The Afternoon Update with Lynlee Foo

The industrial real estate market in Vietnam has experienced a dramatic increase in foreign direct investment over the past two decades. As the country continues its transformative phase attracting a new wave of high-value investments, what are the factors that are shaping Vietnam’s industrial sector and contributing to its success, especially in the growth of new technology sectors such as data centres and electric vehicles? What do investors need to know about Vietnam's evolution into a major manufacturing, logistics, and digital hub in Southeast Asia? More importantly, how will Trump 2.0 impact the outlook for the country's industrial real estate?  John Campbell, Director, Head of Industrial Services, Savills Vietnam, who is based in Ho Chi Minh city, shares his perspectives. 

Stablecoins and tokenisation are gaining momentum in today's complex financial landscape, driving innovation across payments and remittances, and bridging the gap between traditional finance and decentralised finance, to pave the way for the future of payments. How will current developments change the way we pay? Will the rise of stablecoins challenge the established financial systems, or complement and enhance existing frameworks? Jason Tay, Head of Commercial at stablecoin firm, StraitsX, tells us more. StraitsX holds a major payment institution license in Singapore, and is the issuer of XSGD, Singapore's first dollar-backed stablecoin.

According to business intelligence platform Statista, blockchain technology is forecast to increase to nearly 1,000 trillion U.S. dollars by 2032. Blockchain is at the heart of cryptocurrency, and with rising acceptance and adoption of cryptocurrencies, and growing interest in decentralised finance (DeFi) platforms, the cryptocurrency market in Singapore is anticipated to grow rapidly in the next few years. What will it take for Singapore to be a Web3 hub in this region? What are the security challenges businesses should be aware of? Gu Ronghui, Associate Professor of Computer Science at Columbia University is one of two founders of CertiK, an industry-leading Web3 security firm headquartered in New York. CertiK says alongside its auditing work, it has reported over 4,000 security incidents in the Web3 community, and discovered more than 115,000 code vulnerabilities, safeguarding over $360 billion in digital assets. Prof Gu, a pioneer in blockchain security, shares invaluable insights into the Web3 space including the challenges and opportunities, and Singapore's role in Web3 development.

Have you heard of a condominium hotel or condotel? As the name may imply, it is a condominium that operates as a hotel, which you could own because units within the hotel are individually owned and managed for you. Hannah Yulo Luccini, CEO of Hotel101 Global, tells us a bit more about how such projects work and how it is different from traditional time-shares with their Condotel project in Niseko, Japan. 

Digital health innovations are playing a more pivotal role in disease management and treatments. From electronic health record integration to wearable devices and mobile applications, advancements in digital technologies are offering more opportunities to improve health outcomes.  On World Diabetes Day (14 Nov), Industry Insight takes a look into the healthcare technology industry and discuss trends specific to diabetes management with Dr. Kenneth Lee, Regional Medical Director, Abbott Diabetes Care, Abbott.

Tokenisation and on-chain finance are becoming buzzwords in the financial industry. Increasingly, more traditional financial institutions are taking collaborative and bolder steps towards a harmonious coexistence of the traditional and the digital. On Industry Insight, we take a look at trends in the blockchain industry, particularly the ways technology is reshaping how traditional financial instruments are digitised and traded. Aaron Gwak, is the founder and CEO of Libeara, a technology service provider backed by Standard Chartered's venture arm, set up to assist institutions in digitalising financial instruments on blockchains. Aaron shares about the platform which aims to reduce the need for intermediaries and bring access, mobility and efficiency to global capital markets.

Technology is driving the transition to a more sustainable future. Green tech innovations are at the forefront of the global sustainability push, offering practical solutions to some of the most pressing environmental challenges. Recently, UOB FinLab, the Bank’s innovation accelerator, awarded a total of more than $100,000 to selected Green Technology (GreenTech) firms to pilot 15 sustainability solutions with UOB and its corporate partners across ASEAN. The pilot solutions and partnerships were unveiled at the GreenTech Accelerator 2024 Showcase Day as part of Singapore FinTech Festival’s Insights Forum. We find out more about the trends and developments in the green technology space with Marianne Tan, Programme Director at UOB FinLab, and Emmanuel Tay, CEO and co-founder of Circular Unite, which is behind one of the 15 pilots selected for funding by UOB FinLab. They share their insights on the green technology ecosystem and the ways industry players are addressing pain points in sustainability.

The US dollar is soaring amid strong momentum to the upside following Donald Trump’s US election win.  What does this mean for the USD / JPY pair and the carry trade? How will a strong dollar and impending tariffs impact the Chinese markets? How does the USD pair with the Singapore dollar in the current market conditions? Yeap Junrong, Market Strategist at IG, weighs in with his views on the greenback. 

The global quantum computing market is estimated to be worth between US$45 billion and US$131 billion by 2040 (McKinsey). The single largest sector to be impacted is the financial services sector, with an estimated value at stake of US$450 billion. To this end, the business world is rapidly transforming with two revolutionary technologies leading the charge; quantum computing and AI. Each of these technologies represents immense potential to redefine the boundaries of what's possible. This powerful fusion of quantum computing and artificial intelligence is emerging, and it promises to reshape our world in ways we can hardly imagine.  Dipen Mehta, Head of Financial Services for SoftServe, a global IT consulting and digital services provider, sheds some light on the potential of quantum computing in financial services. 

Up to 20,000 additional certificates of entitlement (COE) will be injected across the five vehicle categories over the next few years from February 2025. The announcement, made by Land Transport Authority on Oct 29, has sparked much discussion among many. The LTA says the move reflects recent trends in vehicle usage, the upcoming and improved ERP 2.0 system and significant investments in Singapore’s public transport network. Could a boost in COE supply lead to a drop in COE premiums and ease car ownership costs? Lee Nian Tjoe, Senior Transport Correspondent, The Straits Times, weighs in on the impact of this latest development.