Daily Briefing: MAS warns Singapore to prepare for inflation growth; Wealth management drives banks' profits

And here are 30 startups joining Unilever in its Foundry programme.

From Bloomberg via Yahoo! Finance:

Singapore’s central bank chief said while inflation is still well below the historical average, policy makers need to be proactive if a stronger economy results in a pickup in price pressures.

Inflation will climb at some point if economic growth continues to strengthen, and under those circumstances, the central bank — like others around the world — needs to be forward-looking, Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, said in an interview at the bank’s headquarters in the city on Tuesday.

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From ZUU Online:

Wealth management is a key profit driver for the nation’s banks. DBS Bank’s AUM is about US$81 billion. OCBC’s tally is almost similar – it has an AUM of US$79 billion. UOB is also very active in this field and has built up its AUM to US$32 billion.

There are also a number of global players who have a strong presence in Singapore’s wealth management business.

With the intense competition in this market, each bank tries to outdo the other by providing various privileges and incentives to its high net worth clients.

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From Tech in Asia:

Unilever announced today that 30 startups will join its Foundry program in Singapore. The companies are in different stages of their growth, not just early-stage, and come from Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, and even Europe and the US. They were chosen because they operate in sectors that Unilever deems promising for the future.

The sectors are retail, media and advertising, brand and content innovation, data insights and personalization, and sustainability and social impact.

The startups, collectively known as the Unilever Foundry 30 SEAA (for Southeast Asia and Australasia), will get access to Unilever’s brands and the Level3 co-working facilities housed in the company’s Singapore headquarters.

Read more here.