IFC Review: Singapore - An Attractive Hub for Private Funds

24 May 2024

Allen & Gledhill Managing Partner Jerry Koh and Partner Jonathan Lee contributed an article titled “Singapore: An Attractive Hub for Private Funds” to the IFC Review.

Over the past decade, Singapore has developed rapidly as an asset management hub and fund domicile, with total assets under management (“AUM”) increasing from S$1.6 trillion in 2012 to a peak of S$5.4 trillion in 2021. While this has dipped slightly to S$4.9 trillion in 2022 in line with the wider decline in global AUM due to economic uncertainties, market corrections in valuations were partially offset by healthy net AUM inflows into Singapore. The steady growth of Singapore’s AUM is illustrative of its importance to foreign investors and asset managers as a global financial centre, with approximately 76% of Singapore’s AUM sourced from outside Singapore and 88% of Singapore’s AUM invested in assets outside Singapore in 2022.

This is also borne out by the rapid increase in the number of asset managers that have set up operations in Singapore. From 2014 to 2022, the number of registered and licensed fund management companies in Singapore doubled from 591 to 1,194.

This article explores several key reasons why Singapore continues to attract asset managers to raise private capital here.