Gateway to Asia — a part of the book Singapore as an International Financial Centre by Dr Alexander Ressos.
Part I examines Singapore as the point of entry to Southeast Asia, China and India, the counterpart to Geneva's role as a hub for Africa.
This part belongs to Singapore as an International Financial Centre by Dr Alexander Ressos, published here in full, section by section.
Southeast Asia and the Regional Headquarters
A multinational group that wants to sell, produce or invest in Southeast Asia faces a region of eleven states, several hundred million consumers and almost as many legal systems as languages. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaThe regional headquarters model
A regional headquarters sits between the global head office of a group and its operating subsidiaries in individual countries. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaASEAN economic integration
ASEAN was founded on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaTreaty networks and investment protection
A regional headquarters often holds the shares of the operating companies in the region. Dividends, interest, royalties and service fees then flow from those companies to Singapore. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaMarket entry into the region
The single market of ASEAN remains, for most practical purposes, a collection of national markets with their own company laws, foreign investment rules, tax systems, labour laws and languages. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaRegional risks and their management
Southeast Asia has experienced coups, contested elections, mass protests and abrupt changes of policy within the lifetime of most investments. The most dramatic recent example is Myanmar. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaSoutheast Asia and the Regional Headquarters: practical consequences
A group that establishes a regional headquarters in Singapore should treat the decision as a combination of operational, legal and tax choices. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaSoutheast Asia and the Regional Headquarters: Comparison with Geneva and Hong Kong
The Geneva volume describes the city's relationship with Africa as one built on trade, banking, diplomacy and the French language. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaSoutheast Asia and the Regional Headquarters: summary
Singapore has become the leading location for regional headquarters in Asia, with about 4,200 regional offices according to an EY study of 2019, because it combines connectivity, talent, legal… Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaChina: Capital, Family Wealth and the Belt and Road
China is Singapore's largest trading partner and the state with which its relationship is most layered. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaHistorical ties and diplomatic relations
The Chinese presence in Singapore is older than the modern state. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaTrade, investment and government-to-government projects
The growth of trade since 1990 has been rapid. Bilateral trade rose from US$8.154 billion in 1998 to US$10.821 billion in 2000. By 2009 it had reached S$75.1 billion. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaChinese enterprises in Singapore
The first Chinese enterprises in modern Singapore were banks and state trading companies. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaChinese family wealth and family offices
The movement of Chinese wealth to Singapore has several causes. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaThe Belt and Road and infrastructure finance
President Xi Jinping presented the Silk Road Economic Belt at Nazarbayev University in Astana on 7 September 2013. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaCompliance challenges in China-related business
The first compliance question in any China-related relationship concerns the origin of the funds. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaChina: Capital, Family Wealth and the Belt and Road: Comparison with Geneva and Hong Kong
Switzerland was among the first Western states to recognise the People's Republic, on 17 January 1950. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaChina: Capital, Family Wealth and the Belt and Road: summary
Singapore's relationship with China grew from the ties of a diaspora with its homeland into a relationship between states, beginning with Deng Xiaoping's visit in November 1978 and formalised by… Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaIndia: Investment Corridors and GIFT City
Measured by the official statistics of New Delhi, no country has sent more direct investment to India in the past quarter-century than Singapore. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaHistorical and community ties
The Indian presence in Singapore is as old as the British settlement. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaThe double taxation agreement and its revision
Singapore and India concluded a first agreement for the avoidance of double taxation on 20 April 1981. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaInvestment funds for India
Between April 2000 and March 2026 India recorded equity FDI inflows of 787.72 billion US dollars. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaGIFT City as partner and competitor
Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, known as GIFT City, is a planned financial district on the Sabarmati river near Gandhinagar. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaRegulatory cooperation
The legal basis of tax cooperation is the exchange of information clause of 2011 described above, supplemented by the automatic exchange of financial account information under the Common Reporting… Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaIndia: Investment Corridors and GIFT City: practical consequences
The Singapore route to India remains open to structures with substance. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaComparison with Geneva, Mauritius and Dubai
Switzerland’s relationship with India has been shaped by wealth management more than by direct investment. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaIndia: Investment Corridors and GIFT City: summary
Singapore’s ties with India date from the arrival of Indian soldiers, traders and convicts after 1819, the government of the Straits Settlements from Calcutta until 1867 and the credit networks of… Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaIndonesia and Malaysia: The Near Neighbours
Singapore has two neighbours with which it shares a strait, a history and a large part of its daily economic life. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaIndonesian wealth in Singapore
The relationship between Singapore and Indonesia began in conflict. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaThe Riau Islands and cross-border zones
The Riau Islands lie between 6 and 20 kilometres south of Singapore across the Singapore Strait. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaMalaysia and the Johor–Singapore Special Economic Zone
The relationship with Malaysia has a different starting point. Singapore was part of Malaysia from 1963 until its separation on 9 August 1965, which Chapter C.II examines. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaTax amnesties and repatriation
The most important event for Indonesian wealth in Singapore in the past decade was the tax amnesty that ran from July 2016 to 31 March 2017 under Law No. 11 of 2016 on tax amnesty. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaNeighbourhood as opportunity and risk
Indonesia and Malaysia are home to some of the largest and fastest-growing middle classes in Asia. For Singapore, they are hinterland, market and source of clients at once. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaThe near neighbours and the comparison with Geneva
Geneva lives in an even closer relationship with its neighbour. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaIndonesia and Malaysia: The Near Neighbours: summary
Singapore’s relationship with Indonesia and Malaysia combines geography, history and finance more closely than any other relationship of the financial centre. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaSafe Haven: Capital Inflows, Wealth Migration and Their Politics
Every financial centre that succeeds attracts two kinds of arrivals: money looking for safety and people looking for a place to live with it. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaSingapore as a safe haven
A safe haven, in the language of finance, is a place where capital is expected to keep its value and remain accessible in times of stress. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaWealth migration and residence programmes
Wealth can move without its owners, but the families who move their family office to Singapore usually want to live there as well. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaProperty, housing and public opinion
Property is the point at which foreign wealth touches the daily life of Singaporeans most directly. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaInflows and the risk of illicit funds
The attributes that make Singapore attractive to honest wealth also make it attractive to criminals. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaBalancing openness and integrity
The government has expressed its approach to the inflow in a formula that recurs in official statements. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaSafe Haven: Capital Inflows, Wealth Migration and Their Politics: Comparison with Geneva, Hong Kong and Dubai
Geneva and Singapore share the role of safe haven, although their histories of it differ. Read more Singapore · Gateway to AsiaSafe Haven: Capital Inflows, Wealth Migration and Their Politics: summary
Stability, the rule of law, a strong currency and a deep financial ecosystem draw wealth to Singapore. Assets under management reached S$6.7 trillion in 2025. Read more