended Mar 31 and what this deficit will mean for consumers.

The Housing Board’s deficit climbed to a record $4.367 billion in the financial year ended March 31, about 86 per cent higher than $2.346 billion the year before. On the Straits Times The Big Story, Multimedia correspondent, Hairianto Diman speaks with Housing correspondent at the Straits Times, Michelle Ng to explain what this deficit means to consumers.

Increasingly, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments and other institutional asset owners are evolving their investment strategies to account for impacts of a fast changing market. That could mean adopting their own unique Environmental, Social and Governance or ESG objectives or other climate investing goals.  To better tap this trend, index compiler MSCI came up with a new product that allows institutional asset owners to customise and adapt indexes that underpin their investment strategies.  On Market View, Prime Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian found out more about these client-driven index solutions from Sebastien Lieblich , Head of Indexed Licensing at MSCI.