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Tag: Finance

  • Tech Roles Dominate Singapore Job Outlook in Finance

    Tech Roles Dominate Singapore Job Outlook in Finance

    Technology continues to play a dominant role in the development of financial services in Singapore with related functions accounting for more than a quarter of job opportunities in the sector. Technology will continue to lead hiring demand in 2021, according to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), with 1,700 hiring opportunities such opportunities within the financial sector.

    This accounts for more than a quarter of the total 6,500 newly created positions for the year by financial institutions.

    Technology has become central to how financial services are produced, distributed, and consumed, said MAS managing director Ravi Menon in a published statement. The Singapore financial sector has harnessed technology across a wide range of functions – from risk management, business analytics to customer service.

    Within the fintech job market, software engineers were the highly demanded role by employers. Net job growth for software engineers in 2019 was 200, 10 times more than UI or UX designers. These jobs require strong programming skills and in-depth business domain and system knowledge, Menon said, noting that local citizens landed less than one-fifth of such jobs. There are not enough Singaporeans applying for these jobs in the first place, let alone qualifying for them.

    Despite the tech focus, non-tech roles remained in demand especially in areas like relationship management, product sales, compliance, and risk management.

    Relationship managers are will account for 1,300 jobs or 28 percent of hiring

    Menon noted that demand will be underpinned by wealth management growth, highlighting expansion plans by major banks like Citi and DBS.

    Overall, the financial sector posted net job growth of 2,200 in 2020 compared to a 180,000 net loss in the broader economy.

    MAS expects momentum to continue with the sector expected to add 2,500 to 3,500 tech jobs each year over the medium term.

    The size of the tech workforce within the sector is estimated to be 25,000, a 30 percent increase compared to 2014.

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  • SGX Restores Services After Outage

    SGX Restores Services After Outage

    The bourse’s web pages were discovered to be progressively inaccessible across different network providers from 4:30 p.m. SGT on Tuesday.

    Singapore Exchange’s website and web-based applications were restored on Tuesday night, following an outage that took place in the afternoon.

    Its case was a domain name system (DNS) issue, SGX said on Twitter, noting that it’s trading and clearing systems are separate from the website. It also said that there is no indication that its systems were compromised.

    While it did not affect trading, the outage limited access to SGX price information and SGX-listed company announcements.

    Several mainboard companies were due to release their financial results on Tuesday evening. Users were urged to visit their brokers’ websites or alternative sources during the outage.

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  • HSBC AM Names Asia Head of Credit Research

    HSBC AM Names Asia Head of Credit Research

    HSBC’s asset management arm appoints a new head of credit research in Asia amid an ongoing expansion across its product range and distribution capabilities in the region.

    HSBC Asset Management appoints Seok Poh Yeoh as head of credit research for Asia, according to a statement, effective immediately.

    In her Hong Kong-based role, Yeoh reports locally to head of Asian fixed income Elizabeth Allen as well as Paris-based global head of credit research Tina Radovic.

    Yeoh has 16 years of industry experience and was most recently a financial and corporate credit research analyst at Credit Suisse. She rejoins HSBC Asset Management after first joining in 2012 as a financial analyst.

    The latest hire follows announced ambitions by HSBC Asset Management to enhance its platform in mainland China, India, and Southeast Asia, most notably for the high net worth product range across alternatives, sustainability, and thematic equities.

    According to the bank, HSBC Asset Management has Asian fixed income assets under management totaling nearly $73 billion as of March 31 this year.

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  • StanChart Beats Forecasts with Improved Impairments

    StanChart Beats Forecasts with Improved Impairments

    Credit impairments fell sharply at Standard Chartered, enabling the growth market-focused lender to beat analyst estimates and deliver profitability in the first quarter.

    Standard Chartered posted pre-tax profits of $1.4 billion, according to its latest results, marking an 18 percent increase compared with $1.2 billion last year.

    It also beat compiled analyst forecasts of $1.08 billion.

    Amongst the most notable improvements was from credit impairment charges which fell sharply from $354 million in the previous quarter to just $20 million.

