Digital wealth manager, Syfe, today launched the REIT+ portfolio, a first-of-its-kind initiative that allows anyone in Singapore to start risk-managed investing in Singapore real estate with no minimum investment.

Unlike buying a property or REITs as a private investor, Syfe's REIT+ product offers an easy, risk-managed and low-cost way for investors to access Singapore's thriving REIT market with a fee as low as 0.4% per annum of your invested capital.

REIT+ consists of 15 high-quality SGX-listed REITs (S-REITs) that span retail, industrial, office, and hospitality amongst other sectors. To protect REIT+ portfolios, Syfe's Automated Risk-Managed Investing (ARI) will manage risk by balancing portfolios of S-REITs with Singapore government bonds.

Through backtesting, a process that tests algorithms by running them through historical data, the REIT+ portfolio on average has yielded a return of 9.0% over the last five years. The portfolio also pays a dividend, which in 2019, was 4.6%, and can be automatically reinvested or paid-out at regular intervals offering investors a great source of passive income.

In recent years, REITs have proven to be a great investment option because it allows Singaporeans an easy way to become real estate owners, without dealing with the day-to-day worries of being a landlord. By investing in an REIT, you're investing in properties managed by that REIT and you're eligible to earn dividends on the rental income earned by those properties.

Dhruv Arora, Founder and CEO of Syfe said: "The launch of the REIT+ offering represents another strong step forward in our journey to making quality investment solutions accessible to all. In addition to our flagship Automated Risk-Managed Investing (ARI) global portfolio, we now offer investors an easy way to enter Singapore's exciting and rewarding REIT landscape."

"At Syfe, we're constantly pushing the boundaries of financial innovation, and we'll continue to do so to meet the investment needs of investors in Singapore," added Mr. Arora.

REIT+ is Syfe's latest addition to the platform, following the launch of a Financial Advisor team, which allows customers to secure consultation sessions with wealth management specialists, providing high quality financial advice.

Nasdaq today announced that Roland Chai, most recently Head of Post-Trade at Hong Kong Exchange, will join the executive leadership team as Chief Risk Officer (CRO). Chai will be responsible for developing, reviewing and maintaining Nasdaq’s global risk program. He will report to Adena Friedman, President and CEO, Nasdaq.

“Risk management is an essential part of Nasdaq’s global business and operations,” said Adena Friedman, President and CEO, Nasdaq. “Nasdaq is committed to building and maintaining an industry leading culture of risk management that is able to support our long-term objectives. Roland brings extensive experience in establishing and implementing risk frameworks across functions as well as strong management capabilities that will further strengthen and enhance our decision making and business operating processes. We look forward to welcoming Roland to the Nasdaq team.”

Chai will assume his new role on June 1, 2020, and will be based in Stockholm, Sweden.

“Within the capital markets, Nasdaq has demonstrated its commitment to globalizing its business and building an advanced technology company,” said Chai. “Nasdaq also is recognized as a leader in providing risk management solutions for its own markets, regulators and other industries. I’m thrilled to be joining the company to continue bolstering its global, enterprise-wide risk culture.”

Chai most recently served as Head of Post-Trade at Hong Kong Exchange where he oversaw clearing and risk management functions across equities and fixed income, currencies and commodities, as well as the exchange’s market surveillance. During his tenure, Chai re-established risk frameworks across Exchange, Listings, Mainland Commodities, Trading, and Clearing departments, amongst other accomplishments. He previously served as Group Risk Officer and Head of Clearing at Hong Kong Exchange. Prior to joining Hong Kong Exchange, Chai served as Head of Equities at LCH.Clearnet.

The IBM (NYSE: IBM) Board of Directors has elected Arvind Krishna as Chief Executive Officer of the company and a member of the Board of Directors, effective April 6, 2020.  Krishna is currently IBM Senior Vice President for Cloud and Cognitive Software, and was a principal architect of the company's acquisition of Red Hat.  James Whitehurst, IBM Senior Vice President and CEO of Red Hat, was also elected by the Board as IBM President, effective April 6, 2020.  Virginia Rometty, IBM Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, will continue as Executive Chairman of the Board and serve through the end of the year, when she will retire after almost 40 years with the company.

