Your Way Home with Hongbin Jeong

It’s back to the financial services industry as we speak to a financial advisory firm that’s wholly owned by Singlife.  Founded in 2016, Singlife Financial Advisers seeks to empower individuals to achieve financial freedom with its team of digitally enabled advisers, through innovative solutions that support its clients at every stage of their life.  The firm primarily looks at four areas: (1) Protection through insurance, (2) Savings and retirement, (3) Investment, and finally (4) Legacy planning, and is now seeing increased demand for services across the board in Singapore given a growing number of high-net worth individuals and an ageing population in the country.  According to numbers by data analytics provider GlobalData out in early 2025, Singapore’s general insurance industry is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (or CAGR) of 6.2% to hit S$8.1 billion in gross written premiums by 2029.  That’s supported by regulatory developments, economic expansion as well as a rise in market demand. So what will the numbers mean for the firm’s growth roadmap in the medium to longer term?   And as demand for insurance coverage increases, the Financial Industry Disputes Resolution Centre (or Fidrec) in Singapore is also seeing consumer complaints against investment-linked insurance policies or (ILPs) increase.  So what does this mean for the firm, and how will the firm ensure transparency in the selling of its products amid consumer concerns across the industry? At the same time, more support is also provided for the industry, with Singlife Financial Adviser’s parent Singlife setting up a shared service hub in Singapore earlier this year to help financial advisory firms with services like electronic financial need analysis, client onboarding and more. So how is Singlife Financial Advisers tapping the shared resource then? On Under the Radar, Money Matters’ finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Justin Ho, CEO, Singlife Financial Advisers.

Crypto is no longer just a niche play. Asia’s high-net-worth individuals are increasingly allocating real portions of their portfolios to digital assets. According to Sygnum’s 2025 APAC HNWI Report, nearly half of HNWIs in the region now dedicate more than 10% of their wealth to crypto, viewing it as a tool for long-term preservation and legacy planning rather than pure speculation. What’s driving this bullish sentiment? And how will crypto shape private wealth strategies in 2026? On Wealth Tracker, Hongbin Jeong speaks with Jason French, Executive Director at Sygnum Bank, to break down the trends, the opportunities, and what this shift means for the future of wealth in Asia.

TikTok’s future in the US has been hanging by a thread, caught between national security concerns, political battles, and calls for divestment. Now, ByteDance has unveiled a plan: a US-based joint venture with American and global investors, keeping only a minority stake for itself. Oracle will oversee data security, and TikTok says the new structure will operate independently. But does this deal really address the underlying security and governance concerns? Can TikTok stay under US oversight without compromise and what does it mean for the millions of Americans using the app every day? On The Big Story, Hongbin Jeong speaks with Cedomir Nestorovic, Professor of Geopolitics at ESSEC Business School, Asia-Pacific, to find out what this deal could mean for TikTok, its users, and the broader US-China tech landscape.

Singapore shares inched higher today to track gains seen across Asia.  The Straits Times Index was up 0.15% at 4,577.44 points at 3.11pm Singapore time, with a value turnover of S$749.75M seen in the broader market. In terms of counters to watch for today, we have Stoneweg Europe Stapled Trust.  That’s after the managers of Stoneweg Europe Stapled Trust said it has entered into an agreement to divest a non-core office property in Italy for a consideration of 34 million euros (S$51.4 million). Elsewhere, from how the Bank of Japan hiked interest rates to a 30-year high of 0.75 per cent, to how US President Donald Trump’s administration has reportedly launched a review that could result in the first shipments to China of Nvidia’s second-most powerful AI chips, more international headlines remained in focus. On Market View, Money Matters’ finance presenter Chua Tian Tian unpacked the developments with Kenneth Goh, Director, Private Wealth Management, UOB Kay Hian.

Welcome to the Friday edition of What's Trending! Hongbin Jeong and Nadiah Koh get festive as they unpack a Christmas chart twist: Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas Is You has been dethroned by Wham!’s Last Christmas. Is the Queen of Christmas losing her crown, or still winning where it counts? They also dive into a viral story from South Korea, where a 20-year-old LG air conditioner turns out to have a logo made of pure gold,  sending people scrambling to check their old appliances. And to wrap things up, a TikToker tests which country has the cleanest streets by walking around in white socks, with Singapore, Japan and China all in the running.  

Travelling to China just got a digital upgrade. Singaporeans can now use China’s e-CNY, the digital renminbi, through a new pilot program that lets travellers top up digital wallets directly from their Singapore bank accounts. But what does this mean beyond convenience? Is it simply another payment option, or part of a larger plan to expand China’s currency influence globally? On The Big Story, Hongbin Jeong speaks with Dr. Ernie Teo, Senior Lecturer, and Program Director for the Bachelor of Applied Computing in Finance, Nanyang Technological University to unpack the rise of the e-CNY for tourists and explore its broader implications for digital payments and state-backed currencies.

For the first time, a tokenized fund will be open to the public, thanks to MAS approval for a collaboration between Franklin Templeton and DBS. Could this be the start of a whole new way to invest, diversify, and engage with the market. On Wealth Tracker, Hongbin Jeong speaks to Jason Jiang, CBO at CertiK, to find out more.

It’s now time for a Special, year-end edition of Market View, where we not only take you though how the Singapore stock market closed for the day, but also step back to examine three key themes that have shaped markets over the year, and will continue to matter as we head into 2026. The three themes are: First, whether the global AI boom can move beyond hype and experimentation into a phase of real productivity gains and earnings delivery.  Second, uncertainty over the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate trajectory and whether we’re truly approaching a more balanced phase of growth, inflation and policy. And finally, China’s economic transition and whether domestic consumption can meaningfully offset weaker property investment and export headwinds amid ongoing global trade tensions.  On Market View, Money Matters’ finance presenter Chua Tian Tian dived into the details with David Chow, Director, Azure Capital and Olivia Ding, Investment Analyst, Reed Capital Partners.   

Welcome to another episode of What's Trending! Today’s headlines are pure chaos and Hongbin Jeong, Nadiah Koh and Nazirul Asrar break it all down. Lawmakers in Mexico’s Congress took their debate way too far, resorting to armpit tickling and grappling on the chamber floor. Meanwhile, a KLM flight to Aruba was canceled thanks to an unexpected stowaway: a rat with apparently bigger travel plans than the passengers. And if that wasn’t wild enough, a Japanese woman held a symbolic wedding… with her very own customized ChatGPT AI.

Singapore’s key exports surged 11.6% in November, well above expectations, driven by strong growth in pharmaceuticals and electronics. Over in Japan, exports rose 6.1%, led by robust demand from the US and Europe, even as shipments to China fell. Still in Asia, the Indian rupee hit fresh record lows, highlighting continued currency pressures across emerging markets.  On Market View, Alexandra Parada speaks to Thilan Wickramasinghe, Head of Equity Research at Maybank Securities, to discuss more about the day’s biggest market movements.