The Central Provident Fund Board (CPFB) has announced its decision to place a cap of 1 per cent a year on the wrap fee charged on unit trusts included in the Central Provident Fund Investment Scheme (CPFIS).

The planned cap, which will take effect from July this year, will encourage investors to invest more in products offered under the CPFIS by lowering the costs of investment.

Singapore’s bank lending jumped 2.3 per cent to settle at S$415.8 billion in November from the previous month.

Business loans jumped 2.9 per cent to S$240.1 billion, while consumer loans climbed 1.4 per cent to settle at S$175.7 billion.

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said that the country would have to take this year’s economic fluctuations in their stride.

Delivering his New Year message, Mr. Lee said “The economy goes up, goes down - we have to take it in our stride.”

China's economic growth will likely tumble to 7.9 per cent during the whole year of 2012, the Hong Kong-based investment bank Nomura International Ltd predicted.

The Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board has announced that the fund's members turning fifty-five would have to set aside a bigger sum in their Medisave Accounts as the Medisave Required Amount (MRA) would go up from January 1.

Singapore's economy enjoyed a surprise turnaround in non-oil exports in November, following a steep decline in exports in the previous month.

On a year-on-year basis, non-oil domestic exports jumped by 1.6 per cent in November this year, reversing a decline of 16 per cent in October.

Hong Kong overtook the US and the UK to become the world's most developed financial market for the first time in history, the World Economic Forum said in its new report.

According to the Financial Development Report 2011, Hong Kong jumped from the fourth potion to the top, while each of the US and the UK slipped one position to settle at second and third respectively.