"Arvind is the right CEO for the next era at IBM," said Rometty. "He is a brilliant technologist who has played a significant role in developing our key technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud, quantum computing and blockchain.  He is also a superb operational leader, able to win today while building the business of tomorrow.  Arvind has grown IBM's Cloud and Cognitive Software business and led the largest acquisition in the company's history. Through his multiple experiences running businesses in IBM, Arvind has built an outstanding track record of bold transformations and proven business results, and is an authentic, values-driven leader.  He is well-positioned to lead IBM and its clients into the cloud and cognitive era."

"Jim is also a seasoned leader who has positioned Red Hat as the world's leading provider of open source enterprise IT software solutions and services, and has been quickly expanding the reach and benefit of that technology to an even wider audience as part of IBM," Rometty continued.  "In Arvind and Jim, the Board has elected a proven technical and business-savvy leadership team."

Virginia Rometty, 62, became Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of IBM in 2012.  During her tenure she made bold changes to reposition IBM for the future, investing in high value segments of the IT market and optimizing the company's portfolio.  Under Rometty's leadership, IBM acquired 65 companies, built out key capabilities in hybrid cloud, security, industry and data, and AI both organically and inorganically, and successfully completed one of the largest technology acquisitions in history.  She reinvented more than 50% of IBM's portfolio, built a $21 billion hybrid cloud business and established IBM's leadership in AI, quantum computing and blockchain, while divesting nearly $9 billion in annual revenue to focus the portfolio on IBM's high value, integrated offerings.

Rometty also established IBM as the industry's leading voice in technology ethics and data stewardship, working relentlessly to usher new technologies safely into society, and enabling people of diverse backgrounds and education levels to participate in the digital future.  She has been committed to building talent and skills around the world.  She created thousands of New Collar jobs and championed the reinvention of education around the world, including the explosive growth of the six-year Pathways in Technology Early College High Schools, or P-TECHs, which are helping prepare the workforce of the future, serving hundreds of thousands of students in 200 schools and 24 countries.

"Ginni has provided outstanding leadership for IBM, substantially transforming the company and ushering in a new cloud and cognitive era," said Michael Eskew, Lead Director of the IBM Board of Directors.  "She has taken bold strategic actions to reposition IBM for the future, shedding businesses and growing new units organically and through acquisition, all while achieving record diversity and employee engagement and setting the industry standard for responsible technology ethics and data stewardship."

"With the strong foundation now established by Ginni for IBM's future, the Board is confident that Arvind is the right CEO to lead IBM," Eskew continued.  "The Board ran a world-class succession process and found in Arvind a leader with the business acumen, operational skills, and technology vision needed to guide IBM in this fast-moving industry."  

"Arvind thinks and executes squarely at the intersection of business and technology," said Alex Gorsky, Chairman of the Board's Executive Compensation and Management Resources Committee.  "He is an ideal leader to succeed Ginni and take IBM and its clients into the next chapter of the cloud and cognitive era.  Jim has been a great addition to IBM's leadership team.  His considerable business and leadership skills will help IBM grow and flourish, and as President he will help Arvind and IBM continue to accelerate and scale the benefits of Red Hat, while ensuring that Red Hat also preserves its unique culture and commitment to open source innovation."

"I am thrilled and humbled to be elected as the next Chief Executive Officer of IBM, and appreciate the confidence that Ginni and the Board have placed in me," said Krishna.  "IBM has such talented people and technology that we can bring together to help our clients solve their toughest problems.  I am looking forward to working with IBMers, Red Hatters and clients around the world at this unique time of fast-paced change in the IT industry.  We have great opportunities ahead to help our clients advance the transformation of their business while also remaining the global leader in the trusted stewardship of technology.  Jim will be a great partner in the next step of this journey."

