Briefs

US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping may not be able to sign a partial trade deal until December, and two US locations have been ruled out for their highly anticipated meeting, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The two sides have been trying to negotiate a limited trade deal that would entail the US dropping some tariffs on Chinese imports in exchange for Beijing ­resuming purchases of American farm goods and ­other products.

The US-China trade war that Trump began has been a drag on both nations’ economies, and the leaders had initially expected to take a step towards resolving it ahead of the 2020 US elections at an international summit in Chile this month. The summit was cancelled because of protests in the capital, Santiago.

US locations for a Trump-Xi meeting that had been proposed by the White House, including Iowa and Alaska, have been ruled out, the person said. Locations in Asia and Europe are now being considered instead, the person said, asking not to be identified because the discussions are not public. — Bloomberg LP

MAS mulls expansion of green financing incentives

Singapore may expand green financing incentives for financial services companies to boost their resilience against the economic impact of climate change, according to Monetary Authority of Singapore managing director Ravi Menon.

Menon says the central bank sees opportunity to expand its sustainable grant programme beyond bonds. Financial institutions need to prepare for potential changes in asset values and policy caused by climate change, and be able to seize new business opportunities, he adds.

Other areas that can be promoted include green funds, loans, insurance and risk-transfer solutions, says Menon.

“The economy of the future has to be greener, which means the financial sector has to be greener than before and be in a position to support that kind of activity,” Menon says in an interview in Singapore. “If you look at the full range of financial services, then the challenge is to ask ourselves: Have we applied our minds to make each of these services and offerings conducive to creating a more green economy that has lower carbon footprint?”

Southeast Asian nations are some of the most vulnerable to climate change and are estimated to need US$200 billion ($272 billion) in green investments each year to 2030. Singapore issuers have so far sold about $6 billion worth of green bonds, a small portion of Singapore’s $96 billion corporate bond market, MAS data shows.

“For the last two to three years, we’ve had the green bond scheme, which we’ve expanded considerably, and we are now thinking about this in other areas of finance,” Menon says. — Bloomberg LP

Boston Consulting Group’s venture arm plans new Singapore innovation centre

BCG Digital Ventures, the global corporate venture, investment and incubation arm of Boston Consulting Group, has announced plans to open a new innovation centre in Singapore in the first half of 2020.

The centre is part of its plans to expand operations across Asia and will accelerate innovation across the region. It will also strengthen Singapore’s position as a hub in the global start-up ecosystem.

“Southeast Asia is ripe with tremendous opportunities for digital transformation, and we believe corporates will drive the next horizon of innovation,” says Rich Lesser, CEO of Boston Consulting Group. “We look forward to growing a significant innovation centre in Singapore that will enable us to build and launch the next generation of corporate-backed unicorns in the region.” — By Benjamin Cher

GIC acquires landmark office building in Beijing’s emerging financial centre

Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC has acquired a 50% stake in an office building in Lize Financial Business District, an emerging CBD in Beijing, for an undisclosed sum.

The 42-storey Grade A building is situated in a prime location in terms of visibility and accessibility, GIC said in a media release on Nov 7. It noted that the building is the tallest in the district, and is directly connected to an interchange station for key public transport lines.

According to GIC, the investment reflects its continued confidence in China and its commitment to acquiring quality assets with good long-term earning potential in the market. — By Uma Devi

Mitsubishi to shut Singapore oil-trading unit following unauthorised losses

Mitsubishi Corp, Japan’s biggest trading group, said on Nov 6 it would shut its Singapore-based crude oil and fuel trading unit after revelations in September that a trader here racked up enormous unauthorised trading losses.

The unit, Petro-Diamond Singapore, will lose about ¥34.2 billion ($425 million) before taxes after closing the unofficial trading positions. That means the final debt for the unit could be as high as ¥30.8 billion, the company said in a statement.

Mitsubishi, Japan’s biggest trading house by sales, said in September that a trader lost US$320 million ($435 million) in unauthorised transactions in crude oil derivatives and that the matter had been reported to the police.

The trader, Wang Xingchen, also known as Jack Wang, denied any wrongdoing in a statement issued through a lawyer.

These were the first such losses at Mitsubishi, which invests in everything from salmon to natural gas and trades many commodities globally. — Reuters

Singapore hotels test facial recognition to speed up check-ins

Hotels in Singapore are trialling the use of facial-recognition technology to speed up guests’ check-in times and boost worker productivity in an initiative that is linked up with the city state’s immigration authorities.

The new system, which was launched last week, enables visitors to use a kiosk or mobile phone to verify their identity, eliminating the need for manual checks, Singapore Tourism Board and Singapore Hotel Association said in a statement. That can trim check-in times by as much as 70%, they said.

Singapore authorities are ­constantly on the lookout for ways to promote automation and boost workers’ productivity, both to improve efficiency and adjust to the constraints imposed by an ageing workforce. Tourism accounts for about 4% of the country’s GDP.

The facial-recognition system, known as E-Visitor Authentication, allows users to scan their passport and take a photo, with data then sent to immigration to attest to the validity of their stay. — Bloomberg LP