Strategy
Singapore Attracts Russia's Wealthy - Report

A growing number of wealthy Russians are looking into Singapore
for opportunities to invest, the Financial Times
reports.
With the city-state's booming private banking sector and relative
resilience it exhibited during the global financial crisis,
significant sums of Russian money have found themselves a home in
Singapore's stock market, luxury service firms, and property.
According to the news service, compared to just around 300
Russian residents in Singapore six years ago, there are now over
5,000 living and doing business in the island state.
"There are a lot of people with oil and gas money from Russia and
Kazakhstan looking for opportunities to invest," a senior banker
who declined to be identified told the publication on the
sidelines of an annual forum attended by Singapore's key economic
personalities and Russia's business contingent. The city-state is
Russia's 30th largest trading partner; and it has been said that
some of Russia's largest IT and shipping firms are planning to
list in Singapore soon.
The surge in Russian investment comes on the back of the
controversy involving the scrapping of total banking secrecy laws
in so-called tax havens. However, market observers have told the
news service that the interest may be sparked more by Singapore's
position as a regional financial hub and by the desire to take
part in Asia's rapid growth.