SG Morning Call｜UOB, OCBC Plan Cost-of-Living Payout to Junior Staff in 2025

Market Snapshot

Singapore stocks opened higher on Tuesday. STI up 0.2%; Sembcorp up 1.7%; Seatrium up 1.6%.

Stocks to Watch

$SEMBCORP INDUSTRIES LTD(U96.SI)$: The energy and urban development company on Monday joined the Dow Jones Sustainability Index as the sole new entrant from Singapore. This came as part of S&P Dow Jones Indices’ annual review of its Dow Jones Sustainability Indices which are grouped by themes, including Asia-Pacific and emerging markets. Shares of Sembcorp closed S$0.01 or 0.2 per cent higher at S$5.35, before the news. 

$F & N(F99.SI)$: Its board chairman Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, 80, will retire from office on Jan 16, 2025, announced the group on Tuesday. He will be appointed as chairman emeritus and will be succeeded by Koh Poh Tiong, who has been serving as a non-independent and non-executive director and as adviser to the board since Apr 3, 2013. F&N shares closed S$0.01 or 0.8 per cent higher at S$1.35 on Monday. 

SG Local News

UOB, OCBC Plan Cost-of-Living Payout to Junior Staff in 2025

$UOB(U11.SI)$ and $ocbc bank(O39.SI)$ will give a one-off payment to junior employees globally for the second year in a row to alleviate ongoing cost-of-living concerns.

About 6,000 eligible junior staff across UOB will receive an extra month of bonus to be paid out by April, the Straits Times reported on Monday, citing the Singapore-based lender. The plan will cost the bank up to S$8 million ($5.9 million).

Head of group human resources at UOB, Dean Tong, told the local newspaper that even though inflation rate has moderated, cost of living remains elevated.

UOB’s announcement came hours after Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp Ltd. said an estimated S$7.5 million will be handed out to some 11,000 employees across OCBC and its subsidiaries to cope with cost-of-living pressures.

Seatrium Wins Contract for Deepwater New-Build Production Unit

$Seatrium Ltd(5E2.SI)$ has secured a contract to perform engineering, procurement, construction and onshore commissioning work for a deepwater new-build production unit under BP Exploration & Production, a subsidiary of multinational oil and gas company, BP.

Named Kaskida, the floating production unit (FPU) project is a greenfield development located in the Keathley Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico about 402 km south-west of New Orleans. 

It comprises a single topside module supported by a four-column semi-submersible hull, and is supported by subsea production wells located in a water depth of approximately 6,000 feet.

Singapore Pulls Ahead of Hong Kong in Race to Be Crypto Hub

Singapore forged ahead with efforts to formulate a digital-assets hub in 2024, while rival financial center Hong Kong has struggled to gain traction.

Singapore doled out 13 crypto licenses in 2024 to a range of crypto operators including top exchanges OKX and Upbit, as well as global heavyweights Anchorage, BitGo and GSR. That’s more than double the licenses awarded by the city-state the previous year. A similar licensing regime in Hong Kong has been slow to progress.

Both cities are bidding to entice digital-asset firms to their shores with dedicated regimes, tokenization projects and regulatory sandboxes. Local authorities see in crypto the potential to boost the allure of their respective jurisdictions as global business hubs, but progress has been uneven.