GOODBYE SWITZERLAND, HELLO ASIA?

摘要

As economic power continues to swing from West to East, Asia's key cities are battling for supremacy to provide headquarters for the world's leading wealth managers and investment firms, to guarantee top-drawer standards of regulation, and to provide a distribution hub allowing dissemination of the latest products across a fast-growing region. The city-states of Hong Kong and Singapore have long been doing battle for this type of business, but creeping up on them is China's megalopolis Shanghai, and some outside contenders in Malaysia and Australia. At the same time, despite time zone constraints, existing financial powerhouses are not taking the Eastern threat lying down. New York is re-positioning itself as a centre of expertise in emerging markets. Switzerland's Zurich and Geneva, still reeling from tax and secrecy attacks from the US authorities, which have led to some private client outflows to Singapore, are trying to re-invent themselves as fund management centres.