Kelvin Kao

🌏💡 We’re building a trusted, high-impact single family office (SFO) ecosystem and channeling more of that capital to philanthropy. 🇸🇬 We now have > 2,000 SFOs — a 10x jump in five years. And we’re seeing it translate into real giving. Total giving hit S$431m in 2023, almost 2X the year before. This didn’t happen by chance. We made deliberate moves in this space, thanks to our many partners who have given me and my colleagues valuable feedback over the years. At MAS, we’ve strengthened our SFO framework and introduced tools like the Philanthropy Tax Incentive Scheme (PTIS) and the Overseas Humanitarian Assistance Tax Deduction Scheme (OHATDS). Together, these allow family offices and donors to channel support locally, and to humanitarian and charitable causes overseas — through qualified intermediaries — with meaningful tax benefits. We’ve also partnered the Community Foundation of Singapore and AVPN so SFOs and families can give with confidence — via donor-advised funds, outcomes-based approaches and vetted opportunities. Platforms like ImpactSG - Gateway to Giving and AVPN’s ImpactCollab (supported by MAS) also help match funders to credible causes, speeding up due diligence and amplifying impact. We will continue to work hard to keep make Singapore Asia’s philanthropy hub. Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) 📸: The Straits Times

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Almost two years in the making, Singapore has finally released some guidelines on greenwashing for businesses. The guidelines from the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCS) emerge 10 months after an advertisement that claimed VietJet Air's flights are “eco-friendly” was banned. The guidance outlines 5 principles for businesses to follow when making claims about the qualities, uses or benefits of their products. These include ensuring claims are accurate, clear, meaningful, evidence-based and sufficiently substantiated. “We want to ensure that environmental claims – and all quality-related claims – reflect genuine facts rather than empty promises,” said CCS CEO Alvin Koh. Singapore has taken a light-touch approach to greenwashing to date, unlike Australia, where companies including Qantas, The Clorox Company, Woolworths Supermarkets have been fined for making bogus sustainability claims. Last week, Australia’s finance regulator took legal action against Fiducian Group Limited for greenwashing its ESG fund. The most notable case of greenwashing in Singapore to date was a 2023 promotion for consumer electronics company PRISM+ that claimed consumers could “save Earth” by buying its energy-efficient airconditioners. Full story here on Eco-Business https://lnkd.in/ghQdDSV9 #greenwashing #greenclaims

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Remember the dreaded waiting times for passport collection? Not anymore. In Singapore, what used to take hours now takes just minutes—thanks to the introduction of robots in the passport collection process. But this goes beyond convenience. With a digital-first approach and smarter tech, border enforcement has also leveled up. Authorities have reported an over 40% increase in the number of “high-risk” individuals denied entry into the country. FULL STORY: https://lnkd.in/gaKYn9sZ #security #singapore #ica

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𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞, 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞. That was just one of the memorable insights from our recent conversation with Mr cheow hoe chan , former Government Chief Digital Technology Officer of Singapore, on the importance of strong leadership to build good teams and to overcome inertia. The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change Singapore office had the privilege of hosting Mr Chan for an inspiring conversation on what it takes to transform government through technology. He reminded us that, 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐱 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐜𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫— you can’t totally get rid of it. The solution? Bold moves to the cloud, building resilience, and investing in people — even sending security staff for cloud training so they could overcome the fear of the unknown. On AI, he was equally candid: 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐈 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐚. Governments should focus on solving real, domain-specific problems (e.g., AI in healthcare), and avoid the hype (there is no need to use AI on everything, esp on deterministic systems). The question governments must always start with: 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞? Digital transformation isn’t about chasing shiny tech. It’s about trust, inclusion, and user experience — because in government, unlike the private sector, you cannot choose your customers. And perhaps the most powerful lesson came from Mr Chan’s own example: despite decades at the forefront of #GovTech, he speaks with humility, admitting he doesn’t know much about AI — and is now learning as much as he can in his new role at Google. A reminder that the best leaders lead with curiosity and openness. 𝐀 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲—𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞, 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭. #DigitalTransformation #Leadership #TechLeadership #DigitalPublicInfrastructure #AIinGovernment #DigitalGovernment #LifeatTBI

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A sister story to our report yesterday on how mainstream AI chatbots can be used to target elderly people with phishing campaigns. I spoke to several people who worked in scam centers in Myanmar and described using ChatGPT all the time. One specialized in so-called romance scams, in which he charmed victims into losing their money. With ChatGPT, he said, he could woo dozens of targets simultaneously with AI-generated poems and flirtatious messages. The bot’s persuasive writing lent his patter a credibility that made the victims “trust more in us. “It was really efficient, working with the AI,” the man said. https://lnkd.in/gtwuHt6i

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🎙️ Latest Earned First Podcast episode has dropped, featuring Adrian Warr, CEO of Burson South Asia-Pacific. We talked through a number of areas: – Why holding groups still matter in an era of fragmentation and AI – How AI is reshaping PR, from content optimization to reputation quantification – Why Burson is doubling down on Asia, while others retrench – What “Asia-first” means for brand activism, sustainability, and DEI – And the skills that will define the next generation of communicators Adrian’s perspective is informed by a career across the big firms, including Edelman, Portland, Freuds and Hill & Knowlton. He argues that AI is not a threat to PR jobs, but a multiplier. Yet human curiosity, judgment, and cultural literacy remain crucial, or even the most sophisticated tools will fail. 🎬 Watch/listen here: https://lnkd.in/d7MFdd4G A big thank you to Earshot Media for the production magic 🪄 Simmi Sharma Amith Prabhu Sarika Chavan Anubhuti Mathur Joulyn Kenny Ameeta Vadhera Roshan Alexander Reputation Today Asia-Pacific Association of Communication Directors Folgate Advisors International Communications Consultancy Organisation

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