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Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics at SMU research fellow Hamish Macalister noted that very few people have a strong grasp of what investment risk means. He said that assessing risk when making an investment is hard because our brains have developed pattern recognition skills to such an extent that we see patterns where they do not exist. In sum, the world of institutional investment maintains teams of individuals attempting to measure risk with all manner of extremely complicated and esoteric mathematics. For the individual investor, it is critical to be aware of the pitfalls of common risk measures and bear in mind there is no such thing as a risk-free return.

Singapore's inflation may remain elevated for years to come, according to a survey by SMU where it forecasts an inflation rate of close to 5 per cent in 2017. The online survey was derived from around 400 randomly selected individuals from Singapore households. It was conducted jointly by the Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics (SKBI) at SMU and MasterCard. SKBI Programme Director Aurobindo Ghosh said: "People are always concerned and they don't always see very clearly what will happen five years later. They will have to rely on media for example, they have to rely on how things are looking, their confidence level. So, we are not going to put too much money into the fact that it is going to be 5 per cent five years later. It might really come down if the conditions actually improve. So, these are perceptions."

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Programme Director of the SMU Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics, Dr Aurobindo Ghosh, explained that since growth has come to a halt in many developed countries, including the US and those in the eurozone, modern investors who are looking to protect their wealth choose Singapore as the investment destination in Asia.

Singapore’s central bank and a group of lenders are considering putting an end to the city-state’s U.S. dollar-linked interbank lending rate as regulators worldwide probe allegations of rigged benchmark borrowing costs. The banks are reviewing how Singapore interbank offered rates are set amid probes into rate manipulation worldwide. Barclays Plc, UBS AG and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc have been penalised $2.6 billion for rigging the U.K.’s Libor, a scandal now set to engulf interdealer brokers such as ICAP Plc. "People are losing confidence because of manipulation," said SMU Professor of Finance (Education) Benedict Koh. "Given what has transpired, it’s important for the authorities to provide more transparency and audit by an independent body so that rates are fairly set and not biased to financial institutions that have conflict of interest.”

Finding solace in a new financial climate

Eugene Say, a second-year student at the SMU Lee Kong Chian School of Business and student trainer in the SMU-Citi Financial Literacy Programme for young adults, shared his thoughts on how the key to finding some comfort and peace in today's financial environment was to adopt the habit of saving, together with a view to incurring less debt. This would be possible only by reinforcing good decision-making skills when it comes to one's finances. He said that the act of saving money is the most fundamental financial discipline everyone should master, regardless of age and financial status. Mr Lee also advocated responsibility in using credit. He urged young Singaporeans to redefine wealth, happiness and success and cited a survey by OCBC Bank to show that, encouragingly, Singaporeans are shifting their focus towards intangibles defined by non-monetary values.

Finding solace in a new financial climate

Eugene Say, a second-year student at the SMU Lee Kong Chian School of Business and student trainer in the SMU-Citi Financial Literacy Programme for young adults, shared his thoughts on how the key to finding some comfort and peace in today's financial environment was to adopt the habit of saving, together with a view to incurring less debt. This would be possible only by reinforcing good decision-making skills when it comes to one's finances. He said that the act of saving money is the most fundamental financial discipline everyone should master, regardless of age and financial status. Mr Lee also advocated responsibility in using credit. He urged young Singaporeans to redefine wealth, happiness and success and cited a survey by OCBC Bank to show that, encouragingly, Singaporeans are shifting their focus towards intangibles defined by non-monetary values.

Eugene Say, a second-year student at the SMU Lee Kong Chian School of Business and student trainer in the SMU-Citi Financial Literacy Programme for young adults, shared his thoughts on how the key to finding some comfort and peace in today's financial environment was to adopt the habit of saving, together with a view to incurring less debt. This would be possible only by reinforcing good decision-making skills when it comes to one's finances. He said that the act of saving money is the most fundamental financial discipline everyone should master, regardless of age and financial status. Mr Lee also advocated responsibility in using credit. He urged young Singaporeans to redefine wealth, happiness and success and cited a survey by OCBC Bank to show that, encouragingly, Singaporeans are shifting their focus towards intangibles defined by non-monetary values.

Researcher: Making better use of medical data to reduce patient visit frequency

Senior Research Fellow of the Centre for Silver Security (CSS) of the Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics (SKBI) at SMU and Visiting Professor of Economics, Rhema Vaithianathan suggested that Singapore’s healthcare industry could use medical data better to reduce the frequency of hospital visits for patients. She shared how hospitals in New Zealand and America would use a risk prediction model to reduce the frequency of a patient’s visits. She added that Singapore hospitals could use existing medical data to develop preventive measures, so that elderly patients do not need to be hospitalised. For patients who may have frequented hospitals in the past six months, the hospital could arrange for them to receive treatment at the polyclinic to reduce the number of hospital visits. By arranging for a nurse to take care of such patients, the risk of the patient losing the ability to care for himself is reduced.

Inflation expectations in Singapore eased in December from September amid a weakening global economy, according to a report released on Thursday. The Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics at SMU and MasterCard Worldwide said that their latest poll showed that consumers in the city-state see inflation at 4.37 per cent in 12 months' time, down from 4.57 per cent when a similar survey was conducted in September.