17.9 per cent in the first half of 2010. The island boasts an aggressive sovereign wealth fund, GIC, which manages a portfolio said to be worth around $270bn, one of the world’s largest. And to cap it all, the country is now setting up its second exchange, expected to be a potential rival to AIM. Singapore is also becoming an offshore hub for wealth management in the region, acting as a magnet for the thriving funds emerging from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. Its central bank reckons overall assets under management on the island hit a record $900bn at the end of 2009 – that’s up a whopping 40 per cent on the year before. Not bad for an island the size of New York City. As Jonathan Speck, a Partner at
Mourant Ozannes, states: “Singapore is well on its way to achieving a serious ranking as an international finance centre. It’s becoming a heavy-hitter.”
Asian hub So, you ask – through a mouthful of gum – why the popularity? The answer is as clear as its streets are clean: Singapore happens to tick all the boxes in terms of attracting wealth – its strong sovereign rating means it’s seen as stable, it has a low tax environment, and its regulatory framework is firm yet enticingly commercial. It’s a draw for hedge funds, advisory firms and brokerages. The government has also signed a raft of double-tax agreements, and at the end of last year Singapore made it onto the OECD ‘white list’ for offshore jurisdictions. Its agreements with India equate it with Mauritius, the main offshore route to the rising powerhouse; and it has a tantalizing double tax treaty with China. For a rising financial centre, these are powerful friends, and the world’s wealthy are taking note. “Singapore has achieved the ‘gold card’ level for the outsourcing of private
wealth management for the world,” says Hiren Patel, Partner at VerrasLaw. “Years back, with Switzerland under scrutiny, loads of the money went offshore. Now that offshore is under the spotlight, the money is starting to go to Singapore. It’s becoming the outsourcing centre for family offices and wealth management – a young successor to the Swiss.” Patel isn’t the first to invoke the Swiss in reference to Singapore – the European powerhouse is, after all, inarguably the ‘big cheese’ of wealth management – but with Swiss banking under serious pressure following the economic crisis, private banking operations have been moving to Singapore. The ‘Switzerland of the East’ still handles only a tiny fraction of the wealth that the mighty Swiss manage, but it’s growing – fast. “Singapore is a gateway to the Far East,” says Speck. “It has a close historical connection to the UK, which has
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