The Lion City, home to 5.5 million people at the tip of the Malay peninsula, has benefited enormously from political uncertainty and pandemic pains elsewhere. Take $68 billion DBS Group
, the top local lender: net new money inflows into its private bank from overseas logged an astonishing 170% increase year-on-year in the first half of 2020, and remain robust. Single-family offices in the city multiplied fivefold between 2017 and 2019, and stood at around 400 in 2020, per official estimates. All the signs suggest that pace is picking up.
Singapore is also slowly shedding its unwelcome nickname “Singa-snore”, referring to the city’s easy pace. Frustrated Western finance executives fleeing Hong Kong’s ham-fisted Covid-19 policies have started relocating to the hub, generating flattering headlines. Much more significant, however, is Singapore’s increasing attractiveness to technology firms.The local stock exchange still struggles to attract hot initial public offerings.