    The bank also registered strong performance from its wealth management businesses which saw a record quarter with a 21 percent increase in income from strong sales of foreign exchange and equity-related products.

    In Asia, it boosted its pre-tax profits by 21 percent to $1.23 billion.

    In line with its continued pursuit to cut office space – in Singapore and Hong Kong, for example – and permanently adopt flexible working conditions, the bank will also significantly reduce its branch network.

    Standard Chartered will cut the number of branches by half to around 400 after having as many as 1,200 worldwide in 2014.

  • DBS Doubles Quarterly Earnings

    DBS Doubles Quarterly Earnings

    The board is recommending an interim dividend of 18 cents per share, to which the scrip dividend scheme will be applied. Net profit at DBS grew to S$2.01 billion ($1.52 billion) for the January-March period, up from S$1.01 in the previous quarter and 72 percent higher year-on-year, according to first-quarter earnings posted on Friday.

    It cited strong business momentum and stabilizing asset quality as behind the record quarter – loans grew 3 percent and deposits increased 2 percent from the previous quarter, while fee income rose 28 percent on-quarter to a record S$953 million and Treasury Markets income reached a new high. Bad loans were also at pre-pandemic levels.

    Wealth management fees also grew 24 percent to a record S$519 million on the back of strong investor demand across a wide range of investment products in a low-interest rate environment, DBS said.

    This has been an extraordinary quarter for our business as we fired on all cylinders, Piyush Gupta, DBS chief executive, said in a statement.

    During the quarter, DBS grew its franchise in the Greater Bay Area with a stake in Shenzhen Rural Commercial Bank, and announced the development of Partior – an open industry platform with Temasek and J.P. Morgan that aims to reimagine and accelerate value movements for payments, trade, and foreign exchange settlement.

    The global economic rebound is strengthening and we are bullish about prospects for the coming year, Gupta added.

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  • HSBC AM Names Asia Head of Credit Research

    HSBC AM Names Asia Head of Credit Research

    HSBC’s asset management arm appoints a new head of credit research in Asia amid an ongoing expansion across its product range and distribution capabilities in the region.

    HSBC Asset Management appoints Seok Poh Yeoh as head of credit research for Asia, according to a statement, effective immediately.

    In her Hong Kong-based role, Yeoh reports locally to head of Asian fixed income Elizabeth Allen as well as Paris-based global head of credit research Tina Radovic.

    Yeoh has 16 years of industry experience and was most recently a financial and corporate credit research analyst at Credit Suisse. She rejoins HSBC Asset Management after first joining in 2012 as a financial analyst.

    The latest hire follows announced ambitions by HSBC Asset Management to enhance its platform in mainland China, India, and Southeast Asia, most notably for the high net worth product range across alternatives, sustainability, and thematic equities.

    According to the bank, HSBC Asset Management has Asian fixed income assets under management totaling nearly $73 billion as of March 31 this year.

  • OCBC to Review Office Space Needs

    OCBC to Review Office Space Needs

    The bank is considering reducing the number of branches and office space as it moves towards a hybrid work model.

    We may not need so many branches servicing our customers, so certainly I think there will be a review in terms of our office requirements as we move forward,» chairman Ooi Sang Kuang said at the bank’s virtual annual shareholder meeting on Thursday.

    Last year, former OCBC chairman Samuel Tsien said the bank expects fewer physical branches and offices being open in the future, as a surge in the adoption of digital banking services prompted OCBC to rethink its branch network strategy, and Covid-19 prompted a shift towards hybrid working from home and the office.

    Other banks that have permanently reduced their physical footprint in Singapore include DBS, which will give up 75,000 square feet of space – about two and a half floors out of the more than a dozen floors it occupies at Tower 3 of the Marina Bay Financial Centre; Citi, which is offloading three floors; and Mizuho, which is cutting less than one floor of office space.

