Daily Briefing: OCBC boosts staff pay by 10.93%; Here's how Singapore revived a problematic Chinese firm

And here's why Jurong Lake District could hit gold with the new Jurong Region Line.

From Bloomberg Finance:

When Singapore-listed fabric dyer China Fibretech lost shareholder value and suspended trading, Singapore was able to intervene and file complaints against its CEO Wu Xinhua. 

"First the stock fell 90%. Then it stopped trading altogether. That was two and a half years ago. In November, hapless shareholders got the firm’s annual report… for 2015. And even that came with an auditor’s note that $69m of cash the management said was in Chinese bank accounts couldn’t be verified.

When I wrote about China Fibretech Ltd. in April last year, the Singapore exchange had just filed complaints with Chinese authorities against Wu Xinhua, executive chairman and CEO of the Fujian province-based fabric dyer, in relation to 'several alleged offenses under the Chinese Penal Code.' The update to that unhappy saga is that it may have a happy ending after all.

Independent directors of the Singapore-listed company have managed to persuade a Chinese state-owned enterprise, China Capital Investment Group Co., to come in as a savior, taking a 24.5% stake. A clutch of other new investors will join in."

Read more here.

From iCompareLoan via Yahoo! Finance:

The upcoming seventh MRT line, Jurong Region Line, is expected to boost the value of properties in Jurong Lake District, but also the real estate in Boon Lay and Choa Chu Kang.

" The Jurong Region Line is expected to help develop the Jurong Lake District (JLD) into the largest commercial hub outside the CBD. Beyond the Jurong Lake District, the Jurong Region Line will also support the development of the Jurong Innovation District into a next-generation industrial estate. Together with the upcoming Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail, commuters will have convenient connections not just within western Singapore, but also to Malaysia.

Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan said: “When all these plans come together, Jurong will be a water front business hub nestled in greenery, served by good public transport connections, as well as amenities to support active mobility. This is our vision for Jurong – a vision which I am fully confident that our fourth-generation leadership will be able to discharge and make it a reality.”

Read more here.

From eFinancialCareers:

Despite lower headcount, OCBC raised its staff costs per head by 10.93% from last year and spent $22,483 per employee on average.

"UOB boosted its headcount by 255 year on year in the first quarter, while DBS’s went up by 3,400 (mainly due to its takeover of ANZ’s Asian wealth and retail unit). It was a different story at OCBC, where staff numbers fell by 261. This only represents a 1% decline, however, and OCBC’s 29,444-strong workforce is still comfortably the largest of any Singaporean bank. DBS and UOB employ 25,731 and 25,288 people, respectively.

Whilst headcount was down slightly at OCBC in Q1, staff costs actually increased by 10%. More significantly, staff costs per head – total employee expenditure (such as salaries and bonuses) divided by total headcount – also rose 10% year on year. OCBC spent $22,483 on its average employee in Q1 2018, up from $20,266 in Q1 2017, according to calculations made from data in its financial results. OCBC needed to increase pay just to keep pace with UOB, where compensation shot up 14% to $23,964 in Q1. While OCBC is closing the per-head pay gap with DBS, it still stands at a significant $8,025."

Read more here.