Daily Briefing: Which Singapore bank pays the most?; Singapore dollar set to weaken further

And GIC buys minority stake in waste-water management firm WaterBridge Resources.

From eFinancial Careers:

DBS is by far the most generous paymaster (on a company-wide basis), according to the banks’ financial results.

Staff costs per head at DBS – total employee expenditure (such as base pay and bonuses) divided by total headcount – were $31,598 for the first quarter. That’s 28% more than the equivalent figure at UOB ($24,765) and 40% ahead of OCBC ($22,598).

DBS’s Q1 remuneration advantage partly reflects its comparatively high bonuses, which are typically paid in that quarter. DBS spent $118,591 on its average employee last year, according to its 2018 financial results. That’s 35% more than OCBC who pays an average of $87,726 per head, whilst UOB pays $93,565.

Read more here.

From Bloomberg:

The Singapore dollar is poised to weaken further as the escalating trade war between the world’s two largest economies weighs down growth in the export-dependent city-state.

Poor export data that landed Friday underscore the downward pressure on the currency’s nominal effective exchange rate, which has quietly crept away from the upper end of the band that monetary policy makers use to keep Singapore on an even keel.

With no deal in sight between the US and China, revised gross domestic product figures due Tuesday are the next thing to watch for clues on the trajectory of the Singapore dollar, which has slipped about 1% this month.

The Singapore dollar fell 0.2% against to trade at S$1.3749 per US dollar as of 3:58 pm local time on Friday.

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From DealStreetAsia:

Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC has acquired a minority stake in midstream waste-water management firm WaterBridge Resources LLC from US-based private equity Five Point Energy LLC.

The deal pegs the enterprise value of WaterBridge at approximately US$2.8b. The transaction has closed and is not subject to any additional conditions.

Five Point Energy, which is focused on the midstream energy sector, acquires and develops in-basin assets, provides value-added growth capital, and builds midstream companies with premier management teams and industry-leading E&P partners. Based in Houston, Five Point Energy manages more than US$2.5b of capital across multiple investment funds. WaterBridge Resources LLC is a portfolio company of Five Point Energy, which started the firm with US$200m of seed money in 2016.

Read more here.