"I am truly honored to be elected as IBM's President," said Whitehurst.  "I look forward to working with Arvind, and with IBMers and Red Hatters alike, to continue to bring together the best of our companies and cultures.  I've had the opportunity to interact with IBMers across the company over the past few months, and I have been so impressed with the talented and dedicated team we have.  When I first joined, I said that I believe we have the opportunity to be the defining technology company of the twenty-first century.  After working with our clients, IBMers and Red Hatters over the past months, I am even more convinced of that opportunity today."

Krishna, 57, is IBM Senior Vice President for Cloud and Cognitive Software, where he leads the IBM business unit that provides the cloud and data platform on which IBM's clients build the future.  His current responsibilities also include the IBM Cloud, IBM Security and Cognitive Applications business, and IBM Research.  Previously, he was general manager of IBM's Systems and Technology Group's development and manufacturing organization.  Prior to that he built and led many of IBM's data-related businesses.  He has an undergraduate degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and a PhD. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  He joined IBM in 1990.

Whitehurst, 52, is IBM Senior Vice President and CEO of Red Hat, which was acquired by IBM in 2019. He has been an avid advocate for open software as a catalyst for business innovation.  During his tenure at Red Hat, revenue grew over eight times and market capitalization by more than 10 times.  He joined Red Hat from Delta Airlines, where he drove significant international expansion and as Chief Operating Officer oversaw all aspects of airline operations.  Prior to that he was a partner at The Boston Consulting Group.  Mr. Whitehurst earned a bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Economics from Rice University, and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

JCB International Co., Ltd. (“JCBI”), the international operations subsidiary of JCB Co., Ltd., Japan’s only international payment brand, and Oceanpayment Co., Ltd., China’s leading cross-border payment brand, announced that they signed a License Agreement to start JCB merchant acquiring business. In order to strengthen the cooperative relationship, Mr. Hirohiko Sugiyama, Managing Director of JCB International (Asia) Ltd. and Lanny Yang, Co-Founder and EVP of Oceanpayment made greetings in Hong Kong to announce the partnership.

As cross-border e-commerce continues to develop, merchants are looking for ways to grow their business and increase sales by accessing more customers all over the world. Oceanpayment, a global payment service provider offering more than 500 various payment methods in 200 countries and regions all over the world, works with merchants from travel, entertainment, retail, dining and many other industries and helps businesses offer their customers preferable payment methods.

JCB has established itself as the first and only international payment brand from Japan, with more than136.1 million cardmembers and about 33 million merchants as of September 2019.

The partnership with JCB enables Oceanpayment to become JCB’s acquiring partner to provide cross-border payment services for JCB’s global cardmembers in more diverse consumption scenarios.

Mr. Hirohiko Sugiyama, Managing Director, JCB International (Asia) Ltd., said: “With the rapid growth of mobile payment and international travel in Asia, Oceanpayment’s flexible and multi-scenario payment solutions will better satisfy our cardholders’ consumption experience. So it’s a pleasure for us to sign the licensee agreement with Oceanpayment, and we believe this partnership will contribute to the development of our acquiring business.”

“JCB’s global development is in line with Oceanpayment’s international expansion. We are glad for the partnership with JCB and believe we will create new opportunities and open new markets for our e-commerce clients together,” said Lanny Yang, Co-Founder and EVP of Oceanpayment.

Wirecard, the global innovation leader for digital financial technology, has won HEYTEA, China’s most popular tea brand, as a new client in South-East Asia. As part of the collaboration, Wirecard provides seamless payment solutions to customers in all stores in Singapore and Hong Kong via HEYTEA GO, a newly launched mobile app which allows users to order and pay online without waiting in stores. Founded in China in 2012, the tea chain now manages more than 400 stores in over 37 cities in China and abroad.

