In Singapore, sand is just as precious a resource as oil and water. Securing a steady supply is proving to be trickier these days.By filling the sea along its coasts with imported sand, the tiny island nation has expanded its physical size by about 24 percent since 1960, according to data from the Singapore Land Authority. At just 278 square miles, the country is smaller in size than New York City.

Britain's Prince Charles and his wife Camilla arrived in Singapore Monday to kick off an Asian tour aimed at cementing relations ahead of a meeting of Commonwealth states next year.The heir to the British throne and Camilla are undertaking an 11-day trip that will also include stops in Malaysia and India.

Singaporeans on the verge of retiring are prepared to keep working for longer than those that came before them.Men aged 55 to 59 had far greater expectations to work full-time past 65 and 70 than employees currently are, while women had higher such projections beyond 62, 65, and 70, according to the latest survey by the Singapore Management University’s Centre for Research on the Economics of Ageing, which works with the US-based RAND Corporation.

Singapore Exchange’s chief executive officer said his company is still in the running to win a listing of the shares of oil giant Aramco, in what could be the world’s biggest initial public offering.“We’re as good as any other exchange,” Loh Boon Chye said in a Bloomberg Television interview in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Sea Ltd. shares fell for the third day in a row and dropped below their initial public offering price, a rocky start as a public company for the Singapore games startup.Sea’s stock slipped 9.9 percent in New York trading Wednesday to close at 13.73 dollars.

Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp., Southeast Asia’s second-largest lender, reported higher third-quarter profit on increased revenue from its lending, wealth management and life-insurance businesses.Net income rose 12 percent to S$1.06 billion (780 million dollars) in the three months ended September 30, the Singaporean bank said in a filing on Thursday.

Hong Kong and Singapore, which have vied for supremacy as financial technology hubs over the past couple of years, have now decided to join forces.The cities’ central banks have signed a fintech cooperation agreement that will foster collaboration on business referrals, joint innovation projects, information sharing and the exchange of expertise, Norman Chan, chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority said Wednesday.

Singapore doesn’t plan to regulate cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, but will remain alert to money laundering and other potential risks stemming from their use, the head of the country’s central bank said.“As of now I see no basis for wanting to regulate cryptocurrencies,” Monetary Authority of Singapore Managing Director Ravi Menon said in an interview.

Singapore’s second-largest lender has decided that the best place to expand its research is the country’s rival market Hong Kong.Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. plans to add coverage of 60 Hong Kong-listed stocks, with 14 to 20 started by year-end, according to Carmen Lee, its head of research.

Singapore’s central bank chief said while inflation is still well below the historical average, policy makers need to be proactive if a stronger economy results in a pickup in price pressures.Inflation will climb at some point if economic growth continues to strengthen, and under those circumstances, the central bank – like others around the world – needs to be forward-looking, Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, said in an interview at the bank’s headquarter