Singapore, Now World’s Fastest Growing Wealth Management Hub, Not Free From Tax Evasion And Other Crimes
Singapore’s wealth management industry grew 22 percent in 2012 to 1.63 trillion Singaporean dollars ($1.29 trillion US), and its share of global offshore wealth is expected to outstrip Switzerland by 2020, according to data from WealthInsight, an industry research group.
Learning from the recent scandal when Swiss banks, including UBS (NYSE:UBS) and Credit Suisse Group (NYSE:CS), were named by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists as having helped set up offshore companies and trusts in tax havens for relatives of current and former Chinese Communist Party leaders, the Singapore financial regulator, the Monetary Authority of Singapore has taken a tough stance by making it a criminal offense for banks to accept undeclared or laundered money as of July 2013, Swiss Info, a Swiss news portal, reported on Tuesday. “Our message to tax criminals is loud and clear: their money is not welcome in Singapore,” said Ravi Menon, the managing director of MAS, at the time. “And our message to our financial institutions is also loud and clear: If you suspect the money is not clean, don’t take it.”
Credit: IBTIMES
