The Afternoon Update with Lynlee Foo

In an era of rapid digital transformation, efficient and innovative payment solutions are crucial for business success.  On Industry Insight, we look at the latest in payment solutions, and explore the advancements in payment technologies. From real-time transactions to embedded finance, what are some of the common initiatives industry players are focusing on, to help businesses scale and unlock new revenue streams through smarter and more secure payment infrastructures?  Sarita Singh, Managing Director of Southeast Asia, India and Greater China with global financial infrastructure company Stripe shares her views. 

Carbon markets have evolved into a significant international market segment that has generated $104 billion in revenue in 2024 to fund climate and nature programs. Indeed, it is a growing sector, especially when energy transition and the race to net zero is entering a new phase of maturity in which nations and corporations are being held to higher levels of integrity in both compliance and voluntary carbon offset claims, reporting and data. Singapore’s Green Plan 2030 aims to make the country Asia’s carbon services and trading hub. Yet, there appears to be a slowdown in the voluntary carbon market. According to industry experts, the voluntary carbon market has been in the doldrums for two years amid doubts among buyers over the integrity of the process. Project Qatalyst, a due diligence platform and the brainchild of Standard Chartered Bank and French multinational power company Engie believes strongly that carbon credits are an invaluable tool in financing climate action and drive the transition to net zero.  Poyan Rajamand, venture lead for Qatalyst at SC Ventures, tells us more. 

There is an emerging trend of innovative products being made to help boost food production without agriculture. For example, fat that is free from animal ingredients and artificial ingredients. Using precision fermentation, Australian food tech company Nourish Ingredients, a pioneer in the emerging 'animal-free' speciality fat segment has produced the world's first animal-free fat that is derived from nature. It claims this will help to accelerate the future food system by solving the biggest issues in the plant protein market around taste, nutrition, and consumer adoption. With its recent Singapore expansion, Nourish Ingredients hopes to scale up the production of its breakthrough fat.  Market intelligence research shows that the global precision fermentation ingredients market is projected to reach USD$38 billion by 2031, at a CAGR of 43.5% during the forecast period of 2024–2031. Ernest Vecilla, Head of Culinary Innovation, Nourish Ingredients shares more insights from the food tech industry.

With the US election and Fed meeting on the horizon, there is a noticeable shift in investor sentiment across Asian markets. Key movements in currencies hint at regional resilience amid global uncertainties as the dollar weakened ahead of the outcome of the U.S. presidential election this week. However, the Malaysian ringgit has seen its move to the upside halted, closing in October lower by 5.8 per cent against the US dollar, which is its biggest monthly drop in about eight years. What can investors expect in the days ahead?  Yeap Junrong, Market Strategist at trading platform IG, shares his insights. 

For Singapore-based investors, letting properties in the UK is one of the best ways to make a steady income. But a long-distance landlord job can be challenging. Research by independent letting and sales agent Benham and Reeves has highlighted the increasing number of fraudulent lettings applications by rogue tenants in the UK. The research found that the number of false applications being detected by their team had already increased by 117% so far this year when compared to 2018 and the number of false passports being used had also increased notably. Marc von Grundherr, Director at Benham and Reeves, discusses how to prevent and handle rogue tenants who can potentially ruin your investment.

China’s top legislature will convene a meeting from November 4-8 to discuss a wide range of issues facing the country.  The meeting which usually takes place at the end of October, will be held as the US elects its next president. How will the US elections impact China’s markets? Gary Ng, Senior Economist at investment banking firm Natixis, tells us more about what to expect from China’s top legislative meeting.

Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba insists that he would not step down following the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)’s resounding defeat in the lower house election. A special Diet session must be held within 30 days of the election to elect the prime minister, as bound by the Constitution. But whether this will again be Mr Ishiba, who had taken office only on Oct 1, is a big question mark. Walter Sim, Japan Correspondent at The Straits Times, weighs in on the contributing factors of the LDP's poor performance, the impact of the hung Parliament and the challenges for Japan in the days ahead.  .

With the US Election exactly a week away, opinion polls show a frozen presidential race, between Vice-President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump, especially in the handful of decisive swing states. All the polls are within the margin of error, as both camps continue to fight for every vote.  What happens in the coming days will be pivotal in deciding the winner, so what can we expect? What is the state of play?  Samuel Garrett, Research Associate at the University of Sydney's United States Studies Centre shares his views as we enter the final stretch.

With more than 90% of Singapore food coming from imported sources, food security is a big issue here since we are more vulnerable to many factors outside our control. Therefore, a Singapore Aquaculture Plan has been implemented to uplift the local aquaculture sector and work towards sustainably producing 30% of our food by 2030, especially as aquaculture has some of the highest attrition rates in the range of 70% of entire yields being wiped out.  On Industry Insight, we look into solutions to do with synthetic biology and cutting-edge bioinformatics in managing disease in aquaculture with CEO and Founder of TeOra, Dr. Rishita Changede, whose company uses Nobel prize-winning technologies to transform the biotechnology landscape.

Asia Pacific is home to some of the world’s largest real-time payments markets. In the last decade, there has been rapid proliferation of digital payment solutions such as digital wallets, peer-to-peer transfers, and contactless payments, which have enabled the growth of digital economies across Asia and beyond. While the payments experience may seem simpler, providers face growing challenges from regulations, fragment systems and the advancement of AI. In a wide-ranging interview, Thomas Warsop, CEO of global payments company ACI Worldwide, provides his insights on current trends and challenges shaping the way we pay.