    During the meeting, Helen Wong, OCBC’s new chief executive, said the bank would focus on deepening its reach into Asean markets and to capitalize on the growing Asean-Greater China flows, expanding its wealth management franchise, accelerating digitalization and building a regional sustainable bank.

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  • OCB shares ‘undervalued,’ says bank chairman

    OCB shares ‘undervalued,’ says bank chairman

    Shares of OCB are undervalued by 25 percent, its chairman Trinh Van Tuan said at the private lender’s annual general meeting Wednesday.

    He said his assertion was backed by many stock brokerages that have suggested a price of VND30,000 ($1.31) for the OCB ticker, currently trading on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) at VND24,000.

    A private bank usually has a price to earnings (P/E) ratio of 11, while that of OCB is less than 7, he said. The P/E ratio reflects how much investors are willing to pay today for future growth expectations.

    OCB listed on the HoSE on January 28 when the market plunged, pulling it down by 20 percent in the first session. The ticker has since recovered by 27 percent.

    The bank plans to pay dividends by shares with each shareholder allowed to buy 20-25 more shares for every 100 shares owned.

    It also wants to issue 70 million shares via private placements and five million shares to its employees. Several foreign investors have expressed interest in the bank since last year, Tuan said.

    The bank’s charter capital is set to rise by 32 percent this year to VND14.45 trillion ($627 million).

    Last year, the bank’s pre-tax profit surged 37 percent year on year to VND4.42 trillion. It targets a 25 percent credit growth this year, pending approval from the central bank.

  • VietinBank Securities expects surge in profits

    VietinBank Securities expects surge in profits

    VietinBank Securities targets pre-tax profits of VND180 billion ($7.8 million) this year, up 20 percent from 2020, as the stock market continues to rise.

    The company secured a $30-million loan from a consortium of four Taiwanese banks in March and another $60 million from Korea’s Woori Bank and Taiwan’s Fubon Bank and Cathay United Bank a month later.

    It is its highest profit target since 2017, with CEO Tran Phuc Vinh explaining that the low deposit interest rates which are diverting funds into the stock market, and the increasing number of new investors are the factors for the optimism.

    The loans provide it with funds for margin financing and investing in corporate bonds and certificates of deposit, Vinh said.

    It reported a 20 percent rise in revenues to VND610 billion last year and an 8 percent increase in pre-tax profits to VND151 billion.

    Vietnam’s benchmark VN-Index has risen 10.5 percent from the end of last year to 1,219.75 points Tuesday. Brokerage FPT Securities forecast that VN-Index could hit 1,351-1,400 points this year.

    The stock market saw nearly 258,000 new trading accounts opened in the first quarter, accounting for 65 percent of the figure recorded in 2020 as a whole, according to the Vietnam Securities Depository (VSD).

    This took the total number of accounts to nearly 3.02 million as of last month, equivalent to 2.8 percent of Vietnam’s population.

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  • Standard Chartered to Offload Office Space in Singapore

    Standard Chartered to Offload Office Space in Singapore

    Standard Chartered bank is reportedly considering slashing office space in the Singapore business district, where it occupies 21 floors at Marina Bay Financial Centre Tower 1.

    While plans are under discussion and subject to change, sources told «Bloomberg» that the bank is weighing several options, including cutting 80,000 square feet, or four floors of offices.

    Another option is to shed half of the 420,000 square feet it currently occupies or retaining just four floors – the minimum required for the bank to keep its logo on the building’s facade, the report said.

    The downsizing follows similar moves in Hong Kong, where it is giving up the lease on eight floors of its Standard Chartered Bank Building in the central business district, and renting out three floors it owns from its offices in the industrial district of Kwun Tong.

    The move also falls in line with the bank’s plans to permanently offer flexible work options to around 90 percent of its 85,000 employees around the world by 2023. Some 80 percent of its employees in Singapore currently work from home, the bank said.

    Standard Chartered is planning to optimize the use of its office space by and cater to the wellness of its staff by providing amenities such as gyms, according to the report. A large number of staff also work out of a facility at Changi Business Park, where it opened a learning hub in December 2020 to boost its workforce.

