Daily Briefing: 840,000 HDB households to receive rebates; Supply trends in rentals

And Singapore to give financial firms room to try new technology.

To help lower- and middle-income Singaporeans with their utilities bills, over 840,000 households will each receive GST Voucher – U-Save rebates of up to $65 this month, depending on their HDB flat type, said the Ministry of Finance (MOF). Those living in 1- and 2-room HDB flats are able to offset three to four months of utilities bills on average, while those living in 3- and 4-room HDB flats are able to offset about one to two months of utilities bills on average. Read more here.

Singapore remains the world’s most expensive city, according to the latest Worldwide Cost of Living Survey released by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). Meanwhile, the property and job markets here are going through a slump. It has also been widely reported that the global oil and gas sector has been greatly affected. At the same time, we also see other sectors being affected. For instance, Singapore’s banking and finance industry is seeing a slowdown. As a result, consumers have become more cautious with their spending habits. Find out more here.

Singapore’s central bank will give financial institutions room to experiment with new technologies as it seeks public feedback on how a “regulatory sandbox” could work, Managing Director Ravi Menon said. The responsibility to assess any risks in the adoption of new financial technologies lies with the boards and management, he said at a conference on Saturday. It’s impossible to anticipate every vulnerability when new technologies are adopted, he said. Read more here.