Singapore

Standard & Poor's counterparty credit ratings on DBS Bank Ltd were not affected by the bank's credit exposure to Dubai.

MasterCard Worldwide has appointed Kevin Goldmintz as Senior Business Leader, Corporate Payment Solutions, Asia/Pacific, Middle East & Africa.

New online remittance service can transfer money from Singapore to India in no time. Through the service, known as 'DBS2SBI Remittance', DBS/POSB customers will now be able to transfer funds quickly and conveniently to beneficiary accounts at over 16,000 SBI branches, as well as to 30,000 other branches in India, according to a report in BankingBusiness Review. Rajan Raju, head of consumer banking at DBS, said: "We are constantly exploring opportunities to offer greater convenience to our customers. India is one of the key recipients of home remittance from Singapore. We currently offer direct remittance service from DBS/POSB accounts in Singapore to accounts with 10 DBS branches across India."  Seah Boon Ching, head of consumer banking at SBI Singapore, said: "SBI is a household name in India, and it is only natural and makes perfect sense for us to partner with a bank which resonates similarly in Singapore. Establishing this arrangement with DBS marks another milestone we've achieved since attaining our QFB license in Singapore.  "Through this tie-up with DBS, we are able to provide speed, convenience and ease to customers banking with DBS/POSB, who wish to send remittance to our clients of the SBI Group in India."

A partnership with State Bank of India will allow DBS customers to remit online from Singapore to 46,000 bank branches in India. Known as 'DBS2SBI Remittance', the service will tap 16,000 State Bank of India branches, as well as to 30,000 other branches in India.

Very few people regardless of their title, level or role can say they have enjoyed the last 12 months. And even fewer could currently tell you that they love both their job and their employer. The once dynamic and lucrative banking and finance sector became ‘public enemy number 1’ at the start of the GFC which was further compounded by the global press seemingly apportioning total responsibility of the world’s economic demise on a sector that up until then afforded a relatively solid reputation after years of good economic news. It was September last year when the shockwaves of the GFC started reverberating around the globe. Swiftly, every business became affected, be it directly or indirectly, and as cost management became the ‘Management Mantra’ of 2009 the market witnessed widespread redundancies as the financial services sector fought for its very existence. Whether you lost your job or not in the last 12 months, nobody was spared from the considerable torment as futures and careers hung in the balance at the mercy of management, management which on many occasions presided overseas - making decisions even harder to swallow.  Engaging with your staff when you only have bad news to deliver is extremely tough, unfortunately the market saw evidence of many management teams avoiding communication based on the false assumption that people only want to hear good news. This misconception led to employees making widespread assumptions and as they became paralysed by fear, the very jobs they were desperately trying to retain came under more and more pressure. Lack of communication and all the problems that stem from it, is one of the primary reasons people are looking to move jobs now that the world is starting to show signs of recovery – workers are disengaged with their current employers… Is it too late for employers to re-engage their staff? Not necessarily, if employers are open and honest with staff it is likely they can win them back. The aim now is to re-build staff confidence and commitment to the company and create buy-in through reaffirming the company’s short and long-term goals, displaying corporate commitment to not only their people but also to achieving success.  As an employee, think seriously before you leave your current company, times may have been bad but rest assured they’ve been bad for almost everyone. It is unlikely that you’ll find many people in a comparative role that have had a dazzling career in the last 12 months and even less likely that their engagement with their employer has improved. Ask yourself how you felt before disaster struck… About Robert Walters Robert Walters is a leading global recruitment consultancy, specialising in placing high calibre professionals into permanent, contract and temporary positions at all management levels. The Group specialises in the accounting, finance, banking, information technology, human resources, legal & compliance, sales & marketing, secretarial & support, engineering & operations, general management and supply chain & procurement industries. Robert Walters’ client base ranges across both multi-national corporations and SMEs and covers all market sectors. Established in 1985, Robert Walters has built a global presence with 38 offices spanning five continents and employs over 1400 staff worldwide.

