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Greater financial literacy and easier access to investing are driving this shift, with young adults becoming more deliberate about growing their wealth.

Singapore banks court younger customers as more climb wealth ladder

Banks report younger customers are investing sooner, with more progressing into affluent wealth tiers

Thai inflation rises more than expected to 2.53% in August, remains within central bank target

Inflation may continue to accelerate in September, driven by higher prices of oil, food and transportation, said a commerce ministry official.

Headline CPI is expected to continue rising, says the Thai commerce ministry

Indonesian carriers face US$1 million daily hit as Krakatau ash grounds Jakarta flights

Stranded passengers at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Monday (Sep 7). The country’s other airports do not match its capacity or connectivity.

The potential losses could widen to affect tourism, investments and logistics if disruptions persist

Parliament to debate political salaries this week; PM Wong and Chan Chun Sing to speak on Sep 8

Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and Coordinating Minister for Public Services Chan Chun Sing will make statements on the issue on Sep 8.

The House will debate the matter on Sep 10

Wall Street is effectively betting that US Federal Reserve chair Kevin Warsh will administer a small dose of monetary medicine without killing the patient.

THINKING ALOUD

Why Wall Street can keep rising even as the Fed turns hawkish

Market expectations, optimism over AI-driven productivity are some explanations

R Sivanithy

Asia OneHealthcare targets RM7 billion Malaysia IPO in Q1 2027

A1Health, formerly known as Columbia Asia Healthcare, is a regional private hospital group with 23 hospitals across Malaysia and Vietnam.

The hospital group is eyeing a RM30 billion valuation in what could be the country’s biggest healthcare listing

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Tokyo reverses baby bust with AI matchmaking and generous subsidies

Children at a nursery school in Tokyo. Tokyo stands out as a rare Japanese prefecture whose population is growing while the national total is shrinking.

In an exclusive interview with The Straits Times, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike shares the success of her ‘children first’ agenda, and the capital’s pursuit of energy security

America’s political maps are shifting. So is who can win

A statue and plaque marking the spot in Montgomery, Alabama, where Rosa Parks boarded a public bus and refused to yield her seat for a white passenger.

Can the US adapt quickly enough amid the backdrop of escalating political tensions, geoeconomic disruption and shifting demographics?

Singaporeans lured to join Nanning Ponzi scheme with free dinners, S$8 manicures, sprawling condos

The view from the condo complex where Singaporean public servant Alice (not her real name) stayed at during her trip to Nanning, China, in March.

52 have been arrested in Guangxi province over their alleged involvement in pyramid scheme activities

Opinion

Trade deals open doors. Someone still has to walk through them

Shevaun Haviland &

Nik Mehta

What America’s high bond yields and China’s low rates tell us

Anoop Singh

The most AI-confident organisations are often the most exposed

Jiang Tianyi

Behind The Name

What’s luck got to do with it? Everything, says Malaysian jewellery king Tomei’s chief

“I consider myself lucky. I don’t consider myself successful,” says Ng Yih Pyng, the second-generation leader of Tomei Consolidated.

Failed overseas ventures, painful exits are unexpectedly a blessing in disguise for the jeweller

Scaling Berli Jucker’s retail empire – daughter of Thai beer billionaire seeks growth outside home country

Thapanee Techajareonvikul, CEO and president of Berli Jucker, sees Vietnam as an important growth enginee for BJC, which has traditionally been heavily invested in Thailand.

CEO thinks diversifying its revenue is important for both BJC and TCC Group, which BJC is a part of

Malaysia’s 8th richest man Jeffrey Cheah wants Sunway business to last 10 generations

Sunway Group's founder and chairman Jeffrey Cheah says international expansion will increasingly be driven by the next generation.

Having weathered two crises, the founder pairs professional management with slow-burn succession to keep the business and family intact

Singapore

Senior Minister K Shanmugam said that Temasek, as a shareholder in SIA, will expect the airline company to make its investment decisions responsibly.

Temasek, portfolio firms need to make commercial decisions without fear of politicisation: Shanmugam

He warns if corporate boards become overly cautious, it will compromise investment returns in the long run

Brokerages lift their STI targets as earnings drive momentum into Q4

The consensus 12-month target for the STI now stands at 6,140 points, implying about a 5.5 per cent upside, says SGX market strategist Geoff Howie.

DBS Group Research, for example, expects the STI to be at 5,850 points by the end of 2026

‘No longer a rising tide’: Upcoming Q4 launches will test homebuying demand

Analysts note that the real estate market has normalised after a strong period of activity.

Launch pipeline has become thinner while buyers turn more selective amid elevated prices

Sasseur Reit eyes South-east Asia for next phase of growth as it looks beyond China

Singapore’s national accountancy body builds lower-cost regional route for smaller firms

The Leadership Playbook

Why Tan Aik Keong of digital solutions specialist Agmo wants to make himself less indispensable

Agmo CEO Tan Aik Keong’s unconventional rule is to “say yes first, then figure out how”.

The tech entrepreneur says leadership is about building an organisation that can thrive without him

‘Be confident’: Yum Cha second-gen owner’s advice on taking over the family business

Melody Tan thinks second-gen family business owners need to have confidence in themselves when taking over the business.

Building authority is not about inheriting a title, it is about earning trust through actions and results

MedPark’s assistant CEO runs a hospital where patients, physicians precede profits

The real marketing for a hospital is the trust it builds and what is passed on by word of mouth, says Proud Patanavanich, assistant CEO at MedPark Hospital.

The Thai private hospital expects to break even this year

Workers in Singapore are finding their roles reshaped by AI, with some tasks increasingly automated and some positions disappearing altogether.

BRUNCH

Is AI stealing your job?

White-collar workers risk displacement, but mass layoffs aren’t on the table

Asean

Passengers queueing at check-in desks as flights are cancelled at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, in Tangerang, on the outskirts of Jakarta.

Jakarta airport closure extended as Anak Krakatau eruption disrupts flights

The suspension has affected 301 flights, including 58 international flights

Asia OneHealthcare targets RM7 billion Malaysia IPO in Q1 2027

The hospital group is eyeing a RM30 billion valuation in what could be the country’s biggest healthcare listing

KKR has ramped up its drive into South-east Asia’s healthcare sector amid rising investor interest.

KKR buys stake in Malaysia’s Avisena in healthcare push

The investment will drive the healthcare company’s next phase of growth; financial details have not been given

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