Daily Briefing: Mitsubishi to close Singapore oil trading unit; FX platform CashChanger launches remittance comparison site

And MND confirms that first time BTO applicants will not get additional ballot chances.

From Reuters:

Japan’s Mitsubishi will shut its Singapore-based crude oil and fuel trading unit after revelations in September that a trader there racked up enormous unauthorized trading losses.

The unit, Petro-Diamond Singapore, will lose about $426.37m (JPY34.2b) before taxes after closing the unofficial trading positions. The company estimates the final debt for the unit to possibly be as high as $383.98m (JPY30.8b).

Mitsubishi said in September that a trader lost $320 million in unauthorized transactions in crude oil derivatives and that the matter had been reported to the police. The trader, Wang Xingchen, also known as Jack Wang, denied any wrongdoing in a statement issued through a lawyer.

Read more here.

From DealStreetAsia:

Currency exchange service platform CashChanger has launched a remittance comparison site. The platform offers all-in-rates for foreign workers to transmit their money.

The startup is seeking a Series A round for global expansion, it confirmed in LinkedIn posts.

CashChanger said that it is now available in 400 locations in Japan, Thailand and Malaysia, in addition to Singapore. The company will launch its app with digital payment and transaction support by 2020.

Read more here.

From iCompareLoan:

First-timer build-to-order (BTO) HDB flat applicants will not get additional ballot chances, the Minister for National Development (MND) confirmed in Parliament.

The minister said that first-timer applicants are given two ballot chances when HDB shortlists applicants to book a flat. First-timer BTO flat applicants who have been unsuccessful in two attempts for flats in the non-mature estates are given additional ballot chance for their next application.

As a result, the minister said that virtually all first-timer applicants recently have been successful within their first three tries for a BTO flat in the non-mature estates.

The ministry expressed to continue reviewing and updating its policies where necessary to ensure that new HDB flats remain accessible to all first-timer BTO flat applicants.

Read more here.