The Evening Runway with Hongbin Jeong and Chua Tian Tian

Southeast Asia’s burgeoning digital economy, propelled by the Covid-19 pandemic, shows no signs of abating – and with it, the urgent need for modern digital skills.  On Career 360, Prime Time's Timothy Go and Bharati Jagdish speak with Cecily Ng, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Salesforce Singapore & Taiwanon their efforts to accelerate digital skills amongst youths in Singapore.

Decentralised Finance has gotten a bad name, so have Web 3.0 and NFTs. The recent Fall of FTX has many called it the Lehman brothers of crypto. Believers said DeFi needs a hard reset. Can it? And what’s the next phase of recovery? In the Spotlight on Prime Time, Timothy Go and Bharati Jagdish speak with James Gordon, Partner, Digital Assets Lead, Asia Pacific, Oliver Wyman, to find out if the next phase of recovery for DeFi is possible and why it is time to explore Institutional DeFi. Produced and edited by Anthea Ng (nganthea@sph.com.sg)

Singapore’s red-hot rental market shows no signs of abating, with both the condo and HDB rental indices continuing to rise since July 2020. So what does that mean for tenants looking to rent? Could this be an opportunity for aspiring landlords to enter the market? On Powering Your Property, Prime Time's Timothy Go and Bharati Jagdish speak with Nicholas Mak, Head of Research and Consultancy, ERA Realty for his outlook on the residential property market as we edge closer to the end of the year. Highlights from the conversation: 00:48: How much higher could rents go? 02:22: How will the increase in rents impact tenants and foreigners coming into Singapore? 04:28: Is there a limit to how bullish the rental market can get? 05:43: Should Singapore consider rent control as a short-term measure? 06:58: Does it make sense to buy an investment property to capitalise on high housing rents in 2022? 

In the Spotlight on Prime Time, Timothy Go and Bharati Jagdish are joined by Pete Ross, Producer/Presenter from the BBC, who has been following the 2022 FIFA World Cup, for a report card on the football showcase in Qatar, both on and off the pitch.

Wall Street is in a retrenchment mode with job cuts and hiring freezes in the tech world making their way to the finance industry.  Major banks including Goldman Sachs Group, Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse Group have either announced plans or carried out rounds of layoffs ahead of an impending recession. Is this a cause for concern or should investors heave a sigh of relief that banks are taking measures ahead of a potential downturn? Elsewhere, the crypto sector continues to be a focus area of our discussion today, with Hong Kong Bitcoin and Ether Crypto ETFs raising US$79 million amid the saga surrounding FTX’s founder Sam Bankman-Fried. Will Hong Kong be able to attain its goal of becoming a crypto hub? On Market View, Prime Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Lily Fang, Dean of Research and Professor of Finance at INSEAD.

28 days, 32 teams, 64 matches and 172 goals later - it all comes full circle as Lionel Messi finally gets his fairy tale ending, delivering two goals that were instrumental in securing Argentina's third World Cup title. In The Straits Times’ The Big Story, Multimedia Correspondent Cheow Sue-Ann spoke with Sports Correspondent Sazali Abdul Aziz for a recap of the tournament. 

Living in an increasingly digital world, protection against digital eye strain is also increasingly important. This is even more so if we were to prevent chronic eye discomfort in old age. How can eye care technology help us? In the Spotlight on Prime Time, Timothy Go and Bharati Jagdish speak with Alex Neo, Founder, The Eyes Inc, a qualified optometrist with over 15 years of experience and expertise in progressive lenses troubleshooting. Produced and edited by Anthea Ng (nganthea@sph.com.sg)

Shoppers are returning to malls in preparation for holiday gifting, but what sets this holiday season apart from previous years is the integral shift in consumer behaviour since the Covid-19 pandemic. As consumers return to stores with renewed expectations, what’s next for retailers? Prime Time's Timothy Go and Bharati Jagdish find out from George Pepes, APAC Vertical Solutions Lead, Healthcare and Retail, Zebra Technologies.

We’ll wrap up the key developments for the week, looking at markets in the US, Europe and China. In the US, the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates by yet another 50 basis points as predicted by market watchers.  But with Fed boss Jerome Powell maintaining the central bank’s resolve to fight red-hot prices, how would that affect market movements as we close off the year? In other news, FTX’s new CEO said Sam Bankman-Fried committed ‘old-fashioned embezzlement’. How would that affect investors’ confidence in the crypto sector?  On Market View, Prime Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian sat down with Jeremy Tan, CIO, Tiger Brokers (Singapore) to unpack all the information you need to know for the week. 

Two more matches to go for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Doha - Croatia and Morocco on Saturday for the 3rd place playoff and the final on Sunday between defending champions France and Argentina, which will also be the swansong for Lionel Messi. Can the seven-time Ballon d’or winner sign off his illustrious career with his first ever World Cup title? On the Straits Times The Big Story, Multimedia journalist, Cheow Sue-Ann gets some insights from Sports Correspondent, Sazali Abdul Aziz in Doha.