Sustainability should and will move further up the agenda of governments, regulators and businesses. It will as there are signs of the economic crisis easing in parts of the world. This move will be further fuelled by the high profile UN climate change conference in Copenhagen, where world leaders will seek to agree an effective climate change deal. This will follow on from the first phase of the UN’s Kyoto protocol, which expires in 2012. There are several aspects to sustainability. Environmental sustainability is one of them. However, sustainability is about more than carbon levels. The economic crisis has raised questions about the viability of global markets from other perspectives. It has become clear that we cannot continue in the same track as before; a different vision of the world and business’s role in it must be achieved that meets the imperative of sustainability. The argument is no longer about ‘environment’ or ‘wealth’ but how to achieve a prosperous and sustainable world. To achieve a market system that promotes sustainability economic activity and business models must operate within environmental limits. Trusted flows of reliable and accurate information are central to the success of any system and especially to one that is as information-intensive as this. Information flows and the processes that support them are the natural territory of accountants and they and the financial services sector have a key role to play in developing markets that drive a world that serves both people and planet. If there was ever any doubt, the crisis has made it absolutely clear that the world’s capital markets are interlinked. That means there is a need for a globally coordinated response to the crisis and also a globally coordinated effort to promote sustainable markets, business and behaviour. There will be increased pressure on businesses to demonstrate their sustainable and ethical behaviour in months and years to come. And there will be increased pressure on investors to show that they invest in sustainable companies. A key objective of the Copenhagen conference is to agree targets for greenhouse gas emission reductions. As climate change is probably the single most important issue we all face today, this is a critical step in the direction of securing a sustainable worldwide economy and society and it will require boldness and leadership to achieve. However, the global effort to reduce emissions must be properly measurable and comparable across country borders, not least to allow investors to make more informed decisions about the companies they invest in. The ICAEW therefore believes it is essential to agree universal standards for measuring, monitoring and reporting greenhouse gas emissions. It is also important that this information is integrated into mainstream business reporting and linked to business performance. There is a wider need for a more integrated approach to reporting financial and non-financial information in areas that might impact on the achievement of a sustainable global economy. For all this to happen, we believe the world leaders in Copenhagen should support a collaborative effort to agree a global standard for the reporting of a company’s impact on its environment. Currently, investors, other stakeholders and regulators need greenhouse gas emissions information. Many organisations all over the world already report such data, something which has come about as a result of, among other things, investor requests. However, the challenge – especially for investors and companies operating across country borders – is that there is a vast number of reporting frameworks and protocols out there, meaning the type of information and the way it is presented varies greatly from business to business and from country to country. The various frameworks have different ways of calculating emissions, setting targets and monitoring progress. Overall, this paints a rather confusing picture and might hamper rather than aid decision-making. The lack of one agreed global framework might also encourage companies to avoid disclosure. Benefits of a uniform and transparent global standard for emissions are well documented. They include reduced complexity and increased clarity, comparability across country borders and better information to meet all stakeholders’ needs. The ICAEW has been actively engaged in working with the Carbon Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB) on developing an effective reporting framework that can provide guidance to businesses on what information they should include in their annual reports. The framework was published for public consultation earlier this year and is currently being refined ahead of the Copenhagen conference. It is not about more reporting but about better reporting. Rather than creating something new, the framework builds on existing protocols and standards. It also links an organisation’s climate change data to its risk, strategy and financial performance. A key aim of this initiative is to make climate change data reporting as mainstream as financial reporting. A long-term aim is also to ensure that all sustainability issues, not only greenhouse gas emissions, should be reported in the future to further aid the decisions of investors. Fundamental to the development of a market system that promotes sustainability is reliable and accurate information – this is the domain of qualified accountants and an area to which the accountancy profession can contribute. There are many lessons to be learnt from the financial crisis. If it can help us make sustainability a true boardroom issue, something good might still come out of it.

DBS CEO Piyush Gupta puts premium on communication with subordinates as he familiarises with his position.

Standard & Poor's assigned its 'A' issue rating to OCBC's proposed US dollar-denominated subordinated notes issue due 2019.

They enforce almost 1,500 conditions relevant to financial services institutions of which 48% block trade.

What you do on your own time is, well, apparently the bank's business these days, with DBS Bank publicly rebuking an employee for being elected president of woman's advocacy group AWARE and calling for less focus on lesbian issues.

LIC has set up a team looking into Islamic products. However, a Reserve Bank of India study has recently concluded that Islamic banking may not be feasible in the current regulatory framework in the country.

According to Top News, The move is a clear indication of increased optimism among executives, who are looking at terminating the business.

DBS Group plans to set up a domestic private banking presence in China, as it sees onshore wealth management to be growing in importance and that new funds are flowing in from Asian investors, according to Reuters Wealth Management.

