Sarah Chew covers Southeast Asia’s technology, fintech, digital policy, and AI adoption landscape for RECATOOLS. Her work focuses on how regulation, platform shifts, and emerging technologies affect businesses, consumers, and digital markets across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

33
Articles
ASEAN Tech
Primary beat
May 2026
Writing since
~246 min
Total reading
All 33 ASEAN Tech 18 Finance 12 AI & ML 3

Articles · Finance Showing 1–10 of 12

The word FINANCE in large letters on a glass office building facade reflecting clouds and sky.
Finance

Indonesia's Crypto Market Now Answers to the Regulator That Supervises Banks

On 1 July the governance and reporting duties of a financial-sector business took effect for Indonesian crypto platforms, on a market of nearly 20 million holders.

4 Aug 2026 · 9 min read
Container terminal cranes at Singapore's port with the central business district skyline behind
Finance

MAS Tightened Again and Most Economists Missed It. What "Steepening the Slope" Actually Means

Singapore does not set an interest rate. It steers a currency band, and on 27 July it steered harder — against the expectations of 12 of the 16 economists polled by Reuters.

2 Aug 2026 · 8 min read
Vast concrete foundation slab with rebar stubs and cranes at dusk, no buildings yet — illustrating capital committed ahead of the revenue it is meant to produce.
Finance

Four Companies Spent $166 Billion on Capital Projects in One Quarter. The Market Rewarded Two of Them

Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta reported within nine days. Combined capital spending nearly doubled year on year, and the two that fell were the two whose cash flow visibly broke.

1 Aug 2026 · 6 min read
Stunning aerial view of Jakarta's cityscape at dusk, capturing its modern skyline and urban sprawl.
Finance

Bank Indonesia Held at 5.75% — the Corridor and the Credit Number Say More Than the Decision

The hold was the least informative line in the release. The rate corridor is asymmetric, credit is running 0.67 points above Bank Indonesia's own band, and Rp431.9tn of liquidity incentive is still pushing the other way.

26 Jul 2026 · 6 min read
A calculator resting on printed line and bar charts on a desk
Finance

P/E, PEG and DCF: Three Ways to Tell If a Stock Is Actually Cheap

A low share price is not a cheap stock. Here is what the P/E ratio, the PEG ratio, discounted cash flow and the dividend discount model each measure, how they fit together, and the different way every one of them goes blind.

25 Jul 2026 · 16 min read
A tablet showing a red-and-green candlestick trading chart, with market screens glowing behind it
Finance

Option Greeks, Explained: Delta, Gamma, Theta and Vega Without the Jargon

An option's price moves for four reasons, and the Greeks are the dials that tell you how much it responds to each. A plain-English walk through delta, gamma, theta and vega — with the exact formulas our calculators use, the sign and range conventions, and the limits of the closed-form model. General education, not advice.

24 Jul 2026 · 14 min read
A lone white sailboat drifting on a wide open blue sea under a hazy sky
Finance

Coast FIRE: The Retirement Number Nobody Coined (2026)

The coast number is compound interest run backwards, and nobody can say who named it. The worked math, the nominal-vs-real trap, and what CPF and EPF floors do to it.

22 Jul 2026 · 16 min read
A glass jar labelled savings filled with coins next to a calculator, with loose coins scattered in front
Finance

The FIRE Number: The 25x Rule Neither Founding Paper Contains (2026)

25x appears in neither Bengen 1994 nor the Trinity study — it is 1 ÷ 4%. What the papers really tested, MMM's actual assumptions, and how CPF and EPF size "enough" differently.

22 Jul 2026 · 15 min read
The 4% Rule: Where Retirement's Most Famous Number Comes From (2026)
Finance

The 4% Rule: Where Retirement's Most Famous Number Comes From (2026)

What Bengen 1994 and the Trinity study actually tested, how the 4% rule gets misused, and why CPF LIFE and EPF change the maths in SG and MY.

22 Jul 2026 · 13 min read
A calculator on financial paperwork — checking the tool before trusting its answer
Finance

How to Pick a Personal-Finance Calculator You Can Trust (2026)

A calculator is only as good as its tables and assumptions. The five failure modes to spot, plus a 60-second check to run before you trust any answer.

14 Jul 2026 · 9 min read
Editorial Policy →