In recent months, Malaysia has witnessed a worrying surge in the number of mule accounts, which are increasingly being used money laundering and identity theft. The ease of acquiring the accounts has made the country a prime target for foreign syndicates looking to launder and legitimise their illicit funds.

Digital banks could spur rise in mule accounts

Talent mobility is a major factor for innovation and progress, yet also a very personal choice for workers. In its Decoding Global Talent 2024 – Mobility Trends survey, JobStreet by SEEK finds out whether people still want to move abroad for work, and if so, where and why. The survey involved 150,735 respondents from more than 180 countries. The majority were from Europe and Central Asia (38%) as well as East Asia and Pacific (31%). More than a third  of the respondents (38%) have a bachelor’s degree, and almost two-thirds  (64%) have tertiary qualifications.

Where in the world do people want to work?

While green finance was a buzzword in the last few years, the attention has partly moved to transition finance this year.

What is transition finance?

Deal activity dropped off in Southeast Asia for in the first quarter of 2024, down 46% to US$1.4 billion (RM6.6 billion) from US$2.7 billion in 4Q2023. At US$1.4 billion, the region’s deal value was back at the same level as 1Q2023, according to Bain & Co’s Southeast Asia Private Equity (PE) Report 2024.

Challenging year for private equity in Southeast Asia

Every year, Knight Frank, a global real estate consultancy and estate agency headquartered in London, publishes the Wealth Report, which focuses on the global property markets. It also looks at alternative investments and how they perform each year and over the past decade.

Investment performance of alternative asset classes

Fewer babies have been born per woman in most parts of the world in the last seven decades. From as many as five births per woman in the early 1950s and four births per woman in the mid-1970s, the global average fertility rate had plunged to 2.3 births in 2021 and is projected to slip further to 2.1 births per woman by 2050 – the rate at which a population exactly replaces itself.