    Other banks that have permanently shed space in Singapore include DBS, which will give up 75,000 square feet of space – about two and a half floors out of the more than a dozen floors it occupies at Tower 3 of the Marina Bay Financial Centre; Citi, which is offloading three floors; and Mizuho, which is cutting less than one floor of office space.

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  • Deutsche Bank Sidesteps Archegos Hit

    Deutsche Bank Sidesteps Archegos Hit

    The German bank pulled off what Swiss rivals failed to: avoid major losses from the collapse of the family office-hedge fund.

    Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank swung to a net profit of 908 million euros ($1.1 billion) in the first quarter, from a loss of 43 million euros year-ago, it said in a statement on Wednesday. The result was powered by its investment bank, which is still feeding its business with revenue.

    In doing so, the German bank largely avoided what is now more than $10 billion in losses from Archegos, which hit Credit Suisse the worst but didn’t leave UBS unscathed either. CEO Christian Sewing is now in his fourth year of reviving Deutsche Bank, following years of outsize risk-taking.

    The bank had quickly offloaded roughly $4 billion in collateral against Archegos’ business before others. On Tuesday, Deutsche reported investment banking revenue surged by nearly one-third in the last three months, illustrating that Deutsche is still heavily reliant on Wall Street.

    By contrast, revenue in its wealth management arm overseen by Claudio de Sanctis edged two percent lower. The unit won 7 billion euros of fresh money into investments products and lent 2 billion euros more to clients in the quarter.

    Deutsche’s international private bank hiked overall assets to 267 billion euros, from 252 billion euros at year-end. The bank’s quarter overall represents its healthiest in seven years.

    It comes against the backdrop of Credit Suisse sliding deeper into crisis: the Swiss bank took the biggest Archegos hit on Wall Street – 4.4 billion Swiss francs ($4.7 billion) – or nearly half the total which has surfaced publicly so far. UBS took a $774 million one, it reported on Tuesday, as well as another $87 million in the coming quarter.

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  • UBS Quietly Reactivates Covid-Paused Cuts

    UBS Quietly Reactivates Covid-Paused Cuts

    The bank’s digitization plans will cost thousands of jobs in the coming months. UBS CEO Ralph Hamers is set to reactivate a series of cuts it had paused when Covid-19 broke out.

    Digitization always costs jobs, Ralph Hamers said in October of 2016 when ING disclosed it would eliminate 7,000 of them. The Dutch bank wanted to act from a position of strength, he said, noting the move was less about saving 900 million euros ($1.1 billion) than about making targeted investments in renewal.

    Nearly five years later, Hamers is applying a similar play to UBS: he wants to save $1 billion by 2023 in order to re-invest in the U.S. and Asia, where the Swiss bank wants to grow. For UBS’ 72,000 employees, it is clear that the cost-cutting goal will primarily be reached by cutting jobs.

    Of course, the 54-year-old Dutch CEO wasn’t that explicit on Tuesday, when he fleshed out UBS’ new slogan Reimagining the power of investing. Connecting people for a better world. Under Hamers, UBS will become more focused on clients, digital, and agile, he said.

    That means streamlining the Swiss lender’s famously bureaucratic processes, including through robotics. The principal aim is to whip UBS into a technology-leading bank with digital services that stand out from competitors like Spotify or Netflix do in the media industry.

    People familiar with Hamers’ thinking are flagging job cuts across most areas of the bank, and especially where UBS can make existing technology and applications more efficient. The bank plans to keep moving some jobs into lower-cost locations like Poland and India.

    It is also looking to leave activities where it isn’t satisfied with financial results; it abandoned Austria onshore in December and is reportedly looking to get out of Spain. The disposals also lower UBS’ headcount, normally without «costing» jobs.

    How many jobs Hamers plans to cut isn’t clear, but a simple equation based on the $1 billion target, a lower-than-average salary in Switzerland’s financial sector, and the assumption that 70 percent of spending is on people would indicate as many as 3,000 jobs are on the block in the next 18 months.

