Boards Get the Bill, Tanks Run on Empty

AI-fueled cyberattacks are now a board-level risk, oil stocks are at a low as the region eyes a shared fuel stockpile, and Singapore got top marks for financial oversight (with an asterisk).

May 11, 2026

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Boards Get a Bill for the Bots

MAS brought bank CEOs together last week because they need to discuss the threat of AI-powered cyberattacks, and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam's message on Saturday was clear that board directors own this risk, and IT can no longer carry it alone. Vulnerabilities that once took expert teams weeks to find can now be found autonomously in hours or minutes, outpacing patching cycles before anyone even knows they're exposed. Fully autonomous end-to-end attack campaigns haven't been seen yet, but Tan said it’s "a matter of time."

Read more: CNA (UNC3886 telco hit), Business Times (CSA's 5 actions), Business Times (CII sectors)

Replace the Humans and Lose the Edge

Minister of State Jasmin Lau used her Parliament time on May 6 to deliver a frank warning to Singapore when she said that if bosses wholesale-replace workers with AI, they will wake up one day with no competitive edge once the same tools are available to everyone, AND have a new dependency on the vendors that sell them. Her view is that “voluntary” cannot mean optional. Where public resources are involved, worker outcomes will be asked for, and consistent shortcomings will get a review of how support will be applied. Manpower Minister Tan See Leng did have an empirical sweetener, however - a Ministry of Manpower study reports that so far only about 6 percent of Singapore companies that adopted AI had also cut headcount as a result.

Read more: Business Times (ESR worker support), Business Times (Tripartite Jobs Council).

Strait Talk on Empty Tanks

Singapore's oil product supply stocks fell to 44.83 million barrels in the week to May 6, the lowest since late July. Middle East crude and fuel imports are still stuck at near zero. Against that backdrop, PM Wong closed the 48th ASEAN Summit in Cebu on Saturday pushing for ratification of the ASEAN Petroleum Security Agreement, a deal that would allow member states help cover each other's oil and gas needs during supply disconnects. Leaders also floated a regional fuel stockpile modelled on the ASEAN Plus Three emergency rice reserve, and Philippine President Marcos said it could act as a shared "reservoir" that countries could lean on. Wong said the talks were "very early stage," and ministers will keep working through details before the November summit in Manila (and possibly into Singapore's 2027 chairmanship).

Read more: CNA (regional fuel stockpile), AsiaOne (2027 chairmanship), Business Times (44.83M barrels)

Top Marks, Asterisk Included

FATF gave Singapore its highest monitoring rating on May 6, giving the Republic a "regular follow-up," label, which is the watchdog's most favorable category. Seven of 11 immediate outcomes were reported to be "substantially effective," the other four were rated "moderately effective." Thirty-eight of 40 technical compliance recommendations were judged compliant or largely compliant. The two that weren't covered sanctions and oversight of certain sectors, the same pressure points that let a S$3 billion ($2.3 billion) laundering operation run through the system before anyone (apparently) noticed in 2023 - to be fair, the review period was from 2020 to July 2025, so the bust is baked into the score, not buried by it.

Spare the Rod and Spoil the Bully

Starting in 2027, male students aged nine and older can be caned at school for serious bullying, including cyberbullying, Education Minister Desmond Lee says. The maximum is three strokes for each incident, will requires the approval of the schoo’s principal, and can only be administered by authorised teachers after other measures have failed. The policy is the result of of a year-long ministry review triggered by several school bullying incidents last year, and applies only to boys (Singapore does not cane women for any offense). Girls who commit similar offences face detention, suspension, or reduced conduct grades. Lee said the approach is based on research showing children "make better choices when there are clear boundaries enforced by firm, meaningful consequences." The WHO maybe disagrees. In an August 2025 report, they said that corporal punishment in schools is "alarmingly widespread" and warned its consequences "can last a lifetime and undermine physical and mental health, education, and social and occupational functioning."

Read more: The Guardian (WHO child count), VnExpress (safety protocols), CNN (Michael Fay precedent)

Tourist Receipts Beat Expectations

Tourism receipts were a record S$32.8 billion ($25 billion) in 2025, blowing past STB's S$29 billion to S$30.5 billion forecast and clearing the bar set for 2026. The 16.9 million visitors spent across every category, but the real money was in MICE, where receipts were up 35 percent to S$2.3 billion ($1.76 billion), up from S$1.7 billion ($1.3 billion). STB now says it want's S$4.5 billion ($3.4 billion) in MICE spending by 2040. The government is adding S$740 million ($566 million) to the Tourism Development Fund for the next five years, more than double the S$300 million top-up in 2024.

Read more: Business Times (minister quotes), Business Times (Orchard Road tender)

Money Keeps Showing Up at the Door

Deposits were a record S$1.61 trillion ($1.2 trillion) in February, the same month the Straits Times Index crossed 5,000 for the first time. The local asset management business grew 12 percent y-o-y to S$6.07 trillion ($4.5 trillion) in 2024, and the number of single-family offices was numbered 2,000 at year-end, (up 43 percent). The archetypal new client is a Northeast Asian tech founder with US$50 million who restructured his family holdings through a corporate vehicle in SG without actually moving, drawn by English common law succession planning and a tax system that won’t punish him for living elsewhere.

More Seats to Europe, but They’re Tired

Singapore Airlines will run a record 128 weekly flights to 15 European cities this November, including Madrid for the first time since 2004, with 38 weekly services to London soaking up capacity that’s been vacated by Gulf carriers hamstrung by their regional conflict. Less convenient is what passengers will be treated to once they get on-board. The S$1.1 billion ($840 million) cabin retrofit that was originally promised for Q2 2026 has slipped to Q1 2027 at the earliest, with the new First Class on an open-ended timeline. SIA blames supply chain constraints and a seat certification delay. Safran, a contender for the new Business Class seat, delivered just 2,632 business class seats globally in all of 2025.

Read more: Simpleflying (128 flights, Madrid), Mainlymiles (cabin retrofit delay)

Hot Desks in a Cold Market

JustCo filed a preliminary prospectus with MAS on Thursday, putting the flex-office operator (backed by GIC and Frasers Property) in line for a local listing on the bourse. The company saw a S$2.7 million ($2.1 million) net profit in 2025 after two straight years of losses of S$22.6 million ($17.3 million), on revenue of S$144.2 million ($110.3 million). Cornerstone investors include JPMorgan Asset Management, Avanda, Japan's Amova, and Maybank Securities. DBS and UBS are joint issue managers. Pricing, valuation, and share count are all still placeholders. JustCo has 54 office centers in 12 cities, and 29,422 of its 37,500 workstations were occupied as of the end of last year.

Bankruptcy Judges Swap Numbers

Singapore and Indonesia's supreme courts have signed an MOU that will give judges in both countries a channel to coordinate on the same insolvency or restructuring case(s). It’s first arrangement of this type between the two countries. Signed on March 30 on the sidelines of a workshop in Bali, the agreement extends the UNCITRAL Model Law. In the new system, each court will be expected to assign a liaison, likely a senior registrar or judge, who will use prescribed rules on language, interpretation and response times to help shepherd the process.

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