Expats living in S’pore just loving it

Expats living in S’pore just loving it

By ARTHUR SIM

SINGAPORE has been ranked the best place in the world to live in, based on a poll of expatriates.

The Expat Explorer survey for HSBC Bank International revealed that, as well as being top overall, expats rate Singapore best for quality of accommodation and second in terms of luxury living.

The survey was conducted between February and April, with data analysis conducted by Freshminds. It looked at a range of topics relevant to expats’ lives, including living standards, an expat’s ability to earn and save, a country’s popularity and the level of luxury experienced.

On luxury, countries were rated on a number of categories, including access to private healthcare, access to more than one property, and ability to own a pool and to employ staff (such as cleaners).

Across the 11 categories of perceived luxuries, on average, expats reported an increase in eight of these factors, with employing staff ranked as the highest increase.

The United Arab Emirates was the most luxurious destination, with expats enjoying increases in 10 of the 11 categories, followed by Singapore and India.

The UK was ranked the least luxurious with decreases recorded in nine of the 11 luxuries.

The survey polled 2,155 expats in more than 49 countries. However, only countries with at least 30 respondents were analysed in the league tables.

Accommodation is a key concern of expats and almost three-quarters of expats living in Singapore said that the quality of their accommodation had improved since moving away from home, the highest amount recorded in the study.

This was followed by those living in the United States and Belgium.

The UK was identified as the most expensive expat location for accommodation, with over three-quarters of expats living there revealing that their living costs had increased.

In terms of remuneration, expats in Hong Kong (ranked fifth overall) have the world’s highest salaries, with almost half earning more than £pounds;100,000 (S$271,000) per annum.

It was found that Europe is a popular destination overall in terms of the length of stay. More than three-quarters of expats now living in the Netherlands have been there for three or more years, followed by Germany and Spain. Hong Kong and Singapore were ranked fifth and sixth respectively.

HSBC head of consumer banking (Singapore) Wendy Lim estimates that there are over 300,000 expatriates residing in Singapore. She said: ‘Singapore’s safe, tax-efficient environment makes it an ideal location for expatriates to grow and protect their savings and investments.’

Singapore is home to one of HSBC’s five offshore banking centres around the world, the others being Hong Kong, Dubai, New Jersey and Miami.

Source : Business Times - 25 July 2008

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More Singapore companies may put hiring on hold

More Singapore companies may put hiring on hold

Staff turnover also falling but salary demands remain high: Hudson

By CHUANG PECK MING

(SINGAPORE) Singapore’s tight labour market is easing as fewer employers plan to step up hiring in the July-September quarter and job-hopping becomes less rampant.

But the asking salaries of new managers being recruited are not falling - at least not yet - with the softening of the economy, according to leading executive recruitment firm Hudson.

‘The responses suggest that there has been little impact so far,’ Hudson says in a report of the poll results.

Yet there is no mistaking the fact that more employers are showing restraint in hiring staff here.

Hudson’s latest poll shows only 43 per cent of the 768 executives polled here intend to increase their payrolls in the third quarter, the lowest percentage in at least three years.

The comparative figure in Q2 was 49 per cent and in Q3 2007, it was 54 per cent.

‘Hiring expectations are falling from the high levels seen in recent years as the global economy slows,’ said Gina McLellan, Hudson’s country manager in Singapore. ‘Many employers are seeing a fall in staff turnover but there is little sign of any reduction in asking salaries for new managerial hires.’

The cut-back is seen most starkly in the consumer sector where under a third - 32 per cent - of the employers are looking to hire more staff, down from 49 per cent in Q2.

More employers are also scaling back expansion plans for recruitment in the banking & financial services sector (down from 53 per cent to 43 per cent) and the information technology & telecommunications sector (down from 46 per cent to 42 per cent).

The numbers held more or less steady in the media, public relations (PR) and advertising, and manufacturing sectors.

Only in the healthcare & life sciences business are employers still upbeat about hiring. The number of those intending to grow their headcounts jumped from 41 per cent in Q2 to 53 per cent in Q3.

