For Rent - Enterprise One at Kaki Bukit Road 1- Industrial and Office - 20.06.08

For Rent - Enterprise One at Kaki Bukit Road 1- Industrial and Office - 20.06.08

- Size from 2153sqft (smallest) onwards. Can combine with unit beside to get larger area
- Ramp up development, vehicle access to every level. Up to 20 footer
- unit floor loading of 10kn/m2
- ceiling height of approximate 5.5m
- Unit available from level 1 to level 4
- All unit are bare, can be fitted up with lightings , air conditionerand false ceilings at extra $1 psf

((All information are subjected to change without notice)) ((Rental excludes GST which is payable by tenant))

Type — GROUND FLOOR #1 (THE COURTYARD I )
Units — #01-30
Sizes — 2,164
Asking — $2.80
Gross — $6,059.20

Type — GROUND FLOOR #1 (THE COURTYARD I )
Units — #01-31
Sizes — 2,153
Asking — $2.80
Gross — $6,028.40

Type —  GROUND FLOOR #1 (THE COURTYARD I )
Units — #01-34
Sizes — 2,153
Asking — $2.80
Gross — $6,028.40

Type —  GROUND FLOOR #1 (THE COURTYARD I )
Units — #01-35
Sizes — 2,164
Asking — $2.80
Gross — $6,059.20

Type — GROUND FLOOR #1 (THE COURTYARD II)
Units — #01-38
Sizes — 2,164
Asking — $2.80
Gross — $6,059.20

Type — GROUND FLOOR #1 (THE COURTYARD II)
Units — #01-39
Sizes — 2,153
Asking — $2.80
Gross — $6,028.40

Type —  GROUND FLOOR #1 (THE COURTYARD II)
Units — #01-40
Sizes — 2,250
Asking — $2.80
Gross — $6,300.00

Type —  GROUND FLOOR #1 (THE COURTYARD II)
Units — #01-44*
Sizes — 2,239
Asking — ASK

Gross — SECOND FLOOR #2 ( THE LINK )
Type — #02-24
Units — 2,174
Sizes — $2.60
Asking — $5,652.40

Gross — SECOND FLOOR #2 ( THE LINK )
Type — #02-25
Units — 2,174
Sizes — $2.60
Asking — $5,652.40

Gross —  SECOND FLOOR #2 ( THE LINK )
Type — #02-29
Units — 2,174
Sizes — $2.60
Asking — $5,652.40

Gross —  SECOND FLOOR #2 ( THE LINK )
Type — #02-30*
Units — 2,174
Sizes — $3.40
Asking — $7,391.60

Gross — THIRD FLOOR #3 (THE COURTYARD )
Type — #03-35
Units — 2,164
Sizes — $2.20
Asking — $4,760.80

Gross — THIRD FLOOR #3 (THE COURTYARD )
Type — #03-36
Units — 2,164
Sizes — $2.20
Asking — $4,760.80

Gross —  THIRD FLOOR #3 (THE COURTYARD )
Type — #03-37
Units — 2,164
Sizes — $2.20
Asking — $4,760.80

Gross —  THIRD FLOOR #3 (THE COURTYARD )
Type — #03-38
Units — 2,164
Sizes — $2.20
Asking — $4,760.80

Gross —  THIRD FLOOR #3 (THE COURTYARD )
Type — #03-39
Units — 2,153
Sizes — $2.20
Asking — $4,760.80

Gross —  THIRD FLOOR #3 (THE COURTYARD )
Type — #03-41
Units — 2,250
Sizes — $2.20
Asking — $4,950.00

Gross — THIRD FLOOR #3 ( THE AVENUE )
Type — #03-18
Units — 2250
Sizes — $2.40
Asking — $5,400.00

Gross — THIRD FLOOR #3 ( THE AVENUE )
Type — #03-19
Units — 2250
Sizes — $2.40
Asking — $5,400.00

Gross —  THIRD FLOOR #3 ( THE AVENUE )
Type — #03-20
Units — 2250
Sizes — $2.40
Asking — $5,400.00

Gross — FOURTH FLOOR #4 ( THE AVENUE )
Type — #04-17
Units — 2,357
Sizes — $2.20
Asking — $5,185.40

Gross — FOURTH FLOOR #4 ( THE AVENUE )
Type — #04-18
Units — 2,250
Sizes — $2.20
Asking — $4,950.00

Gross —  FOURTH FLOOR #4 ( THE AVENUE )
Type — #04-19
Units — 2,250
Sizes — $2.20
Asking — $4,950.00

