Philip Chua Business Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Monetary’

(SINGAPORE) Banks and big insurers here will have to fill more than half the positions on their boards and key board committees with independent directors, instead of the minimum one-third now, under new proposals to strengthen the corporate governance of financial institutions here by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
The definition of independence would also be tightened; a director wou… more

(SINGAPORE) The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is seeking sweeping new powers to seize insurers in distress and to supervise their liquidation to protect policyholders.
It also wants to raise the limits on the compensation offered by the policy owners’ protection fund (PPF) schemes for both life and general insurers, to better protect policy owners.
The PPF schemes were introduced in the In… more

Monetary policy ‘exit strategies’ are almost certain to be one of the dominant themes in 2010. Among the major developed country central banks, the ECB and Federal Reserve have already embarked on such strategies, although the latter continues to mull whether additional purchases of agency debt and MBS will be…

PRIVATE sector economists expect Singapore to grow even faster next year, as more signs emerge that the economy is returning to normal.
Growth is tipped to hit 5.5 per cent next year after a 2 per cent contraction this year – based on the median expectations of 20 economists, released yesterday by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
This is better than the 4.5 per cent growth they predicted… more

This week sees a particularly busy calendar in the UK, featuring the Chancellor’s Pre-Budget Report (PBR) and the latest Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting. We look for Bank Rate to remain on hold at 0.5% while the MPC continues with its £200bn programme of asset purchases. The PBR, meanwhile, will…

FINANCE Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam yesterday said the government will use every tool at its disposal ‘in a calibrated fashion’ to prevent boom and bust in the property market. One day after the Monetary Authority of Singapore served notice of further action to cool the housing market if needed, in the face of growing speculation risks, Mr Tharman spoke about the need to manage the property cy… more