World-class finance hub

IN JUST over four decades, Singapore has established an internationally renowned financial centre, catering to both its domestic economy and the wider Asia-Pacific region. With a total asset size of nearly US$2 trillion as of December 2013, the banking sector has been critical to Singapore's role in financing local and regional growth. These include areas such as trade facilitation, corporate finance and infrastructure development.

Notably, the 2014 Global Financial Centres Index ranked the Republic as the fourth most competitive financial centre in the world, behind New York, London and Hong Kong.

Singapore's rapid rise as the region's largest centre for both commodity and foreign exchange trading, as well as its growing reputation as a wealth management hub, has contributed to this new competitive dynamic in Asia.