Job time

There’s always a good time to look for a new job. How about the banking industry? Australia and New Zealand banking group are looking to hire 500 employees over the next year or so. The rebounding economy has their outlook looking good. They currently have 6 branches in Singapore and 2,000 employees worldwide. (link)

OCBC protecting your money from fraudsters

Fraudsters masquerading as representatives of Malaysian oil company Petronas have been asking the account holders for their bank account numbers by first sending SMS messages congratulating them for winning cash prizes from Petronas lucky draws.

OCBC said it was first alerted to this scam by suspicious account-holders who received such messages on June 25.

Its Fraud Incident Response Team (FIRT) – a financial Swat unit manned partly by former police officers experienced in commercial crimes – swiftly took action, ‘trawling the bank’s database to identify any unique fraud patterns’, said Mr Jack Foo, the head OCBC’s operational risk management team.

‘We identified that funds from transfers requests for all these accounts were going to one account,’ he told reporters at a press conference on Friday. (story)

Man arrested in $50,000 robbery

1 of the two men behind the Chiltern Drive abduction and robbery was arrested on Friday afternoon in a police ambush near his home in Sengkang.

The 54-year-old man, a Singaporean, did not put up a struggle when confronted by police officers.

On Tuesday, two robbers made off with $50,000 after they confronted a woman in her 60s at knifepoint in her driveway and drove her BMW to a bank in Hougang Central where she withdrew the money and gave it to one of them.

They also held the woman’s three-year-old grand-daughter and a Filippino maid captive in the locked car at a carpark.

By Wednesday, the police established the identities of the two robbers – who are friends – and where they live. They are not known to their victim.

Assistant Commissioner Ng Boon Gay, director of the Criminal Investigation Department, on Friday told a press conference how the police tracked down their man. (story)

Family of 12 about to be evicted

A family of 12 has been sent packing, literally, from their flat next month for not keeping up with bank loan payments. Mr Mohd Ali, 40, his wife Latipah, 35, and their 10 children will soon be evicted from their home, in which they have lived for more than four years.

According to Mr Ali, they owe the bank about $10,000 in arrears and have been unable to pay up.

‘We want our family all together. We have some financial problems also. I have a lot to pay,’ said Mr Ali.

(story)

Singapore ranked number 1 in World Bank shipping survey

Singapore, a major global and logistics hub, ranked first in a new World Bank survey of countries’ capacity to ship goods.

It was the second time this year Singapore topped a World Bank list. In a report on ease of setting up businesses released two months ago, Singapore finished No 1.

At the other end of the trade logistics study were landlocked countries in Africa and Central Asia.

“Connecting to Compete: Trade Logistics in the Global Economy,” a study based on a world survey of freight forwarders and express carriers, indicates that making it easier to connect firms, suppliers and consumers is crucial in a world where predictability and reliability are becoming more important than costs, the bank said. (story)