The Business Times
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Genevieve Cua

Genevieve Cua

WEALTH EDITOR

Genevieve Cua is wealth editor for The Business Times. She covers wealth management, focusing on issues relating to portfolios, retirement, insurance and healthcare. She writes a fortnightly column, Mind the Gap, and hosts WealthBT podcasts.

emailgen@sph.com.sg
email@GenCuaBT
Mount Alvernia is now the sole not-for-profit private hospital, but a new one is in the pipeline. It will be a welcome option for those who want more affordable private care.
MIND THE GAP

Shedding light on IP challenges: medical-cost inflation and thin margins

With the IP industry’s profit margin at just 0.5%, commissions and costs to insurers and policyholders are under scrutiny

Singapore's falling birth rate and the rise in the proportion of those aged 65 and older do not bode well for IP insurers' risk pools.
THINKING ALOUD

Demographic trends challenge IP insurers’ sustainability

Singapore is expected to reach ‘super-aged’ status this year, and an ageing population will suffer more chronic diseases and need healthcare

Private wealth portfolios should have an allocation to infrastructure, says Lennart Blecher, chairperson of EQT Real Assets.

Stronger governance and an ‘industrial’ approach drive EQT’s outperformance

The trick is to identify good companies that can be made great by attracting the best people, says chair of EQT Real Assets

The Integrated Shield Plan market has struggled for years with rising premiums and poor profitability, as rising medical inflation and an ageing population have driven up claims.

Some IP insurers hike premiums of base plans for private hospital and A-class wards

This comes after launch of new, cheaper riders which do not cover deductibles, the latest effort to curb ‘buffet syndrome’

MAS will introduce equity counter-cyclical adjustments, designed to reduce procyclical behaviours during sharp market downswings.

Insurers’ search for yield must not compromise policyholder protection, says MAS assistant MD

They must exercise strong risk management and apply robust stress testing, adds the central bank’s assistant MD Marcus Lim

The upheaval in the private debt market due to software-as-a-service exposure is likely to create opportunities in distressed debt.

Robust growth seen for Asia-Pacific private debt

Lighthouse Canton’s Sanket Sinha expects the market to expand by 15-20% a year

Private credit funds are seeing their "first true outflow cycle", says Morningstar's Brian Moriarty. "It's up to asset managers to prove they can handle that pressure."
MIND THE GAP

Redemption gates in private credit: stress signal or protective feature?

Gating isn’t a denial of investors’ rights, but a mechanism to protect the interests of the fund and investors

Assets with a low correlation to stocks and bonds, such as gold, can help to cushion portfolios against market shocks.
WHO’S WHO IN PRIVATE BANKING

Shock-proofing your portfolio

Diversification is a must, but so are alternative assets that can buttress your portfolio, such as gold

In response to the liquidity crunch, BlackRock has allowed redemptions up to the 5% limit for the HPS Corporate Lending Fund.
THINKING ALOUD

Acid test for private credit

PRIVATE credit is at a crossroads.

Oil prices have shot up and down in the wake of the US-Israeli strikes on Iran and subsequent developments.
MIND THE GAP

How scary is geopolitical risk? Oil price is key

Developments in the Gulf conflict are testing investors’ penchant to buy the dip

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