The new Singapore – a financial haven for China 's super-rich

For decades, the ultrarich looking for discreet banking services gravitated to Switzerland , where account secrecy was sacred. But when Swiss authorities finally gave in to pressure from the European Union to discourage tax evasion, the door opened for a new challenger to woo the world's wealthy. Enter Singapore .

This tiny Asian nation has beefed up account-secrecy protections, changed trust laws, and begun allowing foreigners who meet minimum wealth requirements to purchase land and become residents.

Now private-banking money is flooding in. Asians, particularly Indonesians who have grown rich from the booming Asian-Pacific economy, foreigners seeking to invest and do business in Asia, and Europeans moving money from Switzerland for tax purposes. Swiss banks are expanding in Singapore to get in on the action. Credit Suisse the world's second largest private bank even moved the head office of it's private banking business to Singapore last year.

However it is the increasing number of super-rich Chinese and Indians that Singapore is looking towards to fuel growth in the future. As the two new emerging super-powers boom, the number of wealthy individuals is rocketing, and with it comes the need for private banking and wealth management services.

“ China 's wealthy are increasingly looking around for a place to park their money”, explains David Chong, Chairman of Portcullis, who provides wealth management advice to high net worth indivuals. “And Singapore passes the smell test”, he says, “there's nothing fishy about it. When it comes to their money China's high net worth individuals want to know first and foremost that it's in a safe place, they also want to know that the legal recourse is there if they need it.” The Singapore legal system is one of the most efficient in the world, he says with most cases heard within six to nine months.

In the same way that wealthy Europeans used to drive to Geneva in Switzerland to see their private banker, Chong predicts that China 's wealthy will pop to Singapore for similar advice. “You'll see an increase of private jets landing from China within the next few years” he says confidently.

Singapore 's private banks and wealth managers have already seen a huge increase in clients from Mainland China in the last few years. “Typically they will have made their money at home and look to Singapore to purchase property. Many Chinese entrepreneurs choose to send their children to school here for the bilingual education so they like to buy properties for their children to live with their mothers, while they themselves are free to go back to China to run the business.”

Singapore 's stock market also provides an alternative to Hong Kong and is popular with Chinese business wanting to list their companies on an internationally respected exchange. There has been an increase in recent years of mainland Chinese entrepreneurs owning holding companies in Singapore , while running their day-to-day operations out of China such as Zhao Qing Zhi of Narada Group.

Chinese mainland businesses are drawn there because of favourable company and tax laws, lack of corruption and transparent financial systems. Singapore also has favourable tax treaties with 57 countries, while Hong Kong currently only has two treaties in place – neither of which is with China .

Chong also anticipates a growing interest in Singapore 's trusts fund market from China 's new elite wanting to secure their wealth for future generations. “We all know the Chinese saying, ‘from rags to riches in three generations', but the truth is that previously the Chinese have not been able to hold on to their wealth over a long period of time. There are various reasons, but mainly because the Chinese haven't been able to diversify their investments. They also haven't discovered long-term wealth maintenance solutions like the trust fund.

According a recent report by the Wall Street Journal, Singapore 's officials have set up working groups and regularly travelled to Switzerland to learn more about how to make Singapore an attractive global banking hub. One of the main outcomes has been a push on trust funds, including changes to Singapore 's trust laws to make them more attractive.

“The Europeans have been passing wealth on for generations thanks to trust funds” says Chong. “We want to help the Chinese do the same”.