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Some 5% of NETS' terminal network has been unable to perform QR, tap and PIN transaction since the morning of Sept 23, the Singaporean electronic payment service provider confirmed to The Edge Singapore at around 5.30pm on Sept 23. 

According to NETS, customers are advised to use SGQR or pay by cash in the meantime. "The issue was discovered this morning. We are working to restore the service as soon as possible and apologise for the inconvenience caused," reads NETS' statement to The Edge Singapore.

The long-awaited interest rate cuts have widespread implications for the global economy. We explore some of the potential impacts on the everyday Singaporean 

Like most Singaporean couples who had just registered their marriage, John and his wife were looking to purchase their first home in mid-2023 when interest rates in the US were at a sky-high 5%. The Singapore Overnight Rate Average (Sora), the new interbank lending rate based on actual transactions to price Singapore mortgages, stood at 3.7%, a far cry from the lows of 0.35% Sora in March 2022.

In 2022, The Edge Singapore examined Asean’s decade of “healthy reset”

The Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region can benefit from long-term trends like favourable demographics, increased banking access, faster digital adoption and improved connectivity. However, challenges such as a strong US dollar, declining export demand and political instability have made Asean less appealing to global investors, who focus more on emerging markets (EMs) like India, Mexico and China.

Despite a boost from the China+1 strategy and the inflow of foreign direct investments, what the region needs is more high-performing stocks.

The European Central Bank delivered the interest-rate reduction it’s been flagging for months — moving away from a record high — but stopped short of indicating more may follow.

UPDATE TEXT ONLY

Officials led by President Christine Lagarde lowered the key deposit rate by a quarter-point to 3.75% on Thursday, as expected. Having kept it at 4% for nine months, they said the inflation outlook has improved “markedly,” though they also raised projections for prices.

The Edge Singapore has picked out several public-listed companies featured on Temasek’s website and Bloomberg and scored them based purely on quantitative metrics. The scoring table comprises 20 companies, nearly half of which are domestically listed.

The scoring table considers six aspects of each company.

For this week’s issue on sin-themed stocks, The Edge Singapore has filtered and scored globally and locally listed, investable companies. The Singapore-listed stocks include Ascent Bridge Awg, Emperador, Genting Singapore G13, Geo Energy Resources Re4, Thai Beverage Y92, and Singapore Technologies Engineering S63.

As per previous issues, this scoring table is purely quantitative and considers six aspects of each company:

Yoma Strategic Holdings has reported a net profit of US$21.2 million ($28.5 million) for its FY2024 ended March 31, a turnaround from a net loss of US$63.3 million in the previous year.

Revenue grew by 78.6% y-o-y, reaching a record US$220.8 million in FY2024. This was led by Yoma Land as well as its food and beverages segment, with additional growth in the leasing segment. Meanwhile, the consolidation of Wave Money contributed US$52 million to the revenue. 

Sometimes, the jokes write themselves. When the Rocket Internet-backed Flash Coffee chain abruptly shut its 11 stalls in Singapore last October, reporters were quick to quip about the exit. “Gone in a flash!” read one headline; “Trouble brewing?” read another.

Flash Coffee, with its instantly recognisable bright yellow and electric pink storefronts, came and went with equal fanfare. The chain opened its first outlet in Jakarta in January 2020, before quickly expanding to Thailand that May, then Singapore in September, all within the year of the Covid-19 pandemic.

When The Edge Singapore caught up with Helen Wong, group CEO of Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC), in Shanghai late last year, she had just flown in from Dubai, following the COP28 conference. The breakthrough at COP28 came in the form of an agreement to call time on fossil fuel, but Wong was drawn by potential breakthroughs of other kinds.