Language as Infrastructure: English and Bilingualism — a part of the book Singapore as an International Financial Centre by Dr Alexander Ressos.
Part J examines the role of language in the financial centre, the counterpart to the part on the French language in the Geneva volume.
This part belongs to Singapore as an International Financial Centre by Dr Alexander Ressos, published here in full, section by section.
English as the Working Language
A visitor who lands at Changi, takes a taxi to Raffles Place and spends a day in meetings with bankers, lawyers and regulators may never hear a word of any language other than English. Read more Singapore · LanguageThe colonial legacy of English
When Raffles founded the British settlement in 1819, English was the language of a handful of officials and merchants. Read more Singapore · LanguageThe choice of English after independence
The legal framework of language in Singapore took shape in three steps. In 1955 the Legislative Assembly gave official status to English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil. Read more Singapore · LanguageEnglish as a common language across communities
The success of the policy is measured most clearly by the language that Singaporeans speak at home. Read more Singapore · LanguageEnglish in finance and contracts
In the financial sector the question of language hardly arises, because everything is in English. Read more Singapore · LanguageSingapore English and international English
The English of Singapore is a variety of English with its own features. Read more Singapore · LanguageEnglish as the Working Language: Practical consequences for clients and advisers
For a European client or adviser, the use of English in Singapore has several practical consequences. Read more Singapore · LanguageEnglish as the Working Language: Comparison with Geneva, Hong Kong and Dubai
Geneva and Singapore face the language question from opposite ends. Geneva is a French-speaking city in a mainly German-speaking country, working in an industry whose global language is English. Read more Singapore · LanguageEnglish as the Working Language: summary
English came to Singapore as the language of the colonial administration, the courts and the European firms, and spread through mission and government schools, the Queen’s Scholarship and the… Read more Singapore · LanguageThe Bilingual Policy and Mandarin as a Commercial Asset
On the evening of 7 September 1979 the Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, opened a campaign at the Singapore Conference Hall with a sentence that set out a problem of language policy in the terms of a… Read more Singapore · LanguageThe bilingual policy in education
Before independence Singapore had four school systems, each teaching in a different medium. Read more Singapore · LanguageThe Speak Mandarin Campaign
The campaign followed directly from the Goh Report. Lee Kuan Yew’s diagnosis was practical. Read more Singapore · LanguageDialects, Mandarin and identity
The Chinese who came to Singapore in the nineteenth century spoke the languages of their districts in Fujian and Guangdong. By the middle of the twentieth century at least twelve dialects were in use. Read more Singapore · LanguageMandarin in business with China
The economic value of Mandarin depended on China opening to the world. When Lee Kuan Yew first visited China in 1976, he conducted his official meetings in English. Read more Singapore · LanguageMalay and Tamil as official languages
Article 153A of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore names four official languages: Malay, Mandarin, Tamil and English. Read more Singapore · LanguageThe Bilingual Policy and Mandarin as a Commercial Asset: practical consequences
For banks, wealth managers, family offices and law firms, the bilingual policy produces a workforce in which almost everyone speaks English and many understand a second language. Read more Singapore · LanguageThe Bilingual Policy and Mandarin as a Commercial Asset: Comparison with Geneva and Hong Kong
Geneva’s position is the mirror image of Singapore’s. French is the main language of 79 % of the canton’s residents. Read more Singapore · LanguageThe Bilingual Policy and Mandarin as a Commercial Asset: summary
Singapore made a second language compulsory in all schools in 1966 and, after the Goh Report of 1979, turned English into the first language of a single school system from 1987, with Mandarin, Malay… Read more Singapore · LanguageThe Common Law in English: Contracts, Courts and Legal Services
A financial centre sells promises. Read more Singapore · LanguageThe common law heritage
The legal foundations of British Singapore, traced in Part A, lie in the Second Charter of Justice of 27 November 1826. Read more Singapore · LanguageSingapore law as the governing law of contracts
A governing law clause answers several questions at once. Read more Singapore · LanguageThe legal profession and foreign law firms
Singapore lawyers belong to a fused profession. Read more Singapore · LanguageLegal services for the region
Legal services have become a sector that the government measures and promotes like any other service industry. Read more Singapore · LanguageSingapore law and Swiss law as choices of law
Swiss law and Singapore law are among the laws most often chosen by parties who have no connection with either country. Read more Singapore · LanguageGeneva, Hong Kong and Dubai compared
Geneva offers Swiss law, a codified civil law, in a city whose courts sit in French. Read more Singapore · LanguageThe Common Law in English: Contracts, Courts and Legal Services: summary
Singapore received English law through the Charter of 1826 and the Civil Law Ordinance of 1878, then gave its common law a fixed and sovereign basis through the Application of English Law Act 1993… Read more Singapore · LanguageTalent: Education, Immigration and the Financial Workforce
A financial centre has no mines, fields or factories of its own. Read more Singapore · LanguageUniversities and financial education
Higher education in Singapore began with medicine. Read more Singapore · LanguageEmployment passes and immigration policy
Singapore has always been a city of immigrants, as Part A described for the nineteenth century. The modern policy of recruiting foreign professionals took shape in the 1990s. Read more Singapore · LanguageLocal and foreign talent
Singapore’s population in June 2026 was about 6.21 million, of whom 3.68 million were citizens, about 547,000 permanent residents and 1.98 million non-residents. Read more Singapore · LanguageProfessional qualifications and continuing education
The central institution of professional training in Singapore’s financial sector is the Institute of Banking and Finance (IBF). Read more Singapore · LanguageThe competition for talent
Singapore’s efforts have earned international recognition. Read more Singapore · LanguagePractical consequences for firms and professionals
A financial institution that builds a team in Singapore must think about immigration from the outset. The qualifying salary, which rises with age, determines the minimum cost of each foreign hire. Read more Singapore · LanguageTalent: Education, Immigration and the Financial Workforce: the comparison with Geneva
Geneva and Singapore both depend on foreign professionals, but they obtain them through very different legal channels. Read more Singapore · LanguageTalent: Education, Immigration and the Financial Workforce: summary
Singapore has built its financial workforce through three public research universities: the National University of Singapore with roots in 1905, Nanyang Technological University with roots in the… Read more