FOR many young Singaporean job seekers, working at a multinational corporation (MNC) typically ranks at the top of their career choices. But a programme launched by the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (Asme) and the Singapore Workforce Development Agency is aiming to change that, by matching local talent with industries here. The Max Talent programme, which is heavily subsidised, has ...

GLOBAL professionals still prefer to work in the United States or United Kingdom in the West. But if they head east, Singapore will be their top choice, says global recruitment firm Hydrogen Group.In fact, these highly qualified, high earning professionals will pick Singapore even over Western countries like Canada, Switzerland, France, Germany and Italy, according to Hydrogen.Globally, Singapore ...

THE yen dipped briefly below 102 to the dollar yesterday in Tokyo its lowest level in 55 months and appeared headed lower still after the G 7 finance ministers meeting in Britain at the weekend avoided any censure of the Bank of Japan for its mega monetary easing that has sent the currency plunging by 10 per cent since April 4. It traded as low as l02.15 to the dollar after markets opened in ...

PANDAS may attract Singapore tourists to Chengdu, but the capital of Sichuan province is attracting more than that from the Republic. Total Singapore investments in Chengdu now stand at an impressive US$3.146 billion (S$3.878 billion). The figure was disclosed by Mr Liu Jianing, head of the Chengdu Investment Promotion Commission s investment sales division, at a recent trade event. At the Win In ...

NTUC Income s chief executive Tan Suee Chieh is leaving the insurance cooperative to head NTUC Enterprise, the holding cooperative of NTUC s 12 cooperatives. He will become NTUC Enterprise s first group CEO from Oct 1, after having helmed Income for six years. His successor has not yet been named. During his watch at NTUC Income, its premium revenues shot to an all time high of $4.2 billion in ...

[SINGAPORE] Credit Suisse has promoted Edwin Low and Rizal Gozali as co heads of investment banking for South east Asia, a region sizzling with deals.Initial public offerings in Singapore and Indonesia in particular have been hot, taking the markets by storm as cash flush investors clamour for a piece of the action.The two new appointments reinforce the bank s long term commitment to South east ...

THE world s best women s tennis players are coming to town next year, and the Singapore government hopes that this will spell big bucks for the local economy. The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) reckons that the Republic s hosting of the glittering Women s Tennis Association (WTA) championships will net about $15 million in tourism receipts for each of the five instalments. The tournament, held at ...

[SINGAPORE] The Republic is gaining eminence as a gold storage hub, even as a plunge in the gold price further stokes Asian investors appetites for more physical gold. A few banks are in discussion with vault operators to open vault space, following in the footsteps of JP Morgan which launched its first vault in Asia here in 2010. But the increased demand for gold storage space in Singapore ...

MAPLETREE Industrial Trust (MIT) posted distribution per unit of 2.37 cents in the fourth quarter ended March, an improvement of 6.8 per cent over the previous year. Distributable income rose 8.7 per cent year on year to $38.9 million. This was on the back of an 8.8 per cent rise in gross revenue to $72.1 million, and a 7.8 per cent increase in net property income to $49.6 million. The higher ...

SMALL and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) expect business outlook to brighten in the second and third quarters of this year as global economic conditions improve, but do not think this will translate into higher sales and profit as domestic concerns weigh in.This was a finding in the latest survey by the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) and DP Information Group (DP Info), which delved into the ...

[SINGAPORE] Singapore s medium term trend GDP growth has been estimated at around 2.5 per cent nearly half that of the previous decade as the nation grapples with labour constraints and tepid productivity growth, a report said. The government s efforts to restructure the economy and scale back dependence on foreign labour is taking 0.9 percentage point off growth in terms of Singapore s ...

A PREMIUM liner from the world s largest cruise group will make Singapore its home from next year to ride the waves of Asia s growing cruise industry. Called the Sapphire Princess, the ship can carry 2,670 passengers and will dock at the Marina Bay Cruise Centre Singapore when it is not out at sea. The 116,000 tonne ship is owned by Princess Cruises, which is a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation, ...

OIL prices are expected to remain volatile in 2013, with competition in oil trading markets expected to intensify, China Aviation Oil s CEO Meng Fanqui warned in its just out 2012 annual report. This follows an already very difficult 2012, which CAO described as being one of the most challenging years for oil trading companies. Last year, the jet fuel market CAO s core business was bearish ...

[SINGAPORE] Economists have turned a little more optimistic about Singapore s growth performance for 2013, despite tuning their first quarter forecasts a notch lower because of poor production and export figures thus far this year. But uncertainty from the eurozone will continue to cloud the outlook, they said. Professional forecasters, polled by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) from ...

BOSSES at large corporations armed with top notch MBAs still struggle, at times, to meet the challenges of running a company in its various stages of growth. So imagine how much tougher it is for those running small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), with limited resources, as they try to navigate a constantly evolving business landscape. Efforts by SMEs to become more productive are often ...