Daily Briefing: HDB flat owners to enjoy lower taxes next year; Singapore firms seek cyber insurance

And here's how credit card rewards in Singapore compare to United States.

Private home owners in Singapore will see minor to no adjustments to their property taxes next year, while HDB flat owners will pay lower taxes or even no tax at all, according to the figures from the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS). By 2017, HDB flat owners will enjoy tax savings of between 13.1 and 51%, with three-room units receiving the largest tax cuts. The maximum property tax for three-room flats will be reduced from $37.60 to $18.40 next year. One- and two-room flats, as well as certain three-room flats, will be exempt from property tax. Read the full story here.

According to statistics released by the cyber risk solutions division of H.U. Dove & Company the period from 2015 to July 2016 saw 6,333 reported data breaches in the US. The number of records compromised was a staggering 864 million. With cybercrimes and hacking attacks becoming common, the cyber insurance market is growing rapidly. In 2014, gross premiums in the US stood at US$2b. It is estimated that by 2020, this figure will climb to US$7.5b. Get to know the full story by clicking here.

Credit cards in the US tend to award about 2% over the long run, and some of the best credit cards have 2-year dollar value of $1,000-$1,300. This compares drastically to some of the best cards in Singapore like Citi PremierMiles Visa Card or UOB One Card that offer up to 5% and 2-year dollar value of well over S$2,000 ($1,500). What explains the difference? As it turns out, the difference can be explained by the merchant fee. Payment companies and banks just charge Singaporean merchants a higher fee to process payments than what they charge to the U.S. merchants to make up for their higher rewards rate. Click here to know the differences and similarities.