SG Morning Highlights | Singaporeans list housing, living costs as top concerns in poll

Advancers / Decliners is 100 to 50, with 112.02 million securities worth S$109.63 million changing hands.

ASIA's major banks are seeing a widening gap between ESG leaders and laggards, as regulators in the region ramp up scrutiny of sustainable finance, according to a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report.

While leading banks in Singapore and Malaysia made headway on implementing their environmental and social risk policies in 2022, over half of the 46 regional lenders surveyed made "little to no progress", the WWF said in its annual sustainable banking report published on Thursday (Jan 12). Vietnamese and Filipino banks lagged the most.

This gap is "largely driven by regulation", Kristina Anguelova, head of Asia sustainable finance at WWF Singapore, said in an interview. Central banks in Singapore and Malaysia have set out climate risk management guidelines, with climate stress tests planned or underway. Such green policies are prompting lenders to "restructure internally to meet the regulators' demands", she said.

Hong Kong is planning to return to normalcy "fast" but in a "safe and orderly manner", the city's chief executive John Lee pledged at the opening of the Asian Financial Forum (AFF) 2023 on Wednesday (Jan 11).

"Rest assured, we'll go fast - in a safe and orderly manner - towards our shared goal of everything resuming normalcy as soon and as practicable as possible," he told senior business leaders and finance executives at the forum, which takes on a hybrid format this year.

"I'm delighted to be here, among the more than 2,000 of you taking in this 16th edition, live, from the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre," he said, calling the start of the year a "happy and thrilling" one.

Asian markets rise again on recovery hope as inflation data looms Hong Kong, Jan 11, 2023 (AFP) – Asian equities pushed higher Wednesday as investors were buoyed by China's reopening and optimism that key data due this week will signal a further slowdown in US inflation.

Traders tracked a Wall Street advance as they brushed off fresh warnings that Federal Reserve rates would continue to rise and a World Bank decision to slash its global growth forecast.

After a stumble Tuesday, regional markets resumed the upward push that has characterised the start of the year thanks to China's emergence from nearly three years of zero-Covid isolation.

Singaporeans want the government to address housing affordability and cost-of-living issues better, according to a poll by YouGov, underscoring concerns brought on by an influx of rich immigrants and high-earners.

Two out of three people surveyed said the government should place greater focus on housing affordability, while 89 per cent of people highlighted cost of living, according to the poll with 1,045 respondents conducted between Dec 14 to Dec 18.

The country's political stability attracts rich people from all over the world, a key edge as it vies with Hong Kong and London to manage global wealth flows. It's also targeting high earners with a work visa to enhance its status as a financial centre.

This will bring SingPost's total stake in FMH from 51 per cent currently to 88 per cent upon completion of the transaction.

SingPost, through its wholly-owned subsidiary SingPost Australia Investments (SPAI), first acquired a 28 per cent interest in FMH in December 2020. Later, SPAI raised its shareholdings to 51 per cent in November 2021, with a pathway to raise its shareholdings subsequently.