Daily Briefing: Singapore urges Temasek, GIC to disclose more information; Grab launches accelerator programme in Vietnam

And Circles.Life cuts roles associated with non-priority projects.

From Bloomberg:

The Singapore government will continue to encourage state investment firms Temasek Holdings Pte and GIC Pte to review how much more information they can share with the public, said Lawrence Wong, Second Minister of Finance.

Both have been publishing more details on their performance, investment approach and outlook over the years, Wong told Parliament in response to questions on succession plans and disclosure practices of the two firms.

“Our key consideration is this -- whatever disclosure requirements that the two entities put out should be part of an overall system which enables the two entities to maximize their abilities to secure long-term returns for the benefit of Singaporeans,” he said.

Income from national reserves and investments managed by GIC, Temasek and the Monetary Authority of Singapore is one of the largest contributors to government revenue.

“If we are insistent on them disclosing indicators of fees and expenses to a great level of detail, it may lead these entities toward minimizing expenses, potentially eroding capabilities or diminishing their talent pool, which would also not be in our interest,” Wong said.

Read more here. 

From e27:

Grab announced that it has officially launched an accelerator programme Grab Ventures Ignite, which will be open for early-stage startups in Vietnam as part of the ‘Grab for Good’ development roadmap.

The programme is in partnership with Vietnam’s National Innovation Center, an entity under the local investment ministry, to execute the initiative together.

Grab Ventures Ignite will be hosted by the Infocomm Media Development Authority and cross-border sharing with the startups in the Lion City. Up to five selected startups will be offered up to $208,805 in investments and in-kind benefits.

The application process is open until April 10, 2020.

Read more here. 

From DealStreetAsia:

Singapore-based mobile virtual network operator Circles.Life has laid off several employees and eliminated roles associated with non-priority projects.

However, sources close to the company told DealStreetAsia the job cuts were “a handful” and part of the company’s year-end review.

“Whilst we continue to hire top global talent for our priority business areas, we have also made difficult decisions recently, including eliminating roles whose projects are no longer a priority,” said Circles.Life.

Circles.Life has around 500 employees across its operations in Singapore, Taiwan and Australia.

Read more here.