Gross —  FOURTH FLOOR #4 ( THE AVENUE )
Type — #04-20
Units — 2,250
Sizes — $2.20
Asking — $4,950.00

Gross — FOURTH FLOOR #4 ( THE COURTYARD )
Type — #04-37
Units — 2,164
Sizes — $2.20
Asking — $4,544.40

Gross — FOURTH FLOOR #4 ( THE COURTYARD )
Type — #04-41
Units — 2,250
Sizes — $2.20
Asking — $4,725.00

Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest, in Singapore

Mindy Yong

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mindy@mindyyong.com

Developers get more wriggle room with Singapore H2 land sales

Developers get more wriggle room with Singapore H2 land sales

Latest slate sees sharp cut in supply from confirmed list, while that from the reserve list is up

By KALPANA RASHIWALA

(SINGAPORE) The government yesterday effectively delivered a sharp cut in state land sales that should give some relief to the current soft property market. Supply from the confirmed list of the Ministry of National Development’s (MND) H2 2008 land sales programme is less than half that in H1.

Although the supply on the H2 reserve list has been increased so that the total on both lists is about the same as in H1, market watchers reckoned that it is a fair bet that not many reserve list sites will be triggered for release.

Not one reserve list site in H1 has so far drawn a successful application by a developer. In the face of weak home sales, developers held back from applying for reserve sites. Tight financing for property and a construction bottleneck could see them continue to hold back in H2.

‘With most sites in the Government Land Sales Programme on the reserve list, the government will allow the market to activate supply in accordance with actual demand,’ the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said when queried about the latest programme.

Agreeing, CB Richard Ellis executive director Li Hiaw Ho said: ‘Given the uncertainty in the wider market and the global economy, the government appears to be responding to feedback by allowing developers to decide the pace of development through the reserve list.’

In all, MND is offering 40 sites in H2. Eight are on the confirmed list, down from 11 in H1, and 32 are on the reserve list, up from 26.

The latest confirmed list will yield about 1,120 private homes, 50,000 square metres of gross floor area (GFA) of commercial space and 700 hotel rooms. This is less than half the H1 confirmed list supply of 3,000 private homes, 176,581 sq m of commercial GFA and 1,670 hotel rooms.

The overall H2 programme will generate 7,960 private homes, 400,000 sq m of commercial GFA and 5,750 hotel rooms.

This is similar to the H1 quantum - 8,250 private homes, 436,581 sq m of commercial GFA and 5,850 hotel rooms.

‘The government is mindful of current market conditions,’ said DTZ executive director Ong Choon Fah. ‘They’ve announced a very measured programme, so as not to upset the market.’

However, one area of concern is MND’s decision to release another two 15-year leasehold transitional office sites through the confirmed list - at Mohamed Sultan and Mountbatten roads. Market watchers are concerned that the completion of developments on further transitional sites will come closer and closer to the completion of major office projects such as Marina Bay Financial Centre, 50 Collyer Quay and Ocean Financial Centre.

URA, however, said that it has received market feedback that there is demand for transitional office sites from businesses that need office space urgently but not a city centre location.

The two plots are among 13 new sites MND is offering on its H2 slate of 40 plots. A plum new site comprises the existing Capitol Theatre, Capitol Building, Stamford House (all gazetted for conservation) and Capitol Centre, which may be torn down and redeveloped. A minimum quantum for hotel use will be stipulated. Another choice new site on the confirmed list is a hotel plot on Bukit Chermin Road next to Keppel Club. The three hectare site includes four black-and-white bungalows on hilly terrain. ‘The sale of this site for hotel development is timed to coincide with the completion of the Labrador Nature and Coastal Walk nearby in 2011,’ MND said.

It is also offering subdivided landed housing plots under the third phase of Sembawang Greenvale.

New plots on the reserve list include a white site next to Jurong East MRT Station, which will have a minimum office component and could also generate about 385 homes, and two hotel sites - one a beachfront plot along Kallang River and the other on Short Street in the Selegie area. Several new condo sites are also on the reserve list - including one next to Lorong Chuan MRT Station and another next to the Dakota Residences project, which will be previewed tomorrow.

MND also highlighted additional sources of space that the government will make available in H2 2008 - including about 143,000 sq m GFA of commercial space from sources such as interim use of vacant state buildings and small land parcels for commercial use; retail space at the mixed-used development at Lavender Street by JTC Corp; about 240 hotel rooms; and 20 private homes.

