Citing data from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the article informed that wealth overseen by the country’s asset management industry has doubled in just six years to about 4 trillion USD, and about 80% of that is foreign. (Source: travelpluto.com) Hanoi (VNA) – Singapore’s asset management sector is prosperingrapidly, consolidating the country’s position as the “Switzerland of Asia”.
According to an article published by Bloomberg.com on October 5, fromSingapore’s earliest years as an independent state, it’s aimed to be one of thekey locales through which the world’s money flows. And as a haven for wealthand a hub for asset managers, the “Switzerland of Asia” has been notching upenough wins to shed any regional asterisk.
Citing data from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) - the central bank,the article informed that wealth overseen by the country’s asset managementindustry has doubled in just six years to about 4 trillion USD, and about 80%of that is foreign.
The US’s BlackRock Inc. and Canada’s OntarioTeachers’ Pension Plan are expanding in Singapore. Even Swiss banks are gettinginto the act as UBS Group AG’s offices dominate an entire city block in a primeshopping district, with a staff of 3,000, a private gym and a cappuccino bar.It’s now the firm’s largest operation in Asia.
The articlementioned that Switzerland’scrown as the leading home for globe-hopping wealth is safe for now. But BostonConsulting Group projects Singapore will see foreign wealth booked there growby 9% over the next five years, three times faster than its Swiss competition.
Singapore boasts many of theattractions of Switzerland, including political stability and a highly educatedworkforce. It also features low income tax rates, zero levies on capital gainsor inheritances and incentives for multinational firms to establish Asianheadquarters. Singapore’s prime location in the middle of Southeast Asia makesit attractive to investment managers focused on the region, according to thearticle.
The rapid rise of moneymanagement is by design.
In 2020, the governmentintroduced a new kind of legal structure called a variable capital company thatprovides tax and legal incentives for hedge funds, venture capital and privateequity firms to set up in Singapore, similar to programmes in such offshorehubs as the Cayman Islands and Luxembourg. More than 600 companies had takenadvantage of the new program as of last October.
Recent troubles in otherfinancial hubs give Singapore an extra edge. Switzerland’s status was shakenthis year by the collapse of Credit Suisse Group AG and its hastily arrangedsale to next-door rival UBS. Credit Suisse has seen outflows of more than 100billion Swiss francs (111 billion USD) as rich clients park their moneyelsewhere, including in Singapore.
In Hong Kong (China), bankers and investors arebecoming increasingly uneasy about the situation here. Hong Kong just lost itsfive-decade-long position as the world’s freest economy to Singapore, accordingto the most recent ranking compiled by Canadian think tank Fraser Institute.Dwindling business from the mainland, which is suffering an economic slowdownand a real estate crisis, is prompting financial firms to cut jobs there.
Meanwhile, in the battle to be Asia’s top financial centre, thebalance remains in favour of Hong Kong, according to the article.
The reality for global banks is that Hong Kong is hard to replace.But Singapore is benefiting from companies looking to diversify in the regionor for a base for broader Asian operations beyond China./.
