Daily Briefing: Singapore could face ‘shallow' recession in Q3; MAS talks to Facebook over cryptocurrency plans

And UOB poaches HSBC’s Singapore head of retail business banking.

From Bloomberg:

The economy could probably experience a “shallow technical recession” in Q3 amidst the global trade outlook worsens, according to Maybank Kim Eng Research. The escalating U.S.-China trade conflict is weighing on Singapore’s export-reliant economy, which Maybank expects will grow 1.3% this year, down from a previous projection of 1.6% and lower than the government’s forecast range of 1.5% to 2.5%.

The slump in exports has hit manufacturing, which contracted more than expected in May, data on Wednesday showed. The outlook for electronics, which make up 27% of factory output, is particularly weak since U.S. export controls may hit chipmakers like Broadcom Inc. and Intel Corp., which operate in Singapore, Maybank said.

MAS and the Ministry of Trade and Industry are reviewing their growth forecast range for the year and can’t yet say whether it’ll be revised to even lower than the current 1.5%-2.5% estimate, Managing Director Ravi Menon told reporters during the Thursday release of the central bank’s annual report. 

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From Bloomberg:

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) initiated discussion with Facebook amidst its plans for a new cryptocurrency called Libra, though the regulator still sees significant obstacles in the way of the social media firm’s project.

Despite the potential benefits of Libra, concerns raised about the way it would function are “not trivial,” MAS Managing Director Ravi Menon said Thursday at a media briefing.

“The key challenge is to figure out the nature of the beast,” Menon said. “What is it more like and which box we can put it into. At this point we are not sure yet.” However, Menon also noted the potential benefits of Libra, which could provide a cheap payments system and help bring the unbanked into the mainstream financial system.

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From eFinancial Careers:

Angeline Yeap, HSBC’s head of retail business banking for Singapore, has moved to UOB. She joined the Singaporean firm earlier this month as a managing director for group retail.

Yeap had only been in her HSBC Singapore job for eight months, having previously been the bank’s London-based global head for advance (i.e. emerging affluent) and personal banking for about four years, according to her online profile. In London, she was a member of HSBC’s global retail banking management committee and led teams across 37 markets covering 40% of her division’s income.

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