| 在瑞士银行业没落的同时，新加坡的私人银行业却日趋繁荣。这个“城邦”如何成为亚洲新贵的首选之地？ |
上月初，私人银行领域的几位重量级人物在新加坡汇聚一堂，召开了一次峰会。这个极为隐秘的小圈子专为顶级高端客户提供服务。
这次峰会在新加坡召开绝非偶然。由于政策法规方面的严厉制裁，瑞士银行业大量资金外流。新加坡趁机自我标榜为私人银行领域的后起之秀。据波士顿咨询集团（Boston Consulting Group）的数据，现在新加坡共拥有5,000亿美元私人银行资产，而2008年这一数字只有3,000亿。
新加坡的私人银行业务之所以迅速膨胀，还有一个重要原因，那就是：越来越多的亚洲人日渐变得富裕起来。美林/凯捷（Merrill Lynch/Capgemini）的一项研究表明，从2009年~2018年的10年间，中国和印度的高净值私人客户的数量将增加近2倍，个人财富总增长近4万亿美元。新加坡地处亚洲经济高速发展的核心地区，而且政治局势稳定，因此成为亚洲新贵们存放财富的首选目标。人们普遍认为，中国和印度风险太大，同时很多投资人担心，香港会越来越屈从于中国政府的威慑。
一直以来，新加坡都在朝思暮想，盼望成为私人银行业新的中心，并且为此不惜投以重金。自1997年亚洲金融危机以来，新加坡政府一贯不遗余力，改善自身金融基础设施。2000年，新加坡进一步强化了其银行保密法，承诺赋予客户全部隐私权。新加坡不对资本增益收税，并且存款人可假借公司、信托基金以及有限责任公司的名义开设账户，从而给超高净值个人客户提供了极大的便利。此外，新加坡政府还提供减免税政策，鼓励外国公司将区域性总部设在新加坡。
尽管去年私人银行领域动荡不已，特别是美国政府曾以欺诈罪起诉瑞银证券公司（UBS），并且要求其提供5,000名非法逃税的美国富豪的姓名，但业内人士表示，新加坡几乎毫发未损。经济合作与发展组织（OECD）手上有一份不征收离岸税的地区/国家的“灰色名单”，新加坡位居其中。外国政府对这些地区虎视眈眈，威胁要进一步严查。有鉴于此，新加坡已经同意，不仅会遵守《税收交换协议》（Tax Exchange Agreements），而且会协助外国政府进行必要的刑事调查。但是那些对国内/离岸银行业最为关注的国家，却并不是新加坡那些最大银行客户的所在国（如印度、中国和印度尼西亚）。
私人银行人业务成为大众市场
于是我们也就毫不奇怪，全球各地的银行为何纷纷在新加坡设立区域性私人银行业务分支机构。摩根士丹利（Morgan Stanley）曾于9月份表示，未来3年内，该公司亚洲理财部门的员工数会翻番。瑞士瑞信银行（Credit Suisse）私人银行部门的负责人最近也对路透透视（Reuters Insider）表示，在该银行开设账户的富裕亚洲客户，其资产增加值将会超出预期，到2012年底，会增加20%以上。“我们预计，本银行管理的资产到年底将增长25%，”渣打银行（Standard Chartered Bank）新加坡分行私人银行部门负责人拉叶什•马尔卡尼指出。
新加坡私人银行业的迅速繁荣也引发了一些轶闻趣事。如同任何一个发展迅猛的行业一样，私人银行领域对人才的需求远超于供给。于是，业内人士纷纷抱怨说，在新加坡工作的私人银行家一哄而上争抢饭碗的现象极为普遍，哪家给的工资多就去哪儿。2007年，香港甚至有谣传说，人际网络强大的美发师们纷纷放弃本职，转往私人银行领域发展。
现在有迹象表明，该行业已经开始成熟。“各银行招人的要求一向都很简单，那就是：至少管理着1.5亿美元资产的客户关系经理，”猎头机构Kerry Consulting公司董事总经理迪克兰•奥萨利文表示。
该行业走向成熟的另一个标志是，小客户日益增加。一些业内人士表示，与瑞士一样，新加坡的私人银行业务也开始走向大众市场。在私人银行，现在拿张200万或者300万美元的支票，就能开设账户；而无需再像以前一样，至少需要2,000万美元的支票才能开设账户。
私人银行业的扩张势必会带来工作机会，这正是新加坡求之不得的。2003年，在新加坡两家主权财富基金GIC和Temasek的资助下，新加坡财富管理学院（Wealth Management Institute）正式成立。自2004年起，该学院已经培养了2,500名学生。“今年入学的人数增长过半，”该学院执行董事兼首席执行官辛茜亚•提翁表示。
结果显而易见：无论瑞士银行业去年发生多大的地震，金融服务业都会顺应形势，确保世界上最富有的人的利益得到保障。
译者：红权
| While Swiss banks suffer, private bankers in Singapore are booming. How the city-state became the go-to destination for Asia's new wealth. |
Earlier this month, several of the most important players in the private banking sector—a clubby, secretive group serving uber-high-end clients—gathered for a summit in Singapore.
