Doing business in Singapore for clients from Vietnam
Vietnamese companies have joined global supply chains quickly, and many then need finance, contracts and a holding company abroad. Singapore can offer those, along with shared membership of the CPTPP.
Finance and contracts for growing exporters
An exporter or a founder raising foreign capital may find that investors prefer a Singapore holding company with familiar documents and a choice-of-court clause or an arbitration clause. Contact goes back a long way, since ships from Vietnam traded at Riau before Singapore’s founding. Crypto-asset firms should note that Vietnam enacted its first digital-asset legislation in 2025.
Tax treaty and trade agreements
Singapore and Vietnam have a comprehensive double taxation agreement. Both belong to the ASEAN trade agreement (ATIGA, in force 2010) and the CPTPP, which has been in force for its first group since 30 December 2018. RCEP has applied since 1 January 2022.
Below you will find the articles written for clients from Vietnam 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 Vietnam.
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