According to the Hudson report, the growth in hiring in the sector is driven by Singapore’s rapid expansion as a regional healthcare business hub, which has led to a demand for specialist staff.

But overall, the economic condition calls for caution in hiring. Managers looking for jobs seem largely oblivious to the situation as there is no let-up in their asking salaries.

Only one in 10 of employers polled can get their new managerial hires to lower their asking pay, according to the report.

In the media/PR and advertising business, 15 per cent - the highest number for all sectors - of those polled succeeded in persuading new managerial recruits to lower their salary expectations. At the other extreme, only 2 per cent of bosses in the manufacturing sector could hire managers at a lower pay than what they asked for.

Still, employers who got the managers to accept the job at a lower asking pay could not go far enough. ‘The responses suggest that employers’ scope for negotiating lower asking salaries is limited,’ Hudson says.

The situation may soon change.

‘Across all the sectors surveyed, 34 per cent of respondents have seen a decline in staff turnover rates over the past year,’ the Hudson report says. ‘This is the second highest figure of the markets surveyed in Asia, after Japan.’

The report adds: ‘The decline suggests that candidates may be more careful about switching jobs in the current economic climate but also that many are content in their current positions after a period of frenetic hiring activity and staff movement in recent years.’

Source : Business Times - 25 July 2008

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More Singapore property agents may head for exit

More Singapore property agents may head for exit

PropNex’s sacking of 2,800 inactive associates seen as bold, drastic

By UMA SHANKARI

(SINGAPORE) Many more property agents could quit the industry - or be forced to leave - in light of the current market downturn, say industry players.

‘The market was very bullish in the last two years, so the barriers to entry were not there for a lot of agents,’ said Cushman & Wakefield managing director Donald Han. ‘Now that the market is tightening, property companies want to look for the performers, and let the rest go.’

On Wednesday, PropNex Realty said that it was firing more than one-third of its agents. About 2,800 agents who have been with the firm for over a year but have yet to record a single transaction will be terminated, PropNex said.

Industry players told BT that during the property upturn in the last two years, a number of ‘non-typical’ agents entered the industry in order to make a quick buck. One property analyst told BT that at the height of the property boom, he had ‘civil servants, clerical staff and others with regular day jobs’ looking to join his firm to ‘make some extra cash’.

‘There were a lot of fly-by-night agents - people who didn’t know the rules,’ he said.

But with the current property slowdown, many of these agents have been unable to close deals and therefore have left the industry, market players said. More could follow, they added.

PropNex said that many of its inactive associates may no longer be familiar with current market trends or the latest policies. ‘If that is the case, then they would hardly be able to best serve the customers’ interests,’ said chief executive Mohd Ismail.

The agents were first given a choice to remain with PropNex by signing up for Professional Indemnity Insurance and a refresher course.

Observers called PropNex’s move ‘bold’ and even ‘drastic’. The industry here is largely unregulated and there is sometimes confusion over agents’ qualifications and accreditation.

Industry veterans, however, pointed out that some of the agents fired by PropNex could be registered with multiple agencies and so could have recorded transactions for other firms instead. There is also nothing preventing fired agents from joining another agency, they added.

What the industry needs is more education, said Ku Swee Yong, director of marketing and business development at Savills Singapore. ‘If they (the fired agents) are serious about the industry, they should take advantage of the now relatively stable market to upgrade themselves and deepen their knowledge,’ he said.

Source : Business Times - 25 July 2008

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Asset management industry breaches trillion-dollar mark

Asset management industry breaches trillion-dollar mark

It records double-digit growth in 2007, for seventh straight year

(SINGAPORE) Defying the financial turmoil that has raged since the second half of last year, Singapore’s asset management industry achieved double-digit growth for the seventh straight year in 2007, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said yesterday.

The MAS’ Singapore Asset Management Industry Survey shows total assets managed by Singapore- based asset managers racking up a strong 32 per cent jump to $1.17 trillion as at end-2007, up from $891 billion as at end-2006.

In tandem with that growth, the number of investment professionals employed within the industry also rose by 22 per cent from a year ago to 2,185 in 2007.