Since 2012, HEYTEA has been committed to serving the finest tea drinks made with originality and ingenuity. To keep pace with digital transformation, the company incorporates technology to enhance its operations. The HEYTEA GO app allows customers to skip queues by placing and paying for their orders before visiting the store. The app also shows an estimated wait time and sends push notifications to customers when their drinks are ready for collection. By integrating Wirecard’s payment technology, both customers and the retailer benefit from enhanced operational efficiency and improved customer experiences.

Kiki Zhou, Public Relations Manager at HEYTEA said, “In today’s digital world, we find it essential to incorporate technology in our operations and keep pace with customers’ preferences and expectations. In cooperation with Wirecard, we launched HEYTEA GO to improve the customer experience where users can customize, order and pay for their drinks in a quick and seamless manner. We’re delighted to partner with Wirecard as we continue to expand our brand across Asia.”

Alson Lau, Head of Business Development APAC at Wirecard, added, “We’re excited to collaborate with HEYTEA to enable cashless payments for customers in Singapore and Hong Kong. The launch of HEYTEA GO supports the growing trend of online-to-offline integration, and by integrating our payment technologies, we can provide more options to tech savvy customers while improving efficiencies for both customers and the retailer. We look forward to deepening our partnership with HEYTEA.”

With Wirecard’s payment technology, HEYTEA customers can now pay for their purchases using their credit card via the HEYTEA GO app. HEYTEA GO currently has a registered user base of more than 10 million worldwide and generates half of the total orders, with the average monthly re-purchasing rate tripling.

Cybertonica, an award-winning platform using Machine Learning and AI for delivering authentication, risk analytics and fraud prevention to the payments and FinTech sectors, has raised £2 million in Series A funding.

The Bank of England has referred to the UK markets watchdog a spike in sterling that happened just seconds before the central bank announced that it would leave its key interest rate unchanged. The Financial Conduct Authority, whose job it is to detect market abuse, is now scrutinising the matter, according to both the central bank and the watchdog. It is the second referral from the BoE around possible market manipulation in as many months — following the revelation in December that some traders may have received an audio feed of the central bank’s press conferences ahead of the rest of the market. Traders were caught on the back foot on Thursday when the pound suddenly strengthened 15 seconds before midday UK time, when the BoE announced its decision to hold interest rates at 0.75 per cent. Sterling ripped from $1.3023 to $1.3089 in the minute before the announcement and it also gained by a similar amount against the euro. The move in the currency has raised suspicions about the possibility of a leak and whether traders were able to front-run the rate-setting meeting, which was the last overseen by outgoing BoE governor, Mark Carney. The FCA does not regulate the spot FX market, but when currency trading affects other regulated markets, it can take action. Analysts said the spike could have an innocent explanation. As the majority of currency deals are negotiated privately and off-exchange, finding the trader that posted the order is difficult. The watchdog will need at least 24 hours to trawl through data before it can determine potential signs of market abuse. One trader at a large bank said liquidity conditions were very thin ahead of the decision, as investors stayed on the sidelines before the announcement. “Markets can be very illiquid around these times and orders can have a much bigger impact than usual,” one trader said.

Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. 

Data from futures markets show a large order betting on a strengthening pound hitting the market just 15 seconds before the announcement. Analysis from data provider New Change FX also show that 15 seconds ahead of midday, spot market prices moved nine times as much as the average shift per second in exchange rates. The BoE was already mired in controversy over the early release of data after announcing in December that it had investigated whether some investors were benefiting from audio material fed from the conferences that the BoE holds after decisions. The matter was also referred to the FCA, which is undertaking continuing inquires, although it has not launched a formal enforcement investigation. The rate decision from the Monetary Policy Committee is not released through video or audio. Instead, the data are published on the central bank’s website and simultaneously are pumped through digital channels to computer traders.

Deutsche Bank bosses will still be taking home a bonus this year despite the bank slumping to a bigger than expected €5.7bn (£4.8bn) annual loss.