Overview
Establish Financial access to Asian markets
Asia’s position as the growth engine for the global economy has intensified in recent years. As Asia continues to attract foreign direct investment and China further integrates into the global economy, new business opportunities are emerging across the financial services sector, including banking, insurance, asset management, capital markets and FinTech.
Singapore regularly ranks amongst the top financial centres in Asia and around the world and is an important venue for financiers, according to the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) 2018 rankings4. Singapore has established a thriving financial centre of international repute, offering unparalleled access to Asian markets and beyond. Its well-established business infrastructure, stable political and economic environment, robust regulatory and corporate governance framework, and liquid and vibrant capital market, continue to attract the world’s leading financial institutions to establish a regional presence in Singapore.
Leverage global connectivity and trade linkages
Investors can benefit from the broad-based growth in Singapore’s financial services sector as well as its global connectivity and trade linkages to access the Asian market. As one of the major historic trading hubs in Asia, Singapore has strong business, cultural and linguistic links with many Asian markets. With a highly qualified workforce, and an openness to attract top global talent, Singapore is the preferred location to support the global business community in their expansion in Asia. With a network of 21 regional/bilateral Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with 31 trading partners, Singapore currently has the most extensive network of FTAs in Asia with key economies such as the United States of America, Japan, Australia and members of the European Free Trade Association5.
A venue of choice for financial services business events
Singapore’s reputation as a leading financial centre attracts international visitors who gather in Singapore to collaborate, innovate, network and explore business opportunities at key industry platforms.
In her continual pursuit of FinTech-related innovations and applications, Singapore is the first in Asia to introduce e-payments enabled by near field communication (NFC) across all major mobile device platforms (Apple, Samsung and Android). This is a testament to the Singapore’s financial industry’s robustness, its willingness to innovate and the trust it engenders for continued new FinTech innovation and applications.
Financial Services Business Events: Opportunities for growth
Current business events landscape
Financial services events such as the inaugural Singapore FinTech Festival 2016 – the first of its kind in Asia – provides a platform for collaborations, connections and co-creations within the FinTech ecosystem in Singapore and around the region. Other events such as Seamless Asia, InsurTech 2017, The Future of Finance Summit and Singapore International Reinsurance Conference allow for sharing of best practices across different verticals and industries. Come 2018, Singapore will host Money20/20 Asia, which will bring together a global network of innovators, disruptors and established industry players driving a worldwide payments and financial services revolution with a pan-Asian focus.
Opportunities
Looking ahead, there will be pervasive use of FinTech to harness the transformative potential of digitalisation for growth and innovation. As the financial sector looks to scale up and prepare for the future, events that could prove to be particularly relevant to the industry could be those that cater to the various verticals of the FinTech value chain (from FinTech start-ups, banking and insurance, to trading and capability building), as well as those that showcase technology infrastructure projects which in turn drive innovation, boost market efficiency and enhance customer service.
Did you know?
- The World Bank has ranked Singapore as one of the best cities for business1.
- According to a study conducted by Dell, Singapore is the world’s third most innovative and future-ready economy2 (after San Jose and San Francisco) due to its ability to facilitate people and organisations to drive change, provide quality infrastructure, and promote innovation, growth, and profitability.
- About 40% of listings on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) are foreign companies, spanning regions such as the Asia Pacific, particularly Southeast Asia, and further afield in Europe and America3.
1http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploreeconomies/singapore
2http://www.dell.com/learn/sg/en/sgcorp1/press-releases/2016-04-05-singapore-recognized-as-one-of-50-future-ready-economies-worldwide
3http://www.mas.gov.sg/singapore-financial-centre/overview/capital-markets.aspx
4http://www.longfinance.net/Publications/GFCI23.pdf
5https://ie.enterprisesg.gov.sg/Trade-From-Singapore/%E2%80%8CInternational-Agreements%E2%80%8C/free-trade-agreements/Singapore-FTA