‘Reflecting Singapore’s role as an international financial centre, the sources of assets managed in Singapore as well as their investment destination remains diversified,’ MAS managing director Heng Sweet Keat said at a briefing.

About 86 per cent of total assets under management (AUM) last year were sourced from outside Singapore. The Asia-Pacific region remained a key source of mandates for Singapore- based asset managers and represented 44 per cent of total funds sourced in 2007. Mr Heng noted that the diversity of players in the asset management industry here has also grown.

The number of ‘bulge- bracket’ asset managers managing more than $5 billion in discretionary assets in 2007 increased by 23 per cent, the survey shows. These managers continue to drive the growth of the industry and account for 47 per cent of the total AUM here.

Over the past few years, Singapore has also seen a healthy growth in the alternative investment management industry, which comprises of hedge fund, private equity and real estate managers, MAS said. In particular, the number of hedge fund managers grew by more than 50 per cent to almost 300 and the total assets managed by these hedge fund managers doubled to close to $80 billion as of end- 2007.

‘The strong growth of the asset management industry has in turn drawn in several ancillary service providers such as fund administrators and prime brokers,’ Mr Heng said.

Some 43 per cent of the total funds managed were sourced from institutional investors, with the rest of the funds sourced from non-institutional investors.

Despite the volatile market sentiment, assets managed by Singapore-based asset managers retained a strong bias towards equities, which accounted for 57 per cent of the total AUM - a 2 per cent rise from 2006.

Allocations towards alternative investments also rose 2 per cent to 12 per cent while allocations to bonds declined by 5 per cent to 12 per cent. The total collective investment schemes (CIS) AUM for last year grew 30 per cent to $39 billion.

Source : Business Times - 25 July 2008

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Expats rank Singapore as world’s best place to live

Expats rank Singapore as world’s best place to live

Poll of foreigners in 49 locations puts the Republic ahead of US, HK

By Jessica Cheam

SINGAPORE has emerged as the best place to live in the world in a survey of more than 2,000 expatriates by HSBC Bank.
The Republic also ranked first for quality of accommodation and second for luxury living.

Its closest rival, Hong Kong, was ranked fifth overall, though it took top spot in terms of an expat’s ability to earn and save.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United States came in as joint second-best overall destinations, with Belgium next in the rankings.

HSBC’s Expat Explorer survey - a first for the bank - interviewed 2,155 expats across 49 countries and territories to rank places based on living standards, the ability to earn and save, a country’s popularity, and the level of luxury experienced.

HSBC’s survey, released yesterday, comes after human resources consultancy Mercer ranked the Republic the fifth most expensive Asian city for expats - up a notch from a previous survey.

ECA International, also a human resources consultancy, ranked Singapore as the best place for Asian expatriates to live worldwide earlier this year.

In a separate survey, it found that Singapore has become a more expensive place for expats to live, but that it is still cheaper than Hong Kong.

The Republic jumped 17 places to land at the 114th spot in a global survey of the costliest cities for expatriates, on the back of higher inflation and a stronger Singapore dollar in the past year.

But despite rising living costs, especially in housing, Singapore remains competitive with its Asian neighbours such as Tokyo, Seoul and Hong Kong, and other global financial centres such as London, said Mercer.

HSBC’s head of consumer banking in Singapore, Ms Wendy Lim, said there are an estimated 300,000 expats residing here.

The safe environment and relatively low taxes make it ‘an ideal location for expats to grow and protect their savings and investments’, she said.

Other countries such as Britain and France scored poorly as expat destinations in the survey, especially on accommodation and luxury. The UAE was the most luxurious destination, followed by Singapore and India.

Project manager Pham Nguyen Hung, 34, a French-Vietnamese expat living in Singapore, said he was not surprised at the survey results.

Singapore, US cities such as San Francisco and New York, and Hong Kong are among his top picks.

‘It’s hard to compare cities directly, because each of them offers different lifestyles. But I agree Singapore has quite a high quality of life, and its accommodation standards are among the best,’ he said.