The location of the meeting was hardly accidental. As Swiss banks have seen dramatic outflows after a regulatory crackdown, Singapore has asserted itself as the new kid on the block in the private banking sector. According to the Boston Consulting Group, Singapore now has $500 billion in private banking assets, up from $300 billion in 2008.
There's one overriding reason for Singapore's private-banking boom: Asians are getting richer, and more numerous. The number of high-net worth individuals in China and India will nearly triple in the decade ending in 2018, adding about $4 trillion in individual wealth, according to a Merrill Lynch/Capgemini study. Singapore, with its central location and stable government, is a logical place to go. India and China are viewed as too risky, and many investors fear that Hong Kong is increasingly under the purview of Beijing.
Singapore has been anticipating this shift—and working to catalyze it. Since the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Singapore's government has made a concerted effort to boost the city-state's financial infrastructure. In 2000, Singapore strengthened its bank secrecy laws, promising clients total privacy. It helps that there are no taxes on capital gains, and that depositors are able to open accounts in the guise of corporations, trusts, and limited liability corporations, which is how most ultra-high-net-worth individuals manage their money. The government also offers tax incentives to companies setting up their regional headquarters in Singapore.
Although the world of private banking changed last year -- when the U.S. government charged UBS with fraud and demanded the names of around 5,000 wealthy, tax-evading U.S. clients --insiders say Singapore has been little affected. It is on the OECD's "gray list" of offshore tax havens that foreign governments are threatening to scrutinize further—and so has agreed to comply with Tax Exchange Agreements and assist foreign governments with criminal investigations. But the countries that seem to care most about onshore/offshore banking are not the home governments of Singapore's richest account holders (e.g. India, China, and Indonesia).
Private banking goes mass market
Little wonder, then, that global banks have been ramping up their regional private banking operations in Singapore. Morgan Stanley said last month that it plans to double its Asia head count in wealth management over the next three years. Credit Suisse's head of private banking recently told Reuters Insider that new assets from rich Asian clients will exceed its growth forecasts, increasing by more than 20% by the end of 2012. "We expect to end the year with 25% growth in assets under management," says Rajesh Malkani, the regional head of private banking in Singapore for Standard Chartered Bank.
The rush has also brought some interesting side-stories. As in any rapidly growing industry, demand for talent in private banking outstrips supply. As a result, insiders complain that too many private bankers working on the Singapore scene are playing musical chairs, jumping from company to company at first sight of a sweeter pay package. In 2007, there were stories out of Hong Kong that well-connected hairdressers would be turned into private bankers.
Now, the industry is showing evidence of having matured a bit. "The simple request will always be, give me a relationship manager with at least $150 million in assets under management," says Declan O'Sullivan, managing director of Kerry Consulting, a headhunting firm.
Further evidence of a maturing industry is an increasing number of smaller players. Some insiders say Singapore, like Switzerland, is taking private banking mass market. A check for $2 to $3 million can open an account in a private bank; the typical $20 million check is no longer required.
And that broadening of the industry, circularly, has made room for even more jobs—which Singapore is happy to fill. The Wealth Management Institute, conceived in 2003 with the help of Singapore's two sovereign wealth funds, GIC and Temasek, has graduated 2,500 students from its courses since 2004. "This year, we're already experiencing more than 50% increase in enrollment in our programs for 2010," says Cynthia Teong, the institute's Executive Director and CEO.
The upshot is simple and clear. Whatever happens to Switzerland, the financial services industry will morph as needed to make sure that the world's super-rich are well taken care of.