Giving an update on the supply pipeline, MND said that about 1.11 million sq m of GFA of office space, 435,000 sq m of business park space, 565,000 sq m of shop space and 11,161 hotel rooms are scheduled for completion between Q2 2008 and 2011.

In the private residential sector, some 56,500 new private homes are expected to be ready between Q2 2008 and 2011, of which 23,300 are in the Core Central Region.

Source : Business Times - 20 Jun 2008

Singapore Property - Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest

Mindy Yong

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mindy@mindyyong.com

Fund managers gloomiest on equities in 10 yrs - Singapore

Fund managers gloomiest on equities in 10 yrs - Singapore

Many now wonder whether monetary policy has become too stimulative

By LYNETTE KHOO

(SINGAPORE) Fund managers’ view of global equities has nosedived to a decade low as fears of stagflation heighten, according to the latest Merrill Lynch Survey of Fund Managers.

The June survey shows that the net balance of fund managers who ‘underweight’ equities rose from 5 per cent in May to 27 per cent in June - the most negative stance that the survey has recorded in 10 years.

Only one per cent of the respondents believe equities are undervalued, down from 25 per cent in March. A net 42 per cent are ‘overweight’ cash, up from a net 31 per cent in May.

Merrill Lynch noted that investors have reacted to the stagflation fears by reducing their exposure to both equities and bonds and moving into cash, raising their cash positions back to the levels last seen in March.

‘The prospect of stagflation is beginning to create a major headwind for equities,’ said Karen Olney, chief European equities strategist at Merrill Lynch.

The net balance of fund managers expecting higher core inflation a year from now rose to 33 per cent this month from 25 per cent in May.

A significant number of fund managers now wonder whether monetary policy has become too stimulative. Merrill Lynch noted that it is the first time in 10 months that it is seeing managers expecting short- term interest rates to be higher a year from now.

‘The market is waking up to the idea that global interest rates are too low; in fact, they remain below inflation,’ Ms Olney said. ‘Merrill Lynch expects a double rate hike from the European Central Bank (ECB) by October and would expect other central banks to follow.’

The Eurozone has borne the brunt of investors’ shift away from equities into cash and has moved from the most favoured to least favoured over the past 12 months. Investors continue to ‘overweight’ the US, Japan and the global emerging markets (GEM).

Within GEM, fund managers are most bullish on Russia and Brazil while in the Asia-Pacific ex-Japan region, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore received the most ‘overweight’ calls.

The Merrill Lynch global survey polled 204 fund managers managing a total of US$718 billion. Some 185 fund managers participated in the regional surveys.

While the credit crunch is losing its sting, inflation has replaced it as the greatest single threat to financial market stability, the survey shows.

The number of investors citing ‘credit risk’ as the No 1 threat fell from a net 95 per cent three months ago to 81 per cent in June but those who cite ‘monetary risk’ as the greatest threat rose from a net 23 per cent in May to net 65 per cent this month.

‘The inflation shock has already happened,’ said Alex Patelis, head of international economics at Merrill Lynch. ‘What matters now is how persistent it is and how markets and policymakers react. At a global level, this begs for an accident that will awaken markets and policymakers to the risks.’

But worsening corporate earnings growth may tie the governments’ hands in coping with inflation. A net 81 per cent of the panel believe consensus earnings estimates for the next 12 months are too high and a net 77 per cent expect corporate margins to decline.

Given the headwinds in global growth and equities, the risk appetite among fund managers has fallen in June, with the net balance of managers taking a lower-than-normal level of risk in their portfolios falling to an all-time low of 43 per cent. They are, however, increasingly positive about alternative investments.

Source : Business Times - 20 Jun 2008

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Mindy Yong

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mindy@mindyyong.com

CDL sells Singapore Commerce Point for $2,200 psf

CDL sells Singapore Commerce Point for $2,200 psf

Morley Fund Management said to be paying $181m for 19-storey building

By KALPANA RASHIWALA

CITY Developments Ltd (CDL) is believed to have sold the 19-storey Commerce Point near Raffles Place MRT Station for about $181 million or $2,200 psf of net lettable area. The buyer is said to be Morley Fund Management, part of the Aviva group.

Commerce Point: The price is lower than the $2,736 psf fetched for One Phillip Street next door in February
The $2,200 psf achieved is lower than the $2,736 psf fetched for One Phillip Street next door in February. Both buildings are 999-year leasehold.

