Doing business in Singapore for clients from Saudi Arabia
Saudi capital and energy trade reach deep into Asia. A Singapore company gives a Saudi group or family a place to hold those interests and to deal with Asian banks and counterparties.
Holding Asian interests
Energy and petrochemical groups may use Singapore for trading and shipping, given a port that sold a record 56.77 million tonnes of bunkers in 2025. A family can consider a single family office, where new awards under section 13U start at S$50 million of assets from 1 August 2026, or a fund with a variable capital company. Estate planning raises questions of its own, and Singapore removed estate duty for deaths on and after 15 February 2008.
Tax treaty and trade agreements
Singapore and Saudi Arabia have a comprehensive double taxation agreement. The free trade agreement between Singapore and the Gulf Cooperation Council, of which Saudi Arabia is a member, has applied since September 2013.
Below you will find the articles written for clients from Saudi Arabia as they are published, followed by the sections of the book Singapore as an International Financial Centre. Your own lawyers advise you on the law of Saudi Arabia.
Singapore as an International Financial Centre
Singapore · Book
Singapore as an International Financial Centre — preface
Singapore · Origins
A Place on the Strait: Temasek, Singapura and the Maritime Trade of the Malay World
Singapore · Origins
The Strait of Malacca as a corridor of trade
Singapore · Origins
Temasek and Singapura in the fourteenth century: archaeology and chronicle
Singapore · Origins
Malacca, Johor and the Riau archipelago
Singapore · Origins
Portuguese, Dutch and British rivalry in the Straits
Singapore · Origins
What the pre-colonial port teaches about location and trust
Singapore · Origins
A Place on the Strait: Temasek, Singapura and the Maritime Trade of the Malay World: summary
Singapore · Origins
Raffles, the East India Company and the Free Port of 1819
Singapore · Origins
The East India Company and the China trade
Singapore · Origins
Stamford Raffles and William Farquhar
Singapore · Origins
The agreements with Sultan Hussein and the Temenggong
Singapore · Origins
The free-port principle: open to every flag
Singapore · Origins
Early growth and the first merchant community
Singapore · Origins
What 1819 means for the financial centre
Singapore · Origins
Raffles, the East India Company and the Free Port of 1819: summary
Singapore · Origins
The Treaties of 1824 and the Legal Foundations of British Singapore
Singapore · Origins
The Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824
Singapore · Origins
The Treaty of Friendship and Alliance of 1824
Singapore · Origins
The Straits Settlements and the Second Charter of Justice
Singapore · Origins
The reception of English law
Singapore · Origins
Land, title and the security of property
Singapore · Origins
Practical consequences for today’s practitioner
Singapore · Origins