I've been applying jobs after jobs for almost 2 months now and I'm really just not getting responses. This is quite disheartening.

Still am. 4 years in KL already doing audit. But Singapore ain't calling!!!

Interest rate parity in action

Hi, just curious. Any of you know whether there's any lending restrictions whereby money borrowed in Singapore cannot be sent out of the country?

What's stopping someone from borrowing money in Singapore at 1.5%, and putting it into Malaysian FDs at 3%? (by similarly arranging for the security of the borrowings on the same FD?)

Ah I see. Thanks for your insight.
I've got an offtopic question here though. Hope you can spare some time to educate me

Why residential interest rates so low in SG (i mean, since the tenure is so long, conventional finance theory suggests that interest rates should be higher to compensate for such long time horizons, and yet SG can still afford to give 1.5%, compared to shorter term borrowings, where as you suggested, the terms interest rates are higher?)

I understand that having an appreciating asset as a security is much better than financing cars etc which are worth rubbish a few years down the road... but is it really enough to cause a 2.5% gap, and also effectively cover the uncertainty that comes with 30-40 year loans?

Also, are you aware whether is there some sort of subsidization by the SG government that may be a reason why interest rates are so low?


Wah 50 year loan? Singaporeans expecting their kids to take up the loan?

1. Oh so in actual fact, the actual interest rates are about 3-4%? (I thought I saw an ad d other day about a condo in SG that stated interest rate at 1.5%. On hindsight, might have been just dodgy advertising by the developer)

2. Hmm, now that I think about it, 2-3 years into the loan, a small amount of the principal would have been paid and outstanding loan-to-value would increase over time, effectively the risk do in fact get lower over time, even after considering any potential property value decline arising from increases in interest rates. Hmm. yeah. Makes sense.

Thanks for clarifying

Whats your stand on this? Do you think it's better to take the variable rate one?

Did you make any income back in Malaysia from 1/1/2011 to 31/12/2011? If you did, how much? Did it hit the RM30k per annum threshold? If you answered no to any of the 3 questions, just ignore the income tax submission.

Thanks for the heads up

Standard Chartered in massive shit?

IN A bombshell statement New York’s Department of Financial Services added Standard Chartered, a British bank, to the rank of financial institutions under siege, calling it a "rogue institution". It accuses Standard Chartered of executing 60,000 secret transactions worth $250 billion for Iranian customers in exchange for “hundreds of millions of dollars” in fees. In a footnote the regulator also says that there is evidence of similar “schemes” with other countries subject to American sanctions, including Libya, Myanmar and Sudan.

Economist news article

I'm curious how chessgal plans to navigate around the above requirements.

Ah I see. I must be mistaken, cos I recall you saying you needed your PR (or was it your BF) to put in the booking fees, so I thought it's for HDB. Sorry!

In any case, interesting turn of events, though I'd say them Singaporeans gonna use this as an excuse to jack up rent, since supply is constricted.

A rich bangla, is still a bangla. (jkjk)

Nothing.
It's no different from saying, a rich arab, is still an arab, or a rich malay, is still a malay LOL.

Isn't the prospect about connecting to nusajaya via tuas as well?