Daily Briefing: IHH trades near 52-week low; NTU and NUS top university rankings

And here's why Singapore wants to go cashless fast.

From DollarsAndSense.sg via Yahoo! Finance:

In the case of China’s e-payments adventure, mobile payments providers such as Alipay enabled Chinese customers to move directly from cash to e-payments with digital wallets on their smartphones, bypassing payment cards issued by banks and the central bank’s clearing system. This makes it difficult for regulators to keep track of how money is being moved, which opens up the possibilities of money laundering and fraud.

Thus, by pro-actively taking the lead in crafting standards and laws, the Singapore government can ensure that regulators and the authorities will not miss out on monetary transactions being made electronically. Improved transparency in terms of financial records enables the government to better track where money is being moved, which helps to deter and punish scammers.

In addition, real data about the way we actually spend our money can be harnessed to help the government better devise and implement policies based on actual data, rather than costly and periodic surveys and sampling of real-world transactions.

Read more here.

From The Motley Fool:

IHH Healthcare Berhad (SGX: Q0F) is an international provider of premium healthcare services in markets where the demand for quality healthcare is growing rapidly – specifically in Asia and Central & Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa region.

It is one of the leading private healthcare players in Singapore, Malaysia and Turkey, and the key markets of China and India. The group operates its hospitals under brands like Mount Elizabeth, Gleneagles, Pantai and Acibadem.

The company recently appeared on my radar as its trading close to its 52-week low price.

Read more here.

From Human Resources Online:

Two Singapore-based universities, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and National University of Singapore (NUS), emerged at the top of the latest QS Asia University Rankings released today, reaffirming the country’s excellence in tertiary education.

The two Singapore-based universities were followed by The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) [located in Hong Kong] which was ranked third, while Universiti Malaya (UM) [located in Malaysia], was ranked 24th, and the Singapore Management University [located in Singapore] came in at 71st place.

Read more here.