Industry observers attribute the lower price to greater caution in the Singapore office market. Arguably, One Phillip Street has a more prominent frontage, at the corner of Phillip and Chulia streets. ‘Perhaps CDL sees an office glut building up in future and does not mind selling a fairly peripheral asset in its office portfolio,’ an observer said.

BT understands that Jones Lang LaSalle brokered the Commerce Point sale. The building, completed about 10 years ago, has a total net lettable area of 82,160 sq ft.

It is the second office block that Singapore’s Hong Leong Group, parent of CDL, has sold in the past 12 months. In June last year, Hong Leong sold the freehold 1 Finlayson Green for about $231 million or $2,650 psf based on its existing net lettable area of about 86,500 sq ft. The buyer was a unit of UK-based property fund group Develica.

Develica has since refurbished the building for $2 million and increased net lettable area by 7 per cent by leasing to one tenant per floor. Seller Hong Leong is understood to have deliberately kept the building roughly half vacant when it sold it, to allow the new owner to tap rising office rents as it signs new leases. Develica is said to be leasing space in the building at a monthly rent of about $13 to $16 psf.

1 Finlayson Green is more than 80 per cent leased and negotiations are taking place to lease the rest of the space.

Back on Phillip Street, Lippo unit Auric Pacific sold One Phillip St to UK-based New Star International Property Fund for $99.02 million or $2,736 psf of NLA in February this year. That price was about 2.6 times the $37.6 million Auric paid for the 16-storey building about two years earlier when it bought it from Kewalram Group. Interestingly, Kewalram bought One Phillip Street from Lippo in early 1996 for $76.8 million.

Source : Business Times - 20 Jun 2008

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Mindy Yong

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Singapore Building consultancies win more overseas deals

Singapore Building consultancies win more overseas deals

By CHEW XIANG

SINGAPORE construction consultancies won 406 projects overseas last year, up from 360 in 2006, according to a survey by the Building and Construction Authority.

BCA said that following a decline in 2006, China regained top spot as the largest overseas market, with 137 projects won last year. Ninety contracts were secured in India, the second-largest overseas market. Vietnam and Malaysia remained attractive, along with Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in the Middle-east.

BCA said the most sought-after services were architectural and master planning - more than half of all projects won, up from just 28 per cent in 2006.

The BCA survey also found that Singapore construction firms clinched $2.7 billion of contracts overseas - the highest value in five years, with the greatest growth in environmental-related construction projects. About $1.2 billion of such projects, including water treatment plants, were signed last year, in comparison with $330 million in 2004.

On the other hand, the value of general construction work contracts won overseas fell as the booming local market absorbed firms’ capacity and attention, BCA said.

In all, the Middle-east was the leading market for Singapore construction exports, with $1.7 billion of deals signed, against just $200 million in China. However, construction exports to India and South-east Asia declined sharply, according to BCA.

Source : Business Times - 20 Jun 2008

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Mindy Yong

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Work begins on $130m Woodsville Interchange - Singapore

Work begins on $130m Woodsville Interchange - Singapore

To be completed in 2011, it has flyover and 3 road tunnels

By SAMUEL EE

CONSTRUCTION of the $130 million Woodsville Interchange began yesterday with a groundbreaking ceremony at Serangoon Road near the former Serangoon fire station.

Road works: The Woodsville project is complex because of its proximity to the PIE flyover, the North-east MRT Line tunnels and the Deep Tunnel Sewerage System
The new interchange is the largest and most expensive road upgrading project that the Land Transport Authority (LTA) is undertaking. When completed in end-2011, it will feature three road tunnels and a flyover to seamlessly connect Serangoon Road, Bendemeer Road, Upper Serangoon Road and Macpherson Road.

These four roads and their connecting slip roads to and from the Pan-Island Expressway (PIE) make up the Woodsville Interchange - a key artery linking the north-east sector to the city but whose current peak hour traffic volumes are close to capacity.

The groundbreaking ceremony was officiated by LTA chairman Michael Lim, who called the project one of the most complex that the authority has undertaken to date because of its close proximity to the existing PIE flyover, the North-east MRT Line tunnels and the Deep Tunnel Sewerage System.

‘We are operating at four levels - viaduct, surface road, tunnel and MRT - making for a truly complicated effort,’ he said.

The work includes the construction of a two-lane vehicular tunnel from Serangoon Road to Upper Serangoon Road; a two-lane vehicular tunnel from Upper Serangoon Road to Bendemeer Road; a one-lane vehicular tunnel from Macpherson Road to Bendemeer Road; and a one-lane flyover from the PIE slip road to Kallang Way.

