Singapore Financial News

Barcelona is the place to be! Sips in the Spanish city of Barcelona has topped this year's bar ranking in the World’s 50 Best Bar list which was revealed at a ceremony on Tuesday. For Barcelona, this is the second year in a row that the city has bagged the top spot: Paradiso, also in Barcelona, was adjudged the best bar of 2022. Located in the heart of Barcelona's L'Antiga Esquerra de l'Eixample district, Sips is the brainchild of Simone Caporale and Marc Álvarez. Drawing on the lessons of their already illustrious careers – Caporale was one half of the creative duo that led London's Artesian to The World's Best Bar title a record four times, whilst Álvarez spent almost a decade at Ferran and Albert Adrià's revolutionary elBarri restaurant group. Sips started operations during the Covid-19 pandemic. In an interview with CNN, Caporale said: «Let’s call it a dream.” With just 33 seats, Sips uses locally sourced ingredients to produce what Álvarez called “high couture cocktails.” The celebrated mixologist welcomed the Barcelona bar scene’s growing reputation, adding: “It’s a very nice spot — architecture, gastronomy, good weather. If we add on top of that nice drinks and good service, I think it’s (somewhere) that needs to be recognized.”

Singapore's Attorney-General's Office has officially established two specialized task forces, comprising approximately 20 prosecutors, tasked with addressing the crypto related crimes.

By Tom Westbrook

(Reuters) — The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) plans to conduct an on-site inspection of a local unit of Credit Suisse to determine whether it properly handled the monitoring of wealthy clients after at least one of its customers was charged with money laundering, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday.

Ripple announced a new partnership with Roblox today, allowing the leading gaming platform to accept XRP as a form of payment. The partnership marks another important development in Ripple's ongoing business growth strategy since its legal victory over the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

World Cup qualifying game for the first time on Tuesday, beating Cambodia 1-0 in Islamabad to advance to the second round. After the first leg in Phnom Penh finished 0-0, a half-volley from Harun Hamid was enough to secure victory at Jinnah Sports Stadium in a first home game for Pakistan since 2015.

Sygnum Singapore's announcement on 3rd October 2023 concerning its acquisition of a Major Payment Institution Licence (MPIL) from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) echoes a burgeoning narrative of regulatory evolution in the city-state's digital asset sector. This development not only broadens Sygnum Singapore's service suite but also augments the city-state's stance as a burgeoning hub for digital asset enterprises.

Ripple's Singapore subsidiary, Ripple Markets APAC Pte Ltd, has successfully secured its MPI license for digital payment tokens (DPTs) from the <dfn data-info=«The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is Singapore» s central bank. the mission of mas is to promote sustained non-inflationary>MAS. The license comes on the heels of the regulatory body's in-principle approval of Ripple's application in June 2023. Singapore has been a pioneer in establishing a robust regulatory framework for DPTs through its Payment Services Act. This license enables Ripple to continue offering regulated digital payment token services in Singapore, a market that has been pivotal for the company's global operations.

Developers of Ethereum layer-2 nonfungible tokens (NFT) scaling solution Immutable (IMX) will delay the vesting of 125 million IMX in token rewards, worth $67 million at the time of publication, to July 2024.

No company looks forward to tax season, but for Web3 businesses, preparing can be particularly difficult. Global operations subject Web3 businesses to a variety of tax regulations and compliance requirements, and many regions lack regulatory clarity. Different digital tokens may have different tax statuses, making correct classification and reporting a tremendous challenge. The complexity is further increased by having to keep meticulous records of various cryptocurrency transactions, dealing with crypto-to-crypto swaps and managing market volatility.

The firm further confirmed that there would be no changes to these international products, which would continue to have the early withdrawal charges and were subject to the local regulatory rules. 

Reuters report said citing an industry source familiar with Avendus’ plans. The company employs about 150 bankers in India.

KFin Technologies (KFin) have risen 25 percent to currently trade at ₹457 from its IPO price of ₹366. On the back of strong returns and bullishness of the management over their overseas expansion plans, brokerage house Jefferies has retained its ‘buy’ call on the stock and raised its target price to ₹560 from ₹500 earlier. The new target implies a potential upside of over 22 percent.

Crypto yields platform Haru Invest has revealed plans to suspend its server as a cost-saving measure amid a fallout with one of its service partners. 

An Australian online classifieds marketplace is beefing up its Asian footprint ahead of a potential ASX listing.

Crypto projects and investors are turning to Asia in search of growth opportunities amid increasing regulatory scrutiny in the United States.

South Korea's leading cryptocurrency exchange Upbit by volume has secured in-principle approval for a Major Payment Institution (MPI) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). 

By Rae Wee

Penfolds owner Treasury Wine Estates was hit with a 46 per cent protest vote over executive pay on Monday after the board allowed share-based incentives to chief executive Tim Ford on the basis that no-one could have foreseen the heavy profit drop from punishing wine tariffs imposed by China.

The Singapore entity for Upbit, South Korea’s largest exchange by volume, has been given in-principal approval for a Major Payment Institution (MPI) license in Singapore.

NEW DELHI : Engine maker Pratt & Whitney has informed the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) that it will deliver engines to Go First only after the grounded airline starts flying again, two people aware of the development said. In July, the SIAC had directed the American company to supply five engines every month to the airline, beginning on 1 August.