Sell everything and exit the stock market?
Brexit happened just a month ago but already it seems like an eternity for many investors. Since then, a series of unfortunate events had happened in Singapore stock market.
SGX market disruption
First, on 14th July 2016, the local stock market experienced a major disruption that resulted in ceased trading at 1138 hours and remained closed for the rest of the day. Some investors and traders received duplicated confirmation messages while some did not receive any confirmation messages after their trade were done. Investigation found that the disruption was due to a disk failure and SGX had moved to rectify the problem.
The market disruption had made a serious dent on Singapore’s reputation as a major Asia financial trading hub. Such an incident impacts the livelihood of traders, especially short-sellers who have to cover their positions by certain timing. For Singapore to sell itself as a so-called trading hub of Asia, it is a given that SGX trading engine have a high level of reliability. Otherwise, there will be no confidence level from investors and traders on the local stock market.
DBS investigated by MAS
Nevertheless, even if one down-plays the SGX market disruption, an even more sinister development awaited Singapore investors. A week later, Singaporeans woke up to a shocking news that local bank DBS was investigated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for possible lapses in anti-laundering processes. DBS is expected to face regulatory actions for the deficiencies.
Considered as one of the most corruption-free cities in the world, this episode is an embarrassing stain on Singapore’s reputation. It also left the Singapore government red-faced and prompted MAS to set up new enforcement unit to tackle money-laundering activities in Singapore.
Doomsday for Swiber investors
Then on 28 July, local listed oil and gas company, Swiber, filed …
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