Latest news with #MonetaryAuthority
South China Morning Post
4 days ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Singapore growth, inflation forecasts cut amid geopolitical jitters
Economists have lowered their forecasts for Singapore 's growth and inflation this year and are expecting a further easing of monetary policy next month, a survey of forecasters by the Monetary Authority of Singapore showed on Wednesday. Advertisement Geopolitical tensions were seen as the biggest downside risks for the economy, while a milder-than-expected easing of trade tensions was the most cited upside risk, the responses from 20 economists for the June quarter survey found. The median forecast for growth was cut to 1.7 per cent from 2.6 per cent in the March quarter survey. In April, the government lowered its forecast for 2025 growth , citing the impact of US tariffs, to 0 to 2 per cent. US President Donald Trump holds up a chart of 'reciprocal' tariffs while speaking at the White House in April. /TNS Almost three in five respondents expect the central bank to further ease monetary policy settings at a review next month, the survey found. The authority, which is Singapore's central bank, loosened monetary policy in January and April on the back of expected slower inflation and growth this year. The median forecasts for headline inflation and core inflation for 2025 were lowered to 0.9 per cent and 0.8 per cent respectively, the survey showed. At its April policy review, the monetary authority lowered its forecast for core inflation to 0.5 per cent to 1.5 per cent in 2025. Advertisement In March, the annual core inflation rate was 0.5 per cent, the lowest rate in more than three years. The survey was sent out to respondents on May 22, the same day final first-quarter GDP data was released.
South China Morning Post
13-06-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
SFC CEO Leung: virtual assets have become a tool ‘in the race for financial supremacy'
Hong Kong's securities watchdog is expanding its regulatory oversight over virtual assets in an effort to distinguish the city as a global financial hub, said Julia Leung Fung-yee, CEO of the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). 'Virtual assets have become a tool in the race for financial supremacy,' Leung told an audience of journalists, investors and government officials at the Caixin Summer Summit in Hong Kong on Friday. 'Beyond the trading platforms we've already licensed, our next step is to bring over-the-counter (OTC) trading and custodial institutions into our regulatory perimeter,' she added. As of January, Hong Kong had granted licences to nine virtual asset trading platforms and regulators were now turning their attention to stablecoins. A new law will take effect on August 1 requiring all stablecoin issuers to obtain a licence from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. Last year, the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau published proposals for licensing OTC virtual asset operators. Leung said the SFC's approach to virtual assets was the same as with traditional securities. 'A virtual asset exchange is, at its heart, an exchange for trading – and it also functions as a broker,' she said. 'That's why we require all platforms and brokers under our supervision to segregate client assets, maintain transparency, manage conflicts of interest and handle all related matters appropriately.'
CNA
06-06-2025
- Business
- CNA
Singapore to block access to trading platforms Octa and XM over unlicensed activity
SINGAPORE: Two overseas online trading platforms will be blocked in Singapore after they were found to have breached financial regulations, according to a joint news release from the police and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on Friday (Jun 6). The websites of the platforms, Octa and XM, will be inaccessible to users in Singapore from Jun 20. Their services - including leveraged foreign exchange, commodities, indices and equities trading - were offered to Singapore customers without licences under the Securities and Futures Act (SFA). This is a breach of the Act, the police and MAS said. The capital markets services licence is required for an entity to carry out business dealing in capital markets products, which include securities and leveraged foreign exchange trading, the authorities said. Investigations revealed that Octa and XM had also actively offered and marketed their services to customers in Singapore. The platforms are operated by entities incorporated overseas – Octa by Octa Markets and Uni Fin Invest, purportedly based in the Union of Comoros and Mauritius respectively; and XM by XM Global, purportedly incorporated in Belize. The authorities stated that these entities do not hold licences to deal in capital markets products and are therefore prohibited from offering such services. "This prohibition extends to entities operating outside Singapore, when the entities solicit or advertise products or services that are targeted at Singapore persons, or if there is a substantial number of Singaporeans using a foreign entity's products or services," the release said. The information on their websites constitutes prohibited content under the Internet Code of Practice, the authorities added. "As such, access to both trading platforms' websites will be blocked for Singapore residents with effect from Jun 20 and consumers with active accounts with Octa and XM will not be able to access their websites through Internet Access Service Providers based in Singapore." The police and MAS advised the public to deal only with licensed platforms listed in MAS' Financial Institutions Directory. They added that unregulated online trading platforms, particularly those based outside Singapore, pose a greater risk of fraud since the credibility of their operations cannot be easily verified. Such platforms also offer limited recourse for consumers in the event of disputes. They may also require payment for trades to be made using credit or debit cards, posing the added risk of unauthorised card transactions, said the authorities.
Bloomberg
05-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Singapore's AAA Bills Offer an Opportunity for US Carry Trade
Some of the safest assets in Asia offer investors a yield pickup to Treasuries in the wake of the US losing its last AAA credit rating. Investors looking to rotate out of the dollar and into Asia can buy securities issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, which is using them to steer the amount of cash in the banking system. Three-month MAS bills offer yield of about 13 basis points over similar-tenor US government debt when currency-hedging costs are taken into account, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
CNA
02-06-2025
- Business
- CNA
DBS, POSB customers 'experiencing slowness' when logging into banking services on mobile app
SINGAPORE: DBS and POSB customers are "experiencing slowness" in accessing the digibank mobile app, the bank said on Monday (Jun 2). In a post on Facebook, DBS said: "Some customers are experiencing slowness logging into DBS digibank Mobile." While the bank is working to recover services fully, customers can continue to make payments, check account balances, withdraw cash and place trades on the bank's channels, DBS added. On outage tracking site Downdetector, users began lodging reports at 2.17pm, spiking to 922 reports at 3.10pm. In the comment section of the bank's latest post on Facebook, one user wrote: "Your app is down again." As of about 3.45pm, about 10 users said they had trouble accessing the app. "This is becoming increasingly embarrassing," read a comment. PREVIOUS DISRUPTIONS In March 2025, DBS' services, including mobile banking, ATMs and NETS were disrupted overnight, with complaints on Mar 8 spiking after midnight and persisting past 9am. Singapore's largest lender was also hit by a string of disruptions to its digital banking services in 2023, prompting the Monetary Authority of Singapore to bar the bank from any acquisitions of new business ventures for six months. The bank was also required to pause non-essential IT changes for six months and was not allowed to reduce the size of its branch and ATM networks in Singapore. DBS said in November 2023 that it had set aside a special budget of S$80 million to enhance its technology and system resiliency.
