Daily Briefing: Singapore eases monetary policy; Singapore to regulate Fintech firms

And Singapore dollar drops most since November.

Singapore’s central bank eased its monetary stance by drawing a line against currency appreciation after the trade-dependent city-state’s economic growth ground to a halt last quarter. The Monetary Authority of Singapore moved to a neutral policy stance of zero percent appreciation in the currency, it said in a statement on Thursday. Read more here.

Singapore will start to regulate its financial technology companies only when they grow to a sufficient size to pose risks to the wider financial system, the managing director of the country’s central bank said. "If you start regulating every one of those, you stifle a lot of innovation, and they don’t get a chance to grow,” the head of the Monetary Authority of Singapore Ravi Menon told reporters on Tuesday during a visit to New York. Find out more here.

Singapore’s dollar fell the most since November after the central bank unexpectedly eased monetary policy to combat growing global growth threats to the trade-dependent economy. The local currency dropped for a second day as the Monetary Authority of Singapore said in a statement Thursday it will seek a policy of zero appreciation against an undisclosed basket of currencies. Read more here.