Commentary

Singapore's biannual Maritime Week recently concluded. Despite the celebrations and accolades handed out, the cloud of a depressed and struggling sector hung heavy over the industry. Although we may (hopefully) be seeing the green shoots of a shipping recovery, companies are still under a huge amount of pressure. Shipping is cyclical, and right now, we still seem to be on the wrong side. A number of international commentators have recently pushed the view that the local shipping and offshore sectors are in a state of terminal decline. Singapore is too expensive; the competition is too fierce; too many companies are struggling; even the government is too involved.

As Asia and Singapore becomes increasingly digitised, processes get automated and several industries are disrupted by technology, in particular, finance. From robo advisors to even analysts, there is no denying that finance in Singapore has been disrupted by new tech such as machine learning and predictive analytics. State of play today Artificial intelligence is progressing at a fast rate, and with it comes a deluge of data that humans cannot process quick enough. Whilst many of these technologies were created to help humans – for example, removing manual collation of data and data cleansing – so we can focus on other aspects of the business, what of the people whose jobs were mainly tied to such work, say for example stockbrokers? Are analysts (be it financial or data) who were once considered “unicorns” at risk of being replaced by AI that can calculate and perform complex tasks faster, minus human error? There’s no denying that with this disruption comes a period of uncertainty. The following list will separate fact from fiction. Fact: Your next stockbroker in Singapore might not be human. But it doesn’t mean you will sit in front of a robot. Financial institutions in Singapore are increasingly turning to machines to automate jobs that humans have done for decades. Take for example wealth management firm Charles Schwab and their offering Schwab Intelligent Portfolios launched two years ago. Based on algorithms, i.e. lines of codes programmed into a computer, you’ll be informed of where to invest your money. The process is also relatively simple. You simply open and account, fill out a questionnaire and instead of getting a human that simply crunches the numbers, machine learning and predictive analytics step in to help you make decisions. Fiction: People will always just want to deal with humans in Singapore If you think about this particular model of business, you’re paying for an advisor that:

The Singapore Budget unveiled a raft of new measures aimed at getting Singapore's reluctant SMEs/SMBs (small media enterprises/businesses) to go digital and use technology in their businesses. It basically amounted to throwing money at the problem. This seems to not only miss the point but not having learnt from previous times when this was tried.

Following the recommendations by the Committee on the Future Economy (CFE), the Monetary Authority of Singapore recently announced that it will relax some of its rules on finance companies to make it easier for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to obtain financing. The regulatory changes will see SMEs being granted more access to higher amount of uncollateralised loans and business customers will be able to contract more conveniently.

The government is sending a clear signal that in the long haul, stringent entry requirements are needed to be a property agent. This will raise the image and professionalism of the industry.

With state-of-the-art infrastructure and a reputation for excellent medical practice, Singapore has a well-deserved reputation for first-class healthcare. Singapore ranks second in the world providing its citizens with quality healthcare, and is also a major location for medical tourism in Asia. 

In order to fulfil its commitments under the Paris climate change agreement, Singapore’s climate action plan includes a number of strategies, including reduction of emissions from its power generation sector. Already, Singapore generates more than 95% electricity using combined cycle gas generators; thus, it needs to increase the share of Solar PV to achieve further reductions.

The release of the Ministry of Manpower's 'Labour Market Advance Release 2016' showed both slowing employment growth (an increase of 0.4%, down from 0.9% in 2015), and an increase in unemployment, creeping up to 2.2%. As has been well highlighted, Singapore is not immune from global trends and these results, in the global context, are not surprising. But it should also be noted, it is not all bad news.

The recent spate of negative corporate news in Singapore – bond defaults and manpower retrenchment – has led banks to become more cautious about lending. This could mean further tightening of the credit environment which is unfavourable for businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Following an announcement in 2010 by the Economic Strategies Committee to reach a productivity growth target of 2-3% per year over the next decade, the Singapore government has since introduced a slew of initiatives to raise productivity.

Not to say they've won in real life, but they did win the Startup Weekend Singapore hackathon at Google last month.

Global mobility programmes are pivotal to the growth and success of organisations, but with increasing complexities and the increasing volume of information to manage, the decision-making process can get rather daunting. Changing business dynamics, market volatility, the involvement of multiple stakeholders – each with their own priorities, and the need to contain costs whilst maintaining flexibility are just but a handful of the challenges faced by mobility professionals.

2016 was a tough year for Singapore’s economy. According to the Singapore Business Federation’s National Business Survey (NBS) 2016/2017, only 1 in 10 businesses expected the economic climate to improve over the next 12 months, whilst almost 50% of those surveyed felt that it could get worse. The overall SBF-DP SME Index reading for 1Q17 to 2Q17 also recorded its lowest reading of 49.8 in seven years, reflecting the business uncertainty felt among local businesses.

On 20 January 2017 Mr Donald J. Trump sworn in as the 45th President of the United States of America, and as part of his “100-day action plan to Make America Great Again” on 23 January 2017 signed the executive order to withdraw the USA from the TPP, the Trans Pacific Partnership free trade agreement between 12 Asia-Pacific countries including four within the ASEAN marketplace (Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Brunei). It reconfirmed Trump’s position well expressed during his presidential campaign and remarked his intent to withdraw from the TPP “from day one,” calling it “a potential disaster for our country” and continued by adding that instead he would negotiate “fair bilateral trade deals that bring jobs and industry back”.

If history is any guide, under US President Donald Trump, Singapore’s stock market won’t post returns worth writing home about… until 2019. But: given the unpredictability of Trump so far, history may not be prologue at all.

In the face of a fast growing economy, we are presented with an interesting conundrum in the role which education has.