Friday, March 05, 2010

Promoting Singapore as a Financial Center

Dear Mr. Tan

From 2005, the MAS has been aggressive in promoting Singapore as a financial centre. Singapore gave tax incentives of all sorts to attract financial institutions to relocate their biz to Singapore.

Many banks relocate their FX, fixed income, structured products biz to Singapore. Also, Singapore has attracted many hedge funds to set up offices here. While the effort did boost Singapore's GDP, it might have also led to the following:

i. inflated real estate prices in commercial offices, residental
ii. more structured products being structured and sold here to unsuspecting retail customers.


HCM

5 comments:

  1. What financial centre, we are sending a large part of our private
    funds out of Singapore, and those already outside would not be sent back.
    Other governments protect my money better.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think there are two different issues in this short message. First issue is promoting Singapore as a finance centre. Second issue is the bad phenomenon of structured products and inflation of housing costs. We cannot say that it is wrong to promote Singapore as finance centre, just because of the eruption of the bad phenomenon.

    I think it is correct to promote Singapore as a finance centre. This is a good and natural initiative for Singapore. The bad phenomenon could be due to inexperience or bad regulatory mechanism.

    Do you think so? Cashew Nut

    ReplyDelete
  3. It's good to promote financial center, but you're essential playing the dollar ponzi game, sooner or later, this bubble is going to burst, probably in 2-3 years time, or 2012 if the psychic predictions are true.

    Interest rates will start to soar and the financial bubble game will be over by then. And as with all bubbles and things that don't generate real value, it will end badly.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Clean up the mess, MAS.Make it a safe place for investors. Regulate it so that the ignorant and gullible cannot fall prey to charlatans.. Clean up the rogue insurance agents, the RMs, the bankers and fly by night ceos.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Buyer beware and die is your business underlines the financial philosophy of singapore hub.

    ReplyDelete