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14 Sept 2006

Singapore Encouraging Hedge Fund Growth

Tokyo is currently Asia’s biggest currency market, bur Singapore now too will target hedge funds, commodities trading and Islamic finance to sustain growth, said Heng Swee Keat, managing director of the Central Bank of Singapore.

After seeing the booming economies of emerging BRIC markets; India and China, Singapore is also trying to cash in on the region’s growing number of millionaires.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore predicts “very strong growth” in asset management, which stood at $458 billion in 2005 after five years of expansion. The $118 billion economy expanded 6.4 percent in 2005. Financial services account for about 10 percent of gross domestic product.

Singapore beat 174 other nations to take first place in the World Bank’s annual ranking of business conditions, which looks at property rights, taxes, access to credit, labor laws and regulations on customs and licenses.

The Singapore government is also offering tax breaks as incentives to attract hedge funds and companies engaged in derivatives trading. There are over 100 hedge funds in Singapore overseeing about $10 billion in total assets, according to the central bank.

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