Daily Briefing: Professional conversion programmes reached to over 25,000 job seekers in 2017; Grab faces probe in Malaysia over Grab-Uber merger 'monopoly'

And a Singapore-based robo-advisory start-up Bambu secured US$3m in fresh funding.

From Human Resources Online:

Manpower minister Josephine Teo revealed that the government's Adapt and Grow suit of programmes reached 25,000 job seekers in Singapore in 2017 which is 19% higher compared to its reach of 21,000 in 2016.

"Citing the ramp-up of the government’s Professional Conversion Programmes (PCPs) over the last two years, she noted there are currently over 100 PCPs in about 30 sectors, which is approximately twice the number of PCPs a year ago.

“New PCPs for internal auditors, financial forensic professionals and consultants have been launched this year,” Minister Teo said, adding that programme will be expanded per the demand and capacity to aid mid-career jobseekers."

Read more here.

From Deal Street Asia:

Singaporean ride-hailing firm Grab faces yet another competition probe from Malaysia's transport ministry over its merger with Uber due to several complaints about price surge after the merger deal's completion

“The government would like to ensure that there is a healthy land transport industry where companies and drivers are conducting business and generating revenue in a rightful way and at the same time, provide safe and reasonably-priced services to the public,” it said.

In Singapore, the Grab-Uber deal has also come under scrutiny of the competition watchdog but Grab co-founder and CEO Anthony Tan said that the startup is “extremely confident” that it will be able to resolve the matter with the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS)."

Read more here.

From E27:

Singapore-based robo-advisory startup Bambu secured US$3m from led by US' Franklin Templeton Investments, with participation from Singapore firm Octava and Japanese fintech investor Mamoru Taniya.

"The fintech startup will use the funds for hiring talent to its AI research team.

Founded in 2016, Bambu is an “intelligent advisor for high net-worth investors and white-label robo for affluent and retail investors”. Headquartered in Singapore, the company has subsidiaries in Hong Kong and the UK. It recently opened an office in Kuala Lumpur as well.

The company has clients in Asia, North America and South America."

Read more here.