Daily Briefing: DPM Teo says ministerial salary is totally transparent; MND minister says too early to judge property curbs' efficiency

NETS to enable QR codes generation by smartphones for merchants.

From Channel News Asia:

The salary structure for ministers in Singapore is ‘totally transparent, deputy prime minister Teo Chee Hean said in Parliament.

“All the bonus components form part of, and are not in addition to, the $1.1m salary norm,” he stressed.

In his response to a question tabled by MP Alex Yam, Mr Teo reminded the House of the 2012 White Paper on government salaries, which recommended a norm level of $1.1m as the total annual salary for an entry-level (MR4) minister - based on a 40% discount to the market reference, to reflect the ethos of public service.

Mr Teo reiterated that the Prime Minister's salary - twice that of an MR4 minister, at $2.2 m - did not include a performance bonus.

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From iCompare Loan:

National development minister Lawrence Wong said that it is premature to conclude the effectiveness of the property cooling measures as it was only introduced recently. He noted, however, that the early signs of the measures may have include peeping the pace of the prices in check as the latest estimate by the Urban Redevelopment Authority noted a price increase of only 0.5% in Q3, compared to the 3.9% and 3.4% hikes in Q1 and Q2, respectively.

Home prices had risen by 3.9% in Q1 2018, and another 3.4% in Q2 according to flash estimates. The price growth – which was tapered in the last quarter – was largely driven by the brighter economic outlook, pent-up housing demand and more positive market sentiment.

With the increased tax on investors and foreign buyers, the demand base will likely shift towards first-timers, Colliers International said. Offerings may need to be recalibrated to match their needs. Inventory may take a longer time to sell, but developers are unlikely to reduce prices in the near term given the land costs they have already committed.

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From E27:

NETS unveiled a new app which will let merchants make their own QR codes on their smartphones.

Called NETSBiz, the app is targeted at smaller merchants such as hawkers, delivery and personal services merchants (such as handymen). Using the app, these merchants would not need to generate an invoice.

The app also offers seamless and real-time tallying of transactions between different parts of the business; merchants can track payments conducted by their staff at different locations or outlets, without having to check in with them.

The NETSBiz app supports Singapore Quick Response Code (SGQR), which is the country’s unified QR code payments system — as well as the upcoming NETS-operated unified e-payments system for coffee shops (which uses the SQGR).

Read more here.