SINGAPORE – Singapore unveiled a roadmap for strengthening its status as a financial hub in Asia, with the aim of growing the sector more than 4 per cent a year and creating thousands of jobs.

“With technology transforming the way financial services are produced, delivered, and consumed, it is critical that Singapore’s financial sector also transforms, to stay relevant and competitive,” the Monetary Authority of Singapore said in a statement on Monday.

The central bank said Singapore aims to be a leading international wealth management hub, as well as an Asian hub for fund management. It also wants to be a centre for foreign exchange price discovery and liquidity in the Asian time zone.

“Singapore is currently the third largest FX centre globally. With Asia expected to attract a larger share of global investment flows, MAS will encourage key FX players to anchor their matching and pricing engines here, to enable market participants to benefit from better liquidity and greater efficiency in executing FX transactions,” the central bank said.

The MAS said it is working with the financial industry to develop Singapore as an Asian centre for capital raising and enterprise financing, as well as an infrastructure financing hub.

It also seeks to develop Singapore as a leading centre for Asian fixed income, and a global capital for Asian insurance and risk transfer.

A focus of the roadmap is encouraging the adoption of technology to increase efficiency, the central bank said.

To this end, the MAS said it will take steps such as collaborating with financial institutions to create common utilities for services including electronic payments, as well as investing in research and development to develop solutions such as “distributed ledger technology” for inter-bank payments and trade finance.

The MAS will also expand cross-border co-operation agreements with other fintech centres to help grow Singapore as a base for foreign fintech start-ups, and will harness technology to simplify financial institutions’ regulatory compliance.

The industry transformation map aims to achieve growth in financial sector real value-added of 4.3 per cent annually, and to create 3,000 net jobs in financial services, and 1,000 net jobs in the fintech sector annually, the central bank said.

HONG KONG – Razer Inc, a gaming hardware maker backed by Intel Corp and Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, plans to launch on Monday an up to $550 million (S$750 million) Hong Kong initial public offering, IFR reported on Friday, citing people close to the deal.

The company, which is based in Singapore and the United States, will offer shares in an indicative range of HK$2.93 to HK$4.00 each, added IFR, a Thomson Reuters publication.

Razer has secured $150 million in commitments from cornerstone investors, including a $20 million investment from Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte Ltd, IFR said.

Razer declined to comment, while GIC did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment.

The company was founded in 2005 by Min-Liang Tan and Robert Krakoff and has grown from producing a gaming mouse as its initial product to manufacturing laptops worth almost $4,000.

In 2016 it bought assets from a company previously known as THX Ltd, which was founded by George Lucas, and this year it acquired certain assets and intellectual property from mobile phone manufacturer Nextbit Systems.

The acquisitions are expected to help the company launch new products in coming years, including a mobile gaming device, a person familiar with Razer’s plans previously told Reuters.

A netizen has taken to Facebook to share how her flat at Yishun Street 124 was almost broken into two times yesterday (Oct 26) at around 5.20am by a 29-year-old man who was believed to be drunk.

In the post, the netizen, Mollly Molina, said that she was first woken up by a loud bang and “the sound of the window mesh grating against metal”.

Initially, she thought that it was her cat trying to squeeze itself out of the window.

Upon investigation, she saw a figure “fumbling” outside her unit.

As she was still groggy at that point, she did not suspect anything was amiss and said “hi” to the man, who ran off subsequently.

“He got stunned and ran away to the staircase. I went closer to the window and realised that holy s***, a man just broke 2 bars of the window grilles! So I ran to wake my husband up and called the cops.”

The man, however, returned moments later and apparently tried to enter the house a second time.

Molly continued: “Right after the call, we heard footsteps approaching our door. So I went to the peephole and saw the man (fair skinned, tall and wearing dark coloured long sleeves and pants) trying to push on the common room’s window this time.

“So my husband opened the main door. The man got shocked and ran away again. By this time, I have armed myself with a long kitchen knife, and my husband with a hammer.”

Things did not end there for the couple, as the man came back once again. This time, he did not try to enter the house but loitered outside the House Development Board unit, said the netizen.

Police officers then arrived and arrested the man.

