Recently, I wrote about how a new round of tax cuts makes Hong Kong an even more attractive place to live and work. Our friends at Global Consultants and Services Limited remind me that neighboring Singapore is another very attractive total wealth destination in this dynamic region.
Singapore has long been a key hub of Asian wealth management. In fact, private-bankers rank Singapore as second only to Switzerland. Strict banking secrecy laws and favorable tax treatment (modeled after the Swiss) is attracting a growing wave of wealth to Singapore from well-healed investors throughout Asia.
In fact, the number of Singapore based private banks jumped from just 20 in 2000, to 42 today. Meanwhile, total banking assets under management climbed six-fold, to $300 billion recently, up from $50 billion in 1998.
Long-time Sovereign Society friend and council of expert member Jack Flader and his firm, Global Consultants and Services Limited (GCSL), is located right in the heart of this booming region.
Based in Hong Kong, and with offices in Singapore (among other hot spots in Asia), GCSL is uniquely positioned to keep Soveriegn Society Members up to speed on the latest business developments in Asia.
In fact, Lawrence Fong, the Managing Director of GCSL’s Singapore office explains how Singapore’s recent move to entirely abolish estate taxes is bound to draw even more wealth management business to this city.
Singapore recently “removed the Estate Duty with immediate effect,” according to Lawrence. “Up to now, estate duty affects those with properties worth over S$9 million as well as those with over S$600,000 in non-property based assets like cash, stocks and even expensive cars and watches.”
With the Estate Duty abolished, this creates another very big incentive to consider Singapore as your wealth management destination of choice, according to GCSL. “The abolition of the “Heaven’s Gates Tax” was implemented to attract the super rich not only to invest in Singapore, but also relocate here.”
In fact, well known global investor and author Jim Rogers just relocated his family from high-tax New York, to low tax Singapore, perhaps for this very reason.
According to GCSL, another change in Singapore law could have an even bigger positive impact on the wealth management industry there.
The government also announced a new "tax incentive scheme for family-owned investment holding companies." This grants such entities a broad range of tax "exemptions on both Singapore-based and foreign-sourced investment income." Of course this provides a huge incentive for Singapore “family enterprises” to bring more of their investment funds back home to be managed by local investment firms.
As GCSL’s man in Singapore says: “Bring it on!”
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