Daiichi Sankyo case: Setback for Singh brothers in Singapore court

Singapore’s High Court has rejected an appeal from Shivinder and Malvinder Singh and upheld an earlier order that they must pay $526 million to Daiichi Sankyo, according to people familiar with the matter.
The verdict is the latest court victory for the Japanese drugmaker as it seeks to enforce a finding by a Singapore tribunal that the Singhs concealed information during the sale of their Ranbaxy Laboratories a decade ago. Ranbaxy plead guilty to the distribution of adulterated drugs and had to pay the US Department of Justice a $500 million penalty in 2013 after Daiichi bought it from the Singhs.
ALSO READ: Recover Rs 4 bn from Singh brothers, 7 others in 90 days: Sebi to Fortis
A spokesman for the Singh brothers’ main holding company didn’t immediately give a comment on the ruling. While the ruling on the court website has redacted the names, people familiar confirmed it was for the Daiichi-Singh case. The court exempted minors related to the Singh brothers from being included in enforcement of the award, according to the people.

ALSO READ: Investors seek Sebi intervention after IHH delays open offer for Fortis
Last week, Daiichi had convinced an Indian court to halt the sale of another company founded by the Singh brothers, Fortis Healthcare, to Malaysia’s IHH Healthcare, saying the brothers had pledged some of their shares in Fortis despite an order barring them from doing so.

Singapore data breach that targeted PM Lee has some bad news for banks

Singapore’s banks should watch the fallout from the island’s healthcare-data breach. This could get ugly for them.
The National Electronic Health Record project is taking a pause after hackers stole data on 1.5 million patients including Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who was “specifically and repeatedly” targeted.
Immediate repercussions for banks have already become obvious, with the Monetary Authority of Singapore cautioning lenders not to rely only on full name, national identification number, address, gender, race and date of birth for customer verification. While introducing additional layers of security such as one-time passwords or biometric identification means additional costs, most Singapore banks have such basic technologies already in place. Their bigger worry should be MyInfo.
In April, Standard Chartered Plc and the three homegrown Singapore banks — DBS Group Holdings Ltd., Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. and United Overseas Bank Ltd. — began a pilot program to tap this state-built digital repository of citizen information for know-your-customer, or KYC, checks required to open bank accounts. The idea is to eventually use MyInfo profiles to issue credit cards, home loans and insurance policies.
Every digital customer of DBS is three times as valuable to the bottom line as a brick-and-mortar customer. Singapore’s “Smart Nation” project, which envisions paperless KYC and a cashless society 1, has made OCBC commit to cutting bank teller jobs in the city by half and retraining the surplus staff for digital banking by 2020. Should the authorities be forced now to rethink Smart Nation’s security features, investor expectations of shareholder returns at Singaporean banks may also have to be lowered.
Digital Dreams
Analysts expect DBS's return on equity to reach 13.6 per cent as Singapore's largest bank makes a big push into technology
The other impact could be on commingling. To enable them to compete with fintech players, Singapore’s regulators have relaxed post-1998 restrictions on banks’ ownership of non-financial businesses. DBS has invested in a property marketplace and in a digital platform for buying and selling cars; UOB has gone into holiday planning, while OCBC is pampering new mothers online.
The banks’ primary aim is to own rich and varied customer data. However, following the SingHealth breach, privacy and security are bound to get a closer regulatory look. It’s one thing for Facebook Inc. to hit a speed bump over such concerns, and quite another for systemically important banks in a major financial center to run into similar issues because of their dalliance with e-commerce.
Now that a widely publicized hack has materialized, other incidents are also coming to light. The Straits Times has reported that data on 70,000 members of the island’s Securities Investors Association were stolen five years ago — and they came to know of it only this week.
Not Quite Battle-Ready
Half of the global finance industry may be spending less than 1 per cent of revenue on cybersecurity, with allocations tilted toward day-to-day activities, according to a Deloitte surveyThere’s a silver lining in all this, though. To safeguard citizens’ trust and preserve the reputation of its financial industry, Singapore will scale up investments in cybersecurity. That’s good news for startups that will be spawned by initiatives like the one between Israel’s Ben-Gurion University and Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University. Their researchers’ goal is to fend off cyber-attacks by mimicking how the human body fights germs.
Seven years ago, global banks running large front- and back-office operations in Singapore failed to grasp the seriousness of anti-immigration angst among Singaporeans even after voters sent a strong message in the 2011 general elections. Strict controls on foreign-worker visas since then have affected all industries, including banking. The theft of the prime minister’s health records may be another such defining moment.
If they’re reading the tea leaves right, banks should set up private equity funds that invest in cutting-edge cybersecurity startups. It would be a far better use of their resources than hawking used cars and diapers.