In addition, the existing road junction will be reconfigured to improve the overall traffic flow.

‘When this massive project is finished in 2011, the result will be a much improved traffic situation,’ said Mr Lim.

‘But I wouldn’t be telling you the whole story if I did not also advise that this project will come with some temporary disruptions.’

To that, LTA chief executive Yam Ah Mee added: ‘As outlined in our Land Transport Master Plan, we have lined up a series of infrastructural developments to the road network over the next 10 years.’

He said that ‘to bring these developments to fruition in our heavily built-up environment, we may have to tolerate some inconveniences, even with our best efforts to keep them to a minimum’.

Source : Business Times - 20 Jun 2008

Singapore Property - Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest

Mindy Yong

(+65)91002985

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Singapore HDB contibuting to price spiral

Singapore HDB contibuting to price spiral

I REFER to the article ‘HDB pricing policy limits impact of rising costs’ (BT, June 11).

As a 60-year-old Singaporean, I empathise with the growing despair of young couples when it comes to such a basic aspiration as home ownership. Private property is mostly beyond their reach. Even for HDB flats, they are caught between waiting as long as six years for new flats or paying exorbitant prices for resale flats.

In the 1970s, a graduate’s starting pay was around $1,000 per month. Then, in HDB Marine Parade Estate, prices of 3-room, 4-room and 5-room new flats were $17,000, $20,000 and $35,000 respectively. By 1990, the average price of 5-room new flats was $70,000. Such prices then reflected a ‘cost-based’ pricing approach.

Now, graduate starting pay is three times higher than in the 1970s, but prices of new similar HDB flats have gone up 10-30 times.

These massive price hikes are largely due to the HDB switching over to a ‘market-based’ pricing approach, following the 1994 property bull run.

In 2007, the HDB finally confirmed that ‘the prices of new HDB flats are based on the market prices of resale HDB flats, and not their costs of construction’. In 2000, the total break-even cost for a 5-room new flat was an estimated $120,000.

But, under the market- based pricing approach, the HDB first looks at the prevailing market price of, say, $260,000 of a 5-room resale flat. It will then pick a slightly lower figure of, say, $200,000 as the selling price for the 5-room new flat (despite its $120,000 break-even cost).

HDB will then say the new flat buyer is getting a so-called ‘market subsidy’ of $60,000, arising from the difference between the resale flat market price and new flat selling price. There is thus no actual ‘cash subsidy’ given at all.

This market-based pricing approach had resulted in new flat prices and resale flat prices chasing each other in an upward spiral, affecting buyers of both new and resale flats. It has also led to current prices of 4-room new flats varying so much from $200,000 (Sengkang) to $400,000 (Telok Blangah) and a whopping $590,000 (Boon Keng).

HDB is supposed to be a low-cost public housing developer. Why then is it not passing on to flat buyers the economy-of-scale cost savings in its huge developments by pricing its new flats on a cost-based break-even basis?

See Leong Kit
Singapore

Source : Business Times - 20 Jun 2008

Singapore Property - Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest

Mindy Yong

(+65)91002985

mindy@mindyyong.com

Building consultants’ overseas jobs up 12%

Building consultants’ overseas jobs up 12%

By Nicholas Fang

THE construction sector may be booming in Singapore, but that did not stop local building consultancies from securing more projects abroad - up 12 per cent last year over the previous year.
A survey by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) showed that Singapore consultancy firms won 406 projects last year compared with 360 in 2006.

These deals were secured by 65 firms, compared with 68 the previous year.

Among the different consultancy services, architectural and masterplanning services were the most popular, the BCA said.

The top markets for Singapore consultancies were China and India, with 137 and 90 projects respectively.

BCA director of business development William Tan said: ‘Our firms should continue to focus on niche areas such as planning and design as well as quality construction and environmental- related constructions.

‘The continuous efforts in establishing an overseas presence by our firms despite their current workload in the domestic market are definitely an excellent business strategy to mitigate the effects of the cyclical nature of the construction sector.’

The survey also showed local firms winning the most construction and engineering projects in the last five years.

These firms won $2.7 billion worth of deals compared with $2.1 billion in 2006, despite strong domestic demand, BCA said.

Source : Straits Times - 20 Jun 2008

Singapore Property - Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest

Mindy Yong

(+65)91002985

mindy@mindyyong.com

Fewer confirmed Singapore Govt sites put up for sale

Fewer confirmed Singapore Govt sites put up for sale

Only eight sites for outright sale; move follows poor sales in first half of year

By Joyce Teo, Property Correspondent

THE Government is cutting back on the number of development sites being released for outright sale over the next six months.
The move follows poor sales of the 37 sites that have been available since the start of the year.

