City Singapore Financial News

If you're one of the bankers who left Hong Kong between 2019 and 2022 and who went to live in Singapore, I bet you're not feeling so smug now.

UPI) technology will now be accepted in neighbouring Sri Lanka. Apart from UPI's acceptance, several agreements were also exchanged between India and Sri Lanka in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe in the national capital on Friday. In India, the UPI payments system has become hugely popular for retail digital payments and its adoption is rapidly increasing across the world.

US Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said he is in favor of a tax exemption on Bitcoin (BTC), while also unveiling a plan to partly back the US dollar with “real, finite assets” like Bitcoin.

Singapore-India Hackathon, jointly organised by India's Ministry of Education's All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore). In a message from PM Modi, he said, “The mantra of the G20 Presidency, ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’, is Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. The Singapore-India Hackathon is an initiative that encapsulates this noble thought." India’s Minister for Education, Skills Development and Entrepreneurship, Mr Dharmendra Pradhan, and Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Lawrence Wong presented the prizes to winning teams of the student and start-up categories. Minister Pradhan highlighted at the awards ceremony: “Singapore is a knowledge-based economy.

By Doyinsola Oladipo

Funding of Web3 firms from venture capitalists has dropped 76% in the second quarter this year as compared to the same quarter in 2022, Crunchbase data revealed. 

San Francisco-based blockchain startup, Ripple, is optimistic that U.S. banks and financial institutions will adopt its XRP cryptocurrency for cross-border payments. This follows a significant ruling that the token is not necessarily a security.

Meerut has been arrested for fabricating his 22-year-old brother's documents in order to obtain a false passport and a study visa for Singapore. The arrest was made after the younger sibling submitted a complaint. Sachin Rana, the accused and resident of Mirzapur village under Badgaon police station, was determined to pursue overseas studies, but his academic gap years (having completed class 12 in 2013) made it challenging for him to obtain a visa legitimately.

ANI, Ritesh Shukla said that India and France have just signed the agreement and Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced it during his visit to France. He said that they are working on creating readiness on both sides with banks in India and merchants in France. Speaking about the commencement of UPI operations in France, Shukla said, "We are working on creating readiness on both sides with banks in India and with merchants in France and I think it will take about three to four months for us to go live, so we are working towards making that happen." Indian tourists visiting France will now have the convenience of paying for Eiffel Tower tickets and other attractions in rupees, following an agreement between both countries to utilize the Indian government's Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

A post shared by Sidecar (@sidecarindia) Hong Kong's Coa has bagged the top spot for a third consecutive year. Whereas Jigger & Pony in Singapore ranked second on Asia’s 50 Best Bars list. It’s the first time since 2019 that the ceremony has been held with all borders in the region re-opened after the Covid-19 pandemic.

The updated 2023 Henley Passport Index Tuesday placed Singapore as the world's most powerful passport with visa-free access to 192 travel destinations out of 227 around the world.  Three European countries Germany, Italy, and Spain move up one slot with 190 visa-free destinations and shared the second place. Japan has been knocked off the top spot for the first time in five years and slipped to third place as the number of destinations its passport can access without a visa fell to 189.

Tata family seeks to strengthen its aviation empire and compete with market leader IndiGo. Vinod Kannan, the CEO of Vistara, confirmed on July 17 that the staff integration process had already begun.

Ritesh Shukla, CEO of NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL), a wholly owned subsidiary of National Payments Council of India (NPCI), Monday said after a successful launch in Singapore and France, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is likely to enter the North America market and other Middle-eastern countries in the coming months. However, he did not give any definite timeline for the launch. “In terms of more interoperability partnerships like what we did in France and Singapore, we will focus on countries which are of importance to Indians when they travel abroad or where we have significantly large Indian diaspora residing like the Middle East and North America and these are the target market for us in the coming days" reported Moneycontrol quoting NIPL CEO as saying in an interaction.

DBS Bank Ltd., Singapore’s largest bank, on Monday, expanded its presence in India by inaugurating its new IFSC Banking Unit (IBU) in the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City), Gandhinagar. The bank's new unit is expected to focus on delivering corporate banking services, and foreign currency-denominated loans, including external commercial borrowings (ECB) and trade finance products, the statement of DBS bank said.DBS Bank has said that it is hoping to build a book exceeding $ 1 billion in the first year of operations. In the future, DBS is hoping to include solutions for its private banking clients along with other services it currently provides. The opening of the IBU in the GIFT International Financial Services Centre is a significant enabler for the bank's growth strategy for India, said DBS on the launch of its new financial unit in Gandhinagar.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said he accepted the resignations of speaker Tan Chuan Jin and MP Cheng Li Hui to «maintain the high standards of propriety and personal conduct» of the People's Action Party (PAP). He said they were in an «inappropriate relationship» that continued even after he had told them to stop in February. It was the latest development to rock the PAP, which has ruled Singapore uninterrupted for 64 years and has prided itself on a corruption-free government.

There is immense scope for India and Singapore to work together and prepare a future ready workforce for the entire globe, said Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on the conclusion of the third edition of the Singapore-India Hackathon.  "Our collaboration in the field of knowledge, skill and innovation will not only benefit India but also countries in the global south who are looking towards us to lead the way," said Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday.  After his address, the minister distributed prizes to the winning teams at the event organised at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITG). The concluding ceremony was jointly organised by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

crypto and blockchain sector witnessed an investment of $2.32 billion in Q2 2023, marking a new cycle low and the lowest since Q4 2020, continuing a downtrend that began after a peak of $13 billion in Q1 2022, a new report has shown. According to the crypto investment firm Galaxy Digital, crypto and blockchain startups raised less money across the last three quarters combined than they did in just Q2 of 2022. In Q2 2023, 10 new crypto VC (venture capital) funds raised only $720 million, the lowest amount since Q3 2020, at the start of the Coivd-19 pandemic.

Multibagger stock: Mishtann Foods shares are one of those small-cap stocks that has delivered whopping returns to its positional shareholders in post-Covid bounce back. This small-cap FMCG stock has risen from around ₹2.20 to ₹11.30 apiece levels in the last two yeas, delivering more than 400 per cent to its long term positional shareholders. This small-cap stock is in bull trend after bottoming out at ₹7.15 apiece levels in the last week of May 2023.

By Chen Lin

Investing.com-- Singapore’s economy grew slightly more than expected in the second quarter, data showed on Friday, as resilience in construction activity and the service industry helped offset a sharp decline in manufacturing.

France may adopt India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) for faster payments, according to media reports. As per reports, the two countries will discuss the launch of UPI in France during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit. The launch will be along the lines of India-Singapore fast payment linkage.