As the credit crisis impacted Asia’s supply chains, trust was badly damaged. Global banks, with their cross-border expertise and trade finance tools, are playing an important part in the rebuilding process. Estimates suggest that between 20,000 and 30,000 SMEs went out of business in southern China during the peak of the global slowdown. That pattern, if not the magnitude, was repeated right across Asia. Not surprisingly, trust evaporated as buyers and suppliers questioned each other’s ability to deliver their side of the bargain. Back to basicsAlthough the economic outlook has improved since, trust, once broken, takes time to recover. Global banks, with a range of trade finance tools to fit every stage of the risk cycle, are strongly positioned not only to support trade through this process but to track the changing levels of confidence between buyer and supplier. The credit crisis saw a flight to safety, and in trade finance this was evident in the increasing popularity of letters of credit (L/Cs). While these are among the most secure instruments available to international traders, they are document intensive. This is less of a problem for a single trade, but more of an issue when they are being used for bigger supply chains. Companies are therefore increasingly turning to banks to handle document preparation and manage the supply chain efficiently through online systems that enable both buyer and supplier to track and monitor each phase of the process. From here, we are seeing traders gradually moving onto documentary collections (D/Cs). Less expensive and complex than L/Cs, they leave the exporter facing slightly more risk, and reflect a growing level of trust between buyer and supplier. Working capital solutionsIt’s important to remember, however, that over 70% of global trade is still on open account terms. Here trade finance can play a key role in keeping the wheels of trade turning in conditions that might otherwise cause it to grind to a halt. For example, whereas previously a supplier might have mortgaged assets to raise working capital, they may now find this route blocked because of lower asset values, raised interest charges and more cautious lending practices. By guaranteeing that the buyer will pay, banks can strengthen the entire supply chain. Suppliers use the bank’s guarantee to convert invoices into cash at better discount rates. Buyers, by negotiating better deals from their suppliers off the back of cheaper credit, can improve their bottom line. A major UK clothing brand, which sources many of its distinctive fabrics in the Far East, had invested a lot of time and money building up a supply network based on offshoring and low cost sourcing. Many of these suppliers were struggling as local finance dried up and demand dropped. Not wishing to risk losing their suppliers – nor wanting to pay a premium to keep them afloat – the retailer enlisted RBS’s help. By leveraging their strength as a buyer we were able to help improve their key suppliers’ credit terms and cash flow.Not surprisingly, trade and supply chain finance is no longer being seen as a ‘nice to have’ for early adopters, but a key tool in both surviving current conditions and building a stronger future. However, complex supply chains not only need innovative finance solutions, they also need efficient delivery and administration. Over the past few years, banks have used cutting edge technology to greatly improve both the transparency and responsiveness of supply chain management products. Products such as RBS’s MaxTrad™ platform enable clients to streamline their international trade activities and mitigate cross-border risk online. By offering secure, single point access to a full suite of web-based products these platforms have allowed banks to demonstrate their effectiveness across a wide range of areas and play an increasingly important role in delivering efficiency and value for supply chain businesses.The road aheadAlthough globalisation may have suffered a setback over the past eighteen months, there is no sign that the long-term trend will abate. Buyers and suppliers need to look for trade finance solutions from banks which combine local knowledge with global reach. This does not mean, however, that large banks are operating in isolation. Far from it: banks such as RBS work with a range of partners – from trade insurers to local banks and government agencies – to share risk and leverage credit. By doing so we are able to find solutions and build opportunity for our clients. Perhaps there is a theme emerging here. Just as buyers, suppliers and banks are working together to rebuild trade, so financial institutions and governments are co-operating to support economic recovery. Of course, in business we can never be sure how long such togetherness will last; but it does appear that this form of mutual support is helping Asia’s exporters to gradually regain confidence.

It's tough times ahead for bankers as the banking industry reels from the onslaught of the global recession due to reckless lendings. Capital requirements for banks would also go up and returns would come down, DBS Bank chairman Koh Boon Hwee told participants yesterday at the ‘Perspectives of Leaders' discussion at the two-day Singapore Human Capital Summit conference.However, DBS believes that keeping its eye fixed on Asia for the next 5 years is its life line to remain steady through the turbulent times.

Retail banking would broaden CIMB's customer segment coverage with the bank's new operations in Singapore.