Fri, Jan 29, 2021 – 5:50 AM

SMALL and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore’s real estate and construction industries will be able to obtain upfront, collateral-free financing, under a new offering named Really eZFunds.

Proptech startup Really Singapore has partnered peer-to-peer financing platform Validus to enable pre-approved working capital for SMEs that provide products and services to property owners and managers.

The startup, which offers a property management solution that is cloud-based and data-driven, said that its vendor marketplace comprises more than 3,800 suppliers in over 80 categories of services, including landscaping, building supplies, construction works, cleaning services and pest control.

“The majority of these SMEs are often unable to obtain the necessary financing to bid for projects, as they lack collateral or credit history to access traditional loans,” said Really Singapore in a press statement on Friday.

Really eZFunds will give these SME suppliers access to Validus’ pre-approved instant

Singapore

HOUSING loans in Singapore extended its growth streak for the fourth straight month last December, on the back of rising private home prices.

On a monthly basis, housing loans – which make up three quarters of consumer lending – climbed 0.4 per cent to S$201.36 billion in…

Fri, Jan 29, 2021 – 10:50 AM

SINGAPORE’S bank lending rose for the second straight month in December on continued growth in housing loans, data from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) showed on Friday.

Loans through the domestic banking unit – which captures lending in all currencies, but reflects mainly Singapore-dollar lending – climbed 0.3 per cent to S$678.72 billion in December, compared with S$676.67 billion in November.

Consumer loans were up 0.5 per cent month on month to S$259.62 billion in December, mainly driven by a steady uptick in housing loans for the fourth straight month to S$201.36 billion.

This comes on the back of rising private home prices in Singapore. Recent data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority showed that prices of new private homes rose 2.1 per cent in Q4 2020 from Q3, marking their steepest quarterly increase in over two years. For the whole of 2020,

London

THE European Union (EU) is determined to wrest control of euro, European securities and derivatives trade from London, with the British capital already experiencing some leakages.

EU Financial Services commissioner Mairead McGuinness has said that Brussels will not grant…

Wed, Jan 27, 2021 – 2:41 PM

HSBC has appointed Regina Lee as its new Singapore head of commercial banking to accelerate its push into South-east Asia.

The appointment will take effect from March 1.

She takes over from Alan Turner, who will move on to head the bank’s commercial banking unit in Canada after over three years in Singapore, said HSBC in a statement on Wednesday.

Having joined the bank in 1997, Ms Lee brings over 20 years of experience spanning corporate and commercial banking. She was most recently managing director of corporate banking at HSBC Hong Kong where, since 2018, she led the coverage team for TMT (or technology, media, and telecommunications), consumer, as well as retail and commodities.

She also has strong operational and risk management expertise, having spent three years as chief operating officer of commercial banking at HSBC Hong Kong. Her prior roles include managing

THE asset quality of Thailand’s banks is set to deteriorate in the next 12 to 24 months, with the non-performing loan ratio expected to increase up to 6 per cent, said S&P Global Ratings on Tuesday.

This compares with a reported non-performing loan ratio of 3.3 per cent in 2020 based on the banks S&P rates. 2019’s systemwide average was 3 per cent.

The proportion of the loan book under moratorium has reduced to an average of about 20 per cent for major rated Thai banks, compared with the systemwide average of 31 per cent in the initial phase of the moratorium in mid-2020.

“In our opinion, temporary relief measures are unlikely to eliminate risks for weaker and more vulnerable debtors, although they may lessen the strain and delay recognition of problem loans,” said the ratings agency.

Credit risk is already heightened in Thailand given the very high household debt