Daily Briefing: Singapore bans former Goldman Sachs banker linked to 1MDB; iNz Residence, Park Place Residences off to a great start

And here’s how to diversify your investment portfolio outside Singapore.

Singapore on Monday banned a former Goldman Sachs banker from working in the city-state's financial industry for 10 years after he was linked to a corruption scandal involving Malaysian state fund 1MDB. The Monetary Authority of Singapore also said it planned to bar three more people, all ex-employees of two Swiss banks alleged to have used the island's financial system to facilitate illicit money transfers to 1MDB. Read more here.

Qingjian Realty’s 497-unit iNz Residence, the first executive condominium to launch in Singapore this year, sold around 170 units on the first day of booking last Saturday (11 March 2017). “Sales at iNz Residence is off to a brisk start,” said Li Jun, Executive Director at Qingjian Realty. Meanwhile, the 429-unit Park Place Residences at Paya Lebar Quarter saw an influx of potential buyers following the opening of its showflat over the weekend. “The response to our showsuite this past weekend has been overwhelming… It confirms the quality attributes and value of the location and development,” said Tony Lombardo, CEO for Lendlease in Asia, the project’s developer. Click here to see the full story.

Diversification is an important strategy to spread your investment risks without affecting your potential returns. Whilst there are many ways to go about achieving this, we will look at how we can add stocks from countries outside Singapore to limit our portfolio’s exposure to headwinds in the local Singapore market. Here are the ways on how you can diversify your portfolio outside Singapore.