Singapore funds benefit from Asian wealth Singapore's position as one of the world's fastest-growing wealth management hubs was highlighted on Tuesday when it said assets under management rose more than a fifth over the past year. The Monetary Authority of Singapore, the central bank, said funds managed in the city state had risen 22 per cent to a record S$1.63tn ($1.29tn), from S$1.34tn a year previously. Asia was the biggest destination for investments from funds handled out of Singapore, accounting for 70 per cent of all assets under management, up from 60 per cent the previous year. Assets managed by hedge funds rose almost 8 per cent to $77.5bn from the previous year. Hong Kong and Singapore are closing the gap with Switzerland and London as they benefit from the growing wealth of a new generation of Asian businesspeople. Switzerland's private banking industry is suffering from a damaging row with the US over some Swiss banks" alleged complicity in tax evasion by US citizens. This month, consulting group PwC said Singapore's assets under management could overtake Switzerland's by 2015 based on current growth rates. Its peer Deloitte recently said Switzerland managed $1.75tn in international private client assets at the end of 2011, just ahead of the UK, which managed $1.69tn. Singapore has been a magnet for wealth managers and private equity groups tapping into southeast Asia, a region of about 600m people where the largest economies - Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia - are being driven by robust domestic demand. Singapore's central bank said about 80 per cent of assets under management came from outside the country. Private bankers say Singapore is also benefiting as rich people from mainland China place funds in Singapore to avoid excessive reliance on Hong Kong, where some see political risk in increasingly close ties with the mainland. "We continue to see strong interest from global fund houses, seeking to set up or expand their Asian presence," the MAS said at its annual briefing. The number of what it called "investment professionals" working in Singapore rose 8.5 per cent to 3,312 in 2012. Singapore has in the past 18 months started tightening rules aimed at preventing tax evasion, amid moves by Group of 20 countries to clamp down on illicit funds and the growth of tax havens. In early July, Singapore introduced a law to penalise banks that facilitate tax evasion. It also plans to make it a money laundering offence for a bank to assist tax evaders in hiding their funds. Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Singapore's finance minister, said earlier this year that the country would "continue to be a vibrant wealth management centre, with laws and rules that safeguard legitimate funds and reject tainted money." Swiss National Bank this month opened a branch in Singapore to help manage its Asian currency portfolio, becoming the first non-Asian central bank to start operations in the city-state. The move was another sign of the growing importance of Singapore - often dubbed "the Switzerland of Asia" - as a base for asset and wealth managers.