Said a police spokesman in response to a Stomp query: “On Oct 26, 2017, at 5.25am, police were alerted to a case of attempted housebreaking by night at Block 124 Yishun Street 11.

“A 29-year-old man was arrested in relation to the case.

“Police investigations are ongoing.”

Molly said that the man broke a small shoe shelf the family kept outside, possibly when he was trying to climb in through the window.

She, however, was thankful that her child was not affected by what had happened.

“The whole ordeal lasted about 2.5 hours. It really shook me and I was still shaking (in fear and anger) hours after that. I couldn’t imagine what would have happened had he managed to get in. Luckily, my 2-year-old boy slept peacefully throughout,” the netizen wrote.

An double decker SBS Transit bus crashed into a shelter of a walkway opposite VivoCity yesterday (Oct 29) at around 7pm , shattering the windshield of the vehicle’s upper deck.

Stomp contributor Carol was on the second level of the vehicle when the accident happened.

In a telephone interview, she said that she felt strong vibrations as the bus hit the shelter.

The Stomp contributor estimates that there were around 10 passengers on the upper deck when the accident took place and the crash left them shocked.

The bus captain subsequently told everyone to alight before making a call on his mobile phone.

No one was injured.

Said a spokesman for the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) in response to a Stomp query: “SCDF received a call for assistance at approximately 7.10pm.

“SCDF immediately dispatched one ambulance to Telok Blangah Road towards the city.”

A man was arrested for allegedly used his phone to secretly record videos of students from three girls’ schools in Bukit Timah.

The incident happened last Friday morning (Oct 27) when the man was spotted lurking outside Singapore Chinese Girls’ School.

Parents from three schools in the area, namely Raffles Girls’ School, Methodist Girls’ School and Singapore Chinese Girl’s School were warned of a suspicious man lurking outside the schools via various chat groups.

A parent, Ms Xiao, told Shin Min Daily News that she was sending her daughter to school when she noticed the man walking around with a phone in his hand, behaving suspiciously.

Ms Xiao said that many parents have observed this man wandering around the girl schools in the area.

She said: “At about 7.20am, I saw him going through the gates to enter the school.

“Later I was notified by my chat group that he was arrested. “

Another mother, Ms Yang , 43, told reporters that her daughter was a student at Raffles Girls’ School, and she became worried when she first heard of the man.

She added: “Fortunately, he has been arrested, but I will still remind my daughter to be careful.”

A Lianhe Wanbao reporter, Ms Chen, 23, revealed that she had been harassed by the same man while she was a student seven years ago.

The man had approached Ms Chen for a survey, but started messaging her to chat after a few days, reports Lianhe Wanbao.

Said Ms Chen: “Even his methods remain unchanged.

“When I heard from my colleague that there was a man arrested for harassing female students, I thought it could be him even without looking at the photos.

“When I saw the photos, I recognised him right away.

“I never expected him to resume his activities after getting arrested last year.

“I can still remember the weird way he would stare at you.”

It is understood that a wary parent called the police, and the man had faced similar charges in the past year, including the harassment of students, stalking a girl near a junior college nearby, and recording a video of the student crossing the road.

In addition, he was also charged with using a pinhole camera to take an upskirt video in April 2016.

In response to media queries, a police spokesman said that a 41-year-old man was arrested on Friday (Oct 27) for causing public nuisance.

Three people were injured in a chain collision involving three motorcycles, a car and two taxis along the Tampines Expressway (TPE) on Oct 26 at 8.48am.

In a video of what happened posted on ROADS.sg, a cabby can be seen pressing on his brakes after the 20-second mark in response to traffic hold-up.

The driver of a Honda, who was behind, was unable to do the same in time and hit the rear of the taxi.

Moments later, a motorcyclist brushed against the side of the Honda and lost his balance.

Two other bikers then crashed into the rear of the Honda, causing debris to be strewn all over the road.

The accident left three people injured.

Said a police spokesman in response to a Stomp query: “On Oct 28, 2017, at 8.50am, the police were alerted to an accident involving three motorcycles, a car and two taxis along the TPE towards the Pan Island Expressway.

“Three persons were conscious when conveyed to Changi General Hospital.

“Police investigations are ongoing.”