Daily Briefing: HDB mortgage interest rates to hold firm in Q3; Cityneon Holdings bags CITIC Capital funds for China expansion

And check out how much can employees earn in Citi Singapore.

From ChannelNewsAsia:

Central Provident Fund (CPF) members will continue to earn interest at 2.5% per annum on their Ordinary Account (OA) and at 4 % per annum on their Special and Medisave accounts (SMA) between Jul 1 and Sep 30.

The concessionary interest rate for Housing and Development Board (HDB) mortgage loans - pegged at 0.1% above the OA interest rate - will remain unchanged at 2.6% per annum for the same period.

The CPF Board and HDB announced the rates in a joint news release on 15 May.

An additional 1% interest will continue to be paid on the first $60,000 of their combined balances, earning CPF members up to 3.5% on their OA and 5% per annum on their SMA.

Read more here.

From DealStreetAsia:

CITIC Capital, the flagship investment arm of Chinese financial conglomerate CITIC Group, has invested in Cityneon Holdings, a Singapore-based service agency that creates licensed interactive exhibitions, according to an announcement.

Financial details of the deal were not immediately disclosed but Cityneon said CITIC Group’s investment provides a springboard for the company to expand its business in China and beyond.

Cityneon currently partners with major movie and gaming studios globally to secure IPs to hold exclusive exhibitions to create iconic experiences for their audience. These global studios include renowned names like Disney, Marvel, Hasbro, Universal, and Lionsgate.

The company was listed on the Singapore Exchange in 2005 and then delisted in February 2019 after a buyout by West Knight Limited, a company wholly owned by Cityneon executive chairman and group CEO Ron Tan and Hong Kong entrepreneur and investor Johnson Ko Chun Shun.

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From eFinancialCareers:

Citi’s Singapore annual base salaries for IBD analysts can go as high as $137k whilst a front-office associate at the bank can expect a salary of about $150k, which rises to about $210k when becoming vice president.

However, its long-standing investment bankers might have also stayed around to secure the generous compensation on offer at director level. Directors at Citi in Singapore, has a base pay of around $345k with a bonus of about $300k.

Citi’s Institutional Clients Group (ICG) – the unit which houses investment banking and trading among other businesses – is unlikely to be cutting back on compensation in Singapore this year. In Q1 2019, ICG revenues in Asia were up 32% to US$2,245m, according to the bank’s financial results.

Read more here.