Source : Straits Times - 25 July 2008

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Singapore MP Lee Bee Wah makes history with elite global award

Singapore MP Lee Bee Wah makes history with elite global award

By Zakir Hussain

REASON TO SMILE: Ms Lee is the 34th fellow of one of the world’s top engineering associations. — ST FILE PHOTO

MEMBER of Parliament Lee Bee Wah has made history by becoming the first Asian woman - and Singaporean - to be admitted to an elite group of the world’s largest body for structural engineers.
She has been named honorary fellow of the Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE), which is based in Britain.

It is a rare honour, as there have been only 33 such fellows since the title was introduced in 1958 to recognise people who have contributed to the institution and the profession.

The list includes luminaries such as renowned architect Norman Foster and Britain’s Prince Philip, the first fellow.

As a civil engineer, Ms Lee, 47, has been championing her profession, burnishing its image to convince students to opt for it over better-paying jobs in business and finance.

The first woman to be elected president of the Institution of Engineers Singapore, she said she is ‘happy and humbled’ by the award.

But more importantly, she hopes the award will inspire more students, especially women, to take up engineering.

‘Although we may not be the top earners, we are one of the top contributors to the nation,’ she told The Straits Times yesterday.

Pointing to the many major construction projects, both completed and ongoing, she said these have helped propel Singapore to First World status.

‘To remain competitive, we need to continue to attract the top brains to engineering,’ she added.

Elected an MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC in 2006, the voluble Ms Lee is a partner in engineering company LBW Consultants, which she founded in 1996.

This evening, she will receive her award at a dinner of the local chapter of IStructE, which had nominated her. It will make her the 34th fellow of the global association.

Formed in 1908, the London-based IStructE has 20,000 members in more than 100 countries, making it the world’s largest professional body dedicated to structural engineering.

Professor Wang Chien Ming, who chairs IStructE Singapore, said the award was ‘a true recognition of Bee Wah’s outstanding contributions to the engineering profession’.

‘It also serves as an affirmation of the increasingly important status of women professional engineers,’ he pointed out.

Source : Straits Times - 25 July 2008

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Full-year inflation forecast by Singapore MAS raised to 6-7%

Full-year inflation forecast by Singapore MAS raised to 6-7%

By Bryan Lee, Economics Correspondent

INFLATION is now tipped to average out at between 6 and 7 per cent this year after the Government lifted its forecast for the third time this year.
The new estimate is 1 percentage point up from the previous range of 5 to 6 per cent. This is the biggest upgrade this year and comes as inflation averaged 7.1 per cent in the first six months.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) cited the usual causes when it issued the new forecast yesterday - high crude oil and food prices and inflation pressures at Singapore’s trading partners.

But there is some good news: Price rises should now start moderating as domestic cost pressures in the labour and commercial property markets seem to be easing.

‘There are early signs…as the economy slows and asset markets consolidate,’ said MAS managing director Heng Swee Kiat. ‘The rate of increase in commercial rentals appears to have peaked. Recent surveys have also shown that employers have become more cautious about hiring.’

He said prices should rise on average between 4.9 and 6.9 per cent in the second half of the year.

Apart from slower cost increases at home, he said inflation ought to moderate as commodity prices should rise less sharply. The basis effects from last July’s goods and services tax hike will also wear off, he added.

Mr Heng said the ‘pre-emptive’ moves in April and last October to allow the Singdollar to appreciate faster has taken some of the sting out of costlier imports, and so restrained inflation.

‘While oil prices in US dollar terms have increased more than 70 per cent from a year ago, domestic electricity tariffs and petrol prices rose by around 30 per cent each.’

Mr Heng said inflation expectations here are ‘well anchored’ and so a wage-price spiral is unlikely. He said the current monetary policy remains appropriate, which is seen as a hint that the central bank will not allow faster currency appreciation at the next policy review in October.

As for economic growth, he reiterated the official 4 to 6 per cent estimate.

DBS Bank economist Irvin Seah said the new forecast is realistic, but is less sanguine about commercial rentals: ‘Firms have told me that landlords continue to have a ‘take it or leave it’ stance when discussing rentals.’

Source : Straits Times - 25 July 2008

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Mindy Yong

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