Singapore 30 November, 2008 – Many of the world’s rich are abandoning traditional tax havens for Singapore with funds from China, Indonesia and India dominating the bulk of the city-state’s private banking business, Zetland Fiduciary Group says in a recent report.
Singapore’s private banking assets under management have grown over the past few years by an average of 20 percent per annum to reach an estimated US$200 billion, according to the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
“In the past 10 years, a lot of money from outside of Asia has moved to Singapore from Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Russia and Central Asia,” says Edmund Leow, a principal at joint venture law firm Baker & McKenzie.Wong & Leow in Singapore.
Private banks have fuelled the growth by expanding their wealth management services, most notably in the setting up of trust companies.
“A decade ago, the industry was small and existed only to help local Singaporeans set up offshore trusts but today it is virtually the opposite. The trust industry is helping foreigners set up trusts in Singapore,” Leow says.
One of the prime reasons for the wealth shift to Asia is ongoing investigations into tax shelters by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries, most notably the United States, the business consultancy Zetland reports on its website.
The U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which began its investigation into tax haven banks in February by looking at how they may be helping U.S. taxpayers evade tax and manipulate reporting obligations, has issued more than 35 subpoenas and conducted numerous interviews with bankers, trust officers, taxpayers, tax and estate planning professionals.
In Europe money is being moved out of Switzerland to avoid paying withholding tax on interest as required by the European Union.
Singapore has a high level of transparency and regulatory bodies. Its legal framework is British based and the government has a continuing zeal to improve and strengthen Singapore’s standing in the world through business and wealth.
Zetland Fiduciary Group Limited, based in Hong Kong, was established in 1987 and has offices in Seychelles, Singapore, Tokyo, Belize, Geneva, New Zealand and Shanghai. Each month Zetland offers an array of analysis and financial reporting on its comprehensive website.
For more information:
Phone: 852 2525 7718
Fax: 852 2140 6833
Email: hongkong@zetland.biz
Web: www.zetland.biz