    The job cuts are likely to be Hamers’ first major measure at UBS – and they are being closely watched by the bank’s board. Effectively, he needs to make himself indispensable to UBS in their view; Hamers is weakened by a Dutch criminal probe reignited after he joined the Swiss bank last fall.

    The aim of the digitization and transformation Hamers was hired for is saving money, not raising the overall cost base. UBS’ cost-income ratio edging higher in the first quarter  – to 73.8 percent – underscores the import of more efficiency versus U.S. competitors who are operating leaner.

    A $300 million restructuring charge in the coming quarter also indicates the cuts to come. This represents a revival of UBS’ plans paused last March under former CEO Sergio Ermotti.

  • TPBank posts 41 percent surge in profits

    TPBank posts 41 percent surge in profits

    The bank said a surge in net interest income and a cut in operational expenses has boosted its Q1 performance.

    Its net interest income grew 30 percent in the period, while operational expenses dropped 10 percent, according to the bank’s financial statement.

    It said that its pre-tax profit growth was average compared to other lenders’ growth rates of 50 percent or even over 100 percent during the same period.

    For example, the increase in Q1 pre-tax profit was 135 and 110 percent respectively for the state-owned VietinBank and Military Commercial Bank (MBBank). Private lender ACB, meanwhile, saw a 61 percent increase in its Q1 pre-tax profit.

    TPBank’s Q1 revenue was up 15.2 percent year-on-year to VND2.78 trillion.

    By March end, both its outstanding loans and capital mobilization increased 4 percent to VND124.3 trillion and VND120 trillion, respectively. Non-performing loans were at 1.19 percent.

    The bank has set a target of VND5.5 trillion in pre-tax profit for 2021, a year-on-year increase of 25 percent.

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  • DBS Expands Trade Financing Via Contour

    DBS Expands Trade Financing Via Contour

    The bank, which made its first deal on the platform last year, has moved from Contour’s beta network to its production network.

    DBS will offer streamlined digital letters of credit transactions, including the transfer of electronic trade and title documents, for customers across Australia, China, Hong Kong, and Singapore from this month on Contour, according to an announcement on Thursday.

    DBS was Singapore’s first lender to join the platform, which provides an end-to-end letters of credit settlement to clients and enables digitalized real-time negotiations, post-endorsement sharing with banks, and real-time tracking of transactions with a full audit trail.

    We recognize that digitization is a powerful enabler to simplify the highly complex nature of trade finance, especially for processes relating to letters of credit, Sriram Muthukrishnan, DBS group head of trade product management, said.

    Digitising trade processes is also an increasingly relevant and heightened priority for corporates to survive and thrive in the new normal and will form an integral component for resilient trade ecosystems of the future, he added.

    Other members of the Singapore-based blockchain trade finance network include BNP Paribas, Bangkok Bank, ING, HSBC, Standard Chartered and Citi Ventures.

    Traditional paper-based LC processes have been a major obstacle to trade growth and created unnecessary complexity, cost and delays, DBS said.

    The bank noted that Asia pacific is a «key region» leading the digitization of trade finance as banks and corporates seek to mitigate risk and enhance cost efficiency in the wake of the challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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  • Citi Elevates Senior Hong Kong Investment Banker

    Citi Elevates Senior Hong Kong Investment Banker

    Citi has expanded the role of its regional head of corporate finance with greater responsibilities for the Hong Kong investment banking business.

    Alex Schrantz has been named head of banking, capital markets and advisory (BCMA) for Hong Kong, according to a statement, effective immediately. Schrantz reports to APAC head of BCMA Jan Metzger alongside Hong Kong and Macau chief executive Angel Ng.

    Schrantz will retain his existing role as APAC head of corporate finance.

    Schrantz has nearly 30 years of global banking experience of which over two decades were based in Hong Kong. He first joined Citi in 2012 and has been responsible for overseeing capital amerces execution in Asia Pacific. Previously, he was also a member of the listing committee for the local stock exchange from 2006 to 2010.

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