Singapore Family Offices: Whitepaper

by Richard C. Wilson

Background on Singapore

A brief introduction to Singapore: international trade has helped jettison Singapore above leading Western countries in terms of GDP per capita (the IMF and World Bank both place Singapore in a range of three to five in the rankings and consistently ranked above the United States¸ Switzerland and other wealthy¸ developed countries). Singapore has a healthy¸ free-market-based economy that has excelled in recent years.

Singapore’s economy has grown significantly in the last decade (as evidenced by Figure 1) with financial services playing a vital role in that growth. However¸ like other international business and financial-focused economies¸ Singapore’s economy was hurt by the global financial meltdown¸ but it has managed to rebound impressively by earning more than 14% GDP in 2010.

The Singapore city-state is a popular financial destination due to its business- and wealth-friendly tax environment. It is also an island nation that draws a lot of tourists and vacationers as well as wealthy individuals looking for an international hub that is both attractive and enjoyable from which they can conduct their business. As one fund of funds manager put it¸ “Singapore has turned out to be a great destination for wealthy individuals to relocate to because of Singapore’s smart government¸ conducive tax and regulatory environment and because it’s a great place to live.”

In fact¸ Singapore has the highest concentration of millionaire households¸ with 15.5% of all households having at least $1 million million in AUM; Singapore has the ninth highest concentration of ultra-high-net-worth households that have over $100 million in AUM¸ according to the Boston Consulting Group. As you can see in Figure 2¸ Singapore is perhaps the most vital access point to high net worth families due to its high proportion of wealthy households and its proximity to other key locations like Hong Kong¸ Tokyo and Taiwan.