Only five sites on the confirmed list have been sold while four other plots have yet to be sold or launched.

None of the 26 sites on the reserve list has been put up for tender. These sites go on sale only if a developer makes a minimum bid.

The Government decided not to award one residential site as the bids were too low, and it withdrew an unsold hotel plot in Race Course Road after it failed to attract an offer.

CBRE Research executive director Li Hiaw Ho said: ‘Given the (economic) uncertainty, the Government appears to be responding to feedback by allowing developers to decide on the pace of development through the reserve list.’

Even with the reduced number of new sites for the second half, developers will still have a wide choice.

In addition to the 13 new sites, there will be 27 carried over from the first half of the year. Of this batch of 40 plots, eight are on the confirmed list, with the rest on reserve.

‘The existing supply is more than adequate to meet the market’s medium-term needs and to address the Government’s concern about supply,’ said a developer.

‘In such a volatile and uncertain market, force-feeding the market with a large, confirmed list may create opportunistic bids that are not indicative of true values.’

Chesterton International’s head of research and consultancy, Mr Colin Tan, said the Government is forcing developers to be more reasonable with their pricing by pushing out sites on the confirmed list.

‘While the overall numbers do suggest there is a good chance of a glut occurring, there are also pockets of pent-up residential demand, especially among owner-occupiers.’

If all the residential sites stay on the reserve list, developers can opt not to bid. But with no cheaper alternatives in the pipeline, homebuyers may have to stretch themselves and fork out the premiums demanded by developers, said Mr Tan.

There are 21 residential sites for sale, similar to the first six months, but just four are on the confirmed list. There were eight in the first half of the year.

There are some prime sites on the reserve list, including at Serangoon Avenue and Dakota Crescent, which are near new MRT stations.

Ms Tay Huey Ying of Colliers International said: ‘Despite the attractiveness of these sites, they may not be triggered for sale in view of the subdued sentiment.’

But Mr Nicholas Mak, Knight Frank’s director of research and consultancy, said the reserve list sites will help to ensure flexibility in the sales programme if the market picks up later this year

Source : Straits Times - 20 Jun 2008

Singapore Property - Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest

Mindy Yong

(+65)91002985

mindy@mindyyong.com

Tharman joins group of top global financiers

Tharman joins group of top global financiers

By Bryan Lee

FINANCE Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam has become the first Singaporean to be inducted into a prestigious global body that tackles complex financial and economic issues.
The Group of 30 (G30) is a Washington-based private body of top financial experts set up in 1978 to look at issues affecting the fast-globalising world economy.

Its ground-breaking reports on issues ranging from insurance to derivatives - sophisticated financial instruments - have influenced government policy around the world.

The G30 counts illustrious figures such as former United States central banker Paul Volcker, Bank of China governor Zhou Xiaochuan and Israeli central bank chief Stanley Fischer among its members.

Mr Tharman, 51, has a Master of Philosophy of Economics from Cambridge University, among other qualifications, and spent two decades at the Monetary Authority of Singapore, rising to the post of managing director.

Said Mr Tharman in a statement: ‘I feel privileged to be welcomed into the G30’s distinguished network and look forward to adding what I can to the thinking it brings to global financial issues.’

Mr Tharman, Swiss National Bank vice-chairman Philipp Hildebrand and Harvard University economics professor Kenneth Rogoff were welcomed last month at one of the G30’s twice-yearly meetings.

The body, formally the Consultative Group on International Economic and Monetary Affairs, seeks to deepen understanding of global economic and financial issues. Attention is now focused on assessing strengths and weaknesses of regulatory systems, given the rapid evolution of global financial markets.

Its members are all high-powered figures in the financial world. Hailing from both public and private sectors, they comprise both top thinkers in the field and those who wield substantial influence in industry.

Mr Volcker, best known for reining in runaway inflation as US Federal Reserve chief in the 1980s, chairs the G30’s board of trustees.

Central bankers on the panel also include European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet and Bank of England governor Mervyn King.

Private-sector representatives, such as Goldman Sachs’ managing director Gerald Corrigan, tend to have some background in policy making or industry regulation. Mr Corrigan was formerly president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, whose current head, Mr Timothy Geithner, is also in the group.

Source : Straits Times - 20 Jun 2008

Singapore Property - Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest

Mindy Yong

(+65)91002985

mindy@mindyyong.com