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Newsletter | Articles Singapore Makes a Pitch to Draw the Wealthy This affluent city-state of 4.5 million people is aiming to become a sanctuary for the world’s wealthy and their money, Asia’s answer to Geneva and Zurich. Singapore, with its reputation for authoritarian order and safety, has long relied on luring multinational corporations for manufacturing jobs and economic growth. But with China’s rise as an industrial powerhouse, it started chasing a succession of economic fads — from technology to pharmaceuticals to stem-cell research — in search of a fresh elixir. Now Singapore is trying to carve out a new niche for itself in the global economy by bolstering banking secrecy laws and offering generous tax incentives. “I can’t think of any other place where private banking is growing so much as in Singapore. We want to be the Switzerland of Asia.” said Henrik Mikkelsen, a private banker at Commerzbank in Singapore. Almost 40 private banks now have regional operations in Singapore, including Swiss stalwarts like Bank Julius Baer. Citigroup’s headquarters for all private banking outside the United States is now in Singapore, as is the global banking headquarters of Standard Chartered Bank. The estimated $150 billion in private wealth managed in Singapore is still just a sliver of the $1.7 trillion managed by Swiss bankers. But by all accounts it is growing quickly, fed by wealth pouring in from Asia’s fast-growing economies, Middle Eastern oil money, and Japanese and Europeans fleeing new efforts to tax their offshore earnings. Providing services for Asia’s superrich is undoubtedly a growth market. The booming region is churning out at least 200,000 new millionaires a year. The only problem is that there are too few private bankers to manage the demand. Credit Suisse added 200 to its staff in the last year. Goldman Sachs Group and Deutsche Bank AG also embarked on adventurous expansion programmes. Singapore is welcoming the influx of new talent. For more information contact Debbie Annells.