Top News this Week (14 July)

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Rounding up top investing articles from around the web, including articles shared on Twitter.


37,000 people collect free ez-link, Nets FlashPay cards after SimplyGo plan shelved (Straits Times)

Some 37,000 people, or about 13 per cent of adults eligible for a free travel card after the planned transition to a newer ticketing system was shelved, have picked up the cards as at June 30, said the Land Transport Authority (LTA).

That was the last day of a months-long exercise where eligible adults were given the option of collecting a free ez-link or Nets FlashPay card compatible with the older card-based ticketing system, which displays fare deductions and card balances on fare readers.

A total of 296,000 adults were eligible to pick up the free cards, LTA told The Straits Times on July 8.

To qualify, they must have converted their ez-link cards to SimplyGo – the newer account-based ticketing system – or bought a SimplyGo ez-link card between Jan 9 and 22.

Those who bought a SimplyGo-compatible Nets prepaid card in the same period could also pick up a free Nets FlashPay card that is compatible with the card-based system.

LTA on Jan 9 announced plans to phase out the older travel cards and have all adult passengers use SimplyGo from June 1, only to pull the plug on Jan 22 after an outcry.

The inability with SimplyGo to see fare data when tapping out of buses and MRT stations irked some passengers.


Singapore banks to phase out use of OTP for customers using digital tokens (Straits Times)

Bank customers in Singapore who use digital tokens will soon be unable to use one-time passwords (OTPs) to log into their bank accounts.

The move was announced by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) in a joint news release on July 9, as part of efforts to better protect customers against phishing.

Major retail banks in Singapore will phase out the use of OTPs for account login for customers who are digital token users within the next three months.

These include the three local banks: DBS Bank, OCBC Bank and UOB.

Scammers need to steal users’ phones to remotely execute any transaction when digital tokens are set up.

In contrast, OTPs can be easily hijacked by a scammer – either via social engineering tactics or intercepted through spyware in a phone – to execute an unauthorised remote transaction.


Singapore-headquartered Dyson to axe 1,000 jobs in Britain (Straits Times)

Singapore-headquartered Dyson announced on July 9 that it would lay off about 1,000 of its 3,500 staff in Britain as part of a global restructuring. In total, the company has some 14,000 staff worldwide.

When asked about the fate of its almost 2,000 staff here, the multinational technology company said there was no direct impact from the announcement and declined to comment further.

ST understands that due to rules in Britain surrounding the retrenchment exercise, the company is legally unable to shed further light on the situation at this stage.


Singapore’s K-pop concert boom: Shows listed on Ticketmaster grew by 250% from 2022 to 2024 (Straits Times)

In the first six months of 2024 alone, Ms Elena Neo has attended 10 K-pop concerts and spent more than $2,500 on tickets.

The 23-year-old Singaporean animal trainer and presenter danced along to girl groups IVE in February and Itzy in April, as well as boy bands Shinee in March and NCT Dream in June. She sang to her heart’s content at gigs by South Korean singers Baekhyun and Kyuhyun in March, Moonbyul in April and Hwasa in June. In April, she flew to Seoul in South Korea to catch two shows by boy band Seventeen.


Singapore to stop registration of new diesel cars and taxis from Jan 1, 2025 (Straits Times)

New diesel cars and taxis will no longer be registered in Singapore starting Jan 1, 2025, as part of a push by the Government to have all vehicles on the streets of the Republic running on cleaner energy by 2040.

The move to phase out the more pollutive vehicles was announced in Parliament three years ago during a debate on the Government’s environmental sustainability plans in March 2021.

Since then, the proportion of new diesel car and taxi registrations has remained below 1 per cent in total, given the availability of cleaner alternatives, said the Land Transport Authority (LTA) on July 10.

The upcoming ban on new diesel cars and taxis comes before all new cars and taxis registered here are required to be cleaner-energy models from 2030.


Ng Ah Sio Bak Kut Teh restaurant founder, 87, charged over Nassim Road fatal accident (Straits Times)

The founder of Ng Ah Sio Bak Kut Teh restaurant was driving a car on Nov 1, 2022, when he allegedly lost control of it, resulting in an accident that left one of his passengers dead and another man injured.

Ng Siak Hai, who is a director at companies including NSH Holdings and JBO Holdings, is represented by lawyers Choo Si Sen and Choo Yean Lin.

He is expected to plead guilty on Aug 20.


SATS splits airport ground handling services business into Singapore and Asia-Pacific units (CNA)

SATS has split its airport ground handling services business into Singapore and Asia-Pacific units, in a bid to drive company growth. 

The Singapore-based company announced in a press release on Wednesday (Jul 10) that it had restructured its Gateway Services business to form two new units: the Singapore Hub and Gateway Services Asia-Pacific.

The Singapore Hub will focus on driving aviation hub competitiveness in Singapore while Gateway Services Asia-Pacific will concentrate on growing the group’s market share in Asia Pacific by managing operations in overseas airports.


South Korea Samsung union declares ‘indefinite’ strike (CNA)

A union representing tens of thousands of workers at Samsung Electronics in South Korea said on Wednesday (Jul 10) it would extend a three-day strike indefinitely in a bid to force management to negotiate.

The strike is the biggest labour action in the tech giant’s history and steps up pressure on the chipmaker’s management, who last week predicted a huge second-quarter operating profit increase.

“(We) declare a second indefinite general strike from Jul 10, after learning that the management has no willingness to talk,” the National Samsung Electronics Union said in a statement.


Microsoft drops its observer seat on OpenAI board amid regulatory scrutiny

Microsoft said that it would give up its observer seat on the OpenAI board amid regulatory scrutiny into generative artificial intelligence in Europe and the U.S.

Microsoft’s Deputy General Counsel Keith Dolliver wrote a letter to OpenAI late on Tuesday, saying that the position had provided insights into the board’s activities without compromising its independence.

But the letter, seen by CNBC, added that the seat was no longer needed as Microsoft had “witnessed significant progress from the newly formed board.” CNBC has reached out to Microsoft and OpenAI for comment.

The European Commission previously said Microsoft could face an antitrust investigation, as it looked at the markets for virtual worlds and generative artificial intelligence.


TSMC second-quarter revenue jumps on AI boost, handily beats market forecasts (CNBC)

TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, reported strong growth in second-quarter revenue on Wednesday that handily beat market forecasts, on the back of booming demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, whose customers include Apple and Nvidia, has benefited from the surge towards AI that has helped it weather the tapering off of pandemic-led demand and pushed TSMC’s share price to a record high.


China’s ETF market sees ‘explosive’ growth, inflows jump 5-fold in three years, Morningstar says (CNBC)

  • Chinese exchange-traded funds saw a stunning growth in the last three years, with inflows consistently notching new highs, according to Morningstar.
  • By the end of last year, the total assets under management (AUM) of ETFs in China more than doubled that of 2020′s figure to hit 1.82 trillion yuan.
  • The broader China A-shares market has been “tepid” since 2022, with bright spots only in certain niche industries, Morningstar observed.
  • “The influx of investments by institutional investors have been into broad-based index-tracking ETFs, which is the most important part of the rapid inflows of ETFs in China,” Wang added.

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