Daily Briefing: Less playtime for Singapore bankers; Keppel sees dearth of oil rig orders

And here’s the next step for HDB owners.

Deciding where to conduct a banking transaction is no different from selecting a boarding school for an unruly child. Singapore has long been seen as a solid choice. It didn't smother innovation by throwing a thick carpet of rules over everyday commerce, and it didn't believe in punishing shareholders for bankers' misdemeanors. While that second attraction still partly holds, the first is in doubt. Read more here.

Keppel Corp., the world’s largest builder of oil rigs, sees little prospect of an improvement in global demand amid a supply surplus that’s caused quarterly profit to fall to the lowest in almost a decade. The company may consider reducing its workforce and mothballing some facilities in its rig-building operations because of excess capacity, the Singapore-based company said Thursday. Find out more here.

Since the implementation of the total debt servicing ratio (TDSR) framework in 2Q2013, resale prices of HDB homes had declined 10% as at 1Q2016, according to the HDB Resale Price Index. Although prices have fallen, the current market conditions appeal to HDB homeowners who have met the minimum occupation period and are looking to buy a private home. Read more here.

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