Singapore data breach that targeted PM Lee has some bad news for banks

Singapore’s banks should watch the fallout from the island’s healthcare-data breach. This could get ugly for them.
The National Electronic Health Record project is taking a pause after hackers stole data on 1.5 million patients including Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who was “specifically and repeatedly” targeted.
Immediate repercussions for banks have already become obvious, with the Monetary Authority of Singapore cautioning lenders not to rely only on full name, national identification number, address, gender, race and date of birth for customer verification. While introducing additional layers of security such as one-time passwords or biometric identification means additional costs, most Singapore banks have such basic technologies already in place. Their bigger worry should be MyInfo.
In April, Standard Chartered Plc and the three homegrown Singapore banks — DBS Group Holdings Ltd., Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. and United Overseas Bank Ltd. — began a pilot program to tap this state-built digital repository of citizen information for know-your-customer, or KYC, checks required to open bank accounts. The idea is to eventually use MyInfo profiles to issue credit cards, home loans and insurance policies.
Every digital customer of DBS is three times as valuable to the bottom line as a brick-and-mortar customer. Singapore’s “Smart Nation” project, which envisions paperless KYC and a cashless society 1, has made OCBC commit to cutting bank teller jobs in the city by half and retraining the surplus staff for digital banking by 2020. Should the authorities be forced now to rethink Smart Nation’s security features, investor expectations of shareholder returns at Singaporean banks may also have to be lowered.
Digital Dreams
Analysts expect DBS's return on equity to reach 13.6 per cent as Singapore's largest bank makes a big push into technology
The other impact could be on commingling. To enable them to compete with fintech players, Singapore’s regulators have relaxed post-1998 restrictions on banks’ ownership of non-financial businesses. DBS has invested in a property marketplace and in a digital platform for buying and selling cars; UOB has gone into holiday planning, while OCBC is pampering new mothers online.
The banks’ primary aim is to own rich and varied customer data. However, following the SingHealth breach, privacy and security are bound to get a closer regulatory look. It’s one thing for Facebook Inc. to hit a speed bump over such concerns, and quite another for systemically important banks in a major financial center to run into similar issues because of their dalliance with e-commerce.
Now that a widely publicized hack has materialized, other incidents are also coming to light. The Straits Times has reported that data on 70,000 members of the island’s Securities Investors Association were stolen five years ago — and they came to know of it only this week.
Not Quite Battle-Ready
Half of the global finance industry may be spending less than 1 per cent of revenue on cybersecurity, with allocations tilted toward day-to-day activities, according to a Deloitte surveyThere’s a silver lining in all this, though. To safeguard citizens’ trust and preserve the reputation of its financial industry, Singapore will scale up investments in cybersecurity. That’s good news for startups that will be spawned by initiatives like the one between Israel’s Ben-Gurion University and Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University. Their researchers’ goal is to fend off cyber-attacks by mimicking how the human body fights germs.
Seven years ago, global banks running large front- and back-office operations in Singapore failed to grasp the seriousness of anti-immigration angst among Singaporeans even after voters sent a strong message in the 2011 general elections. Strict controls on foreign-worker visas since then have affected all industries, including banking. The theft of the prime minister’s health records may be another such defining moment.
If they’re reading the tea leaves right, banks should set up private equity funds that invest in cutting-edge cybersecurity startups. It would be a far better use of their resources than hawking used cars and diapers.

Singapore Exchange to continue SGX Nifty trade despite India dispute

The Singapore Exchange (SGX) said on Saturday a court-appointed arbitrator had told it to continue listing and trading SGX Nifty contracts beyond August 2018, during a dispute resolution with India's National Stock Exchange (NSE).
The two exchanges have been locked in dispute after India's three main bourses unexpectedly announced in February they would stop licensing their indexes to foreign bourses from August.

SGX responded that it would launch successor products to its flagship Indian equity derivative products on June 4.
Now NSE and SGX have been ordered "to facilitate the continued listing of SGX Nifty products for at least two successive contract month maturations beyond the arbitration's completion date", SGX said in a statement.
The arbitrator has also asked SGX not to offer its proposed new India equity derivative products until the final decision, it said.
"Arbitration proceedings are continuing and the hearings on evidence are expected to commence in early 2019," the statement said.
SGX had postponed the launch of a set of new India derivatives products after an Indian court in May referred a dispute around the proposed offerings to an arbitrator.
In a statement issued on Saturday, NSE also confirmed the interim order of the arbitrator.
The NSE had sought an interim injunction against the launch on grounds that the offerings infringed the intellectual property rights of its unit India Index Services and Products (IISL), which runs the Nifty index.
The Bombay High Court then asked a senior retired judge to arbitrate in the matter, and resolve the issue by June 16.
However, the June 16 interim order, which was reviewed by Reuters, laid out a timeline for filing of claims and counter-claims and set Nov. 21 for hearing of the issues, with further directions to be provided on June 18.
Over the past two decades, SGX has become the most popular market for foreign investors to bet on Indian equity indexes, with Nifty 50 futures SINc1 tracking the NSE's main index .NSEI.
But NSE, BSE Ltd and Metropolitan Stock Exchange moved to end licensing deals with foreign bourses so as to stem the loss of trades to overseas rivals, following SGX's plans to launch trade in single-stock futures contracts.
The Indian government backed the decision, as it is keen to draw investors to an international financial centre being developed in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's western home state of Gujarat, sources say.

Trump-Kim summit: Vigilant Singapore to flood streets with Nepalese Gurkhas

Singapore's reputation for rigid law and order was seen as a major factor for being chosen to host Tuesday's US-North Korea summit -- and the tiny city-state is determined not to disappoint.
Police, including elite units of Nepalese Gurkhas, will flood the streets and enforce a virtual lockdown of key sections of the city, blocking off roads to facilitate the historic face-to-face between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

ALSO READ: Kim's Korea
And in order to preempt any disruptive protests, a blanket ban has been imposed on bringing flares, banners or loudhailers anywhere near the key summit venues.
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Concrete barricades will spring up at key sites and mechanical metal barriers that rise from the ground at the touch of a button are likely to appear on some roads.
ALSO READ: Would invite Kim to US if summit goes well. If not, will walk away: Trump
The police deployment for the hotly anticipated meeting is expected to be the biggest since 2006 when some 23,000 officers were mobilised for an IMF-World Bank meeting in the city-state.
Singaporeans are used to, and largely accept, tough security measures and the sight of uniformed officers patrolling the metro and armed soldiers at airports is normal.
ALSO READ: Meet the dealmakers behind Kim-Trump summit in Singapore
The government has long hammered into its citizens that heavy security is necessary as the wealthy financial hub is a prime target for a terror attack.
But the extreme measures are likely to be rare even by Singaporean standards, and could disrupt the largely orderly daily life of the city's 5.6 million residents.
ALSO READ: Why Singapore is the preferred destination for Trump, Kim's June 12 date
Music teacher Janice Tan, 28, said the security arrangements were "terribly inconvenient", particularly due to expected road closures downtown. "I care about world peace but I would prefer if they took their meeting elsewhere," she told AFP.
The decision to ban flares, banners and loudhailers at some summit venues is perhaps driven by concerns that even in a city where protests are rare and require a police permit, some may still be tempted to come out onto the streets.
ALSO READ: Fake Kim Jong-un arrested by Singapore police ahead of Trump-Kim summit
Sites covered by these restrictions include Sentosa, the resort island where the leaders will meet Tuesday, and a leafy diplomatic district that takes in the Shangri-La hotel where Trump is expected to stay.
Authorities have also restricted the use of airspace, apparently to allow Kim, Trump and their entourages to get in and out of the city-state smoothly.
ALSO READ: Meet Andrew Kim, a CIA officer instrumental in planning Trump-Kim summit
But that could spell problems for travellers using Singapore's Changi Airport -- one of the world's busiest international hubs -- with aviation authorities warning of delays.
There have already been signs that authorities are nervous ahead of the meeting.
An Australian former terror suspect, who was refused entry into Singapore this week and deported home, said he believed it was because of the looming summit.
A Kim Jong Un lookalike -- who said he had been to Singapore before without any problems -- was grilled by immigration officials for two hours when he arrived Friday and warned not to visit sites linked to the meeting.
ALSO READ: Trump's decision to meet North Korea's Kim Jong Un 'brave, mature': Putin
Some of the heaviest security will be around Sentosa, which observers believe was picked because it is relatively far from population centres, and the island's Capella Hotel where the leaders will hold their historic talks.
An AFP photographer said hotel staff were seen turning away those without business in the area, while plainclothes security officials -- both American and Singaporean -- were spotted around a bar overlooking the Singapore Strait. While the security may be extreme, analysts think it is needed given the unprecedented nature of the summit.
"By and large Singaporeans are used to seeing men in uniform," Graham Ong-Webb, a research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, told AFP.
"This time round, they might balk slightly at the number of security assets on the ground -- but it is necessary.