“Many happy returns” or more asylum?

When KPMG CEO Anton Ruddenclaw moved from the leafy streets of London’s suburbs to sprawling Singapore, one of the first things he noticed was how easy it was to do business in the Southeast Asian country.

“People are built here to build relationships,” he told CNBC by phone.

It was January 2021 and Ruddenclaw had moved to Singapore to lead KPMG’s financial services advisory practice in the country. “You come and you realize that the government has a nation-building mindset, which provides a great opportunity,” he said.

While Ruddenclaw said Singapore itself was “not particularly interesting” as a market, due to its small population investors liked it for its location, English common law and large private equity markets, he added, describing it as a “hub” for capital flows to and from Asia.

level Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Singapore as a percentage of GDP According to the World Bank, it is one of the highest in the world, many international investors see the country as a haven.

“A big reason why Singapore attracts foreign investors is the credibility,” says Jeff Howie, market strategist at the city-state’s stock exchange SGX Group. “It offers policy stability, strong institutions, deep trade and financial ties, and a currency that is seen as a pillar of macro order rather than a variable factor,” he told CNBC in an email.

Indeed, Singapore dollar Against the US dollar, this week reached its highest level since October 2014. As of Wednesday, it was trading at around 1.26.

In the five years he has lived in Singapore, Ruddenclaw has noticed that it has gone from being a “little red dot” – a cute, colloquial reference to its size on a map – to something else. It is now a “middle power of global importance,” Ruddenclaw said, referring to the term. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney used last week to describe his country.

Tian Ong Foo, Regional Head and Singapore Head of Private Banking Standard CharteredIn an email to CNBC, the island nation said it is a “strategic base” for investing in markets such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand “without directly taking on the operational and regulatory complexities of these markets.” Super app Hold on, for example, is sold out in Singapore and operates in seven other countries in the region, including Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines.

“Compared to other hubs, it provides low geopolitical risk, strong regulatory clarity and a mature financial ecosystem,” Fu said.

Srini Nagarajan, managing director and head of Asia at British International Investment (BII), the UK’s influential investment body, described Singapore as a “great place” to invest in emerging economies in the region.

Nagarajan focuses on climate finance, and the BII, which focuses on the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia, has a mandate to invest up to 500 million pounds (about $685 million) in green projects and technologies in Southeast Asia by the end of this year. “These markets provide the best opportunities to remove the most carbon from the atmosphere in the shortest time,” Nagarajan said.

In October, BII committed $60 million to the Green Investment Partnership, an initiative set up by Singapore’s central bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, or MAS, to fund bioenergy and solar projects, among others.

Morgan Stanley said many investors see Singapore as an “illiquid safe haven”.in last year’s research note. But new policies to “revive” the stock market are poised to change that, the bank added, noting an “unprecedented” $4 billion cash investment by MAS to provide liquidity to small and mid-cap stocks.

Rated by Morgan Stanley MSCI Singapore Index The cost could double between 2025 and 2030, the country entered a “new era of wealth creation”.

“Sixty years after independence, the country is now transforming from a safe haven for global capital to a strategic engine of innovation and influence,” it said.

Singapore is more than just a haven for investors, SGX’s Howie said: “It’s not just an escape from volatility. It may be more about accessing a market that offers robust and evolving economic fundamentals conducive to value-oriented investing.” But Ruddenclaw said the island nation is a haven for some. “If you have high revenue or if you’re (a) family office,” he said.

Another reason why the city-state is attractive to such investors is the low prevalence of fraud and financial crime compared to other countries in the region. Singapore is in 10th place Global Fraud Index Among the 112 countries published in October, it fell from first to 10th in “fraud resistance” between 2024 and 2025, according to the index’s publisher. Summary.

According to Hovey, stock markets are attractive. “The market had its strongest rally in two decades, driven by earnings rather than speculation,” he said. Etalon Straits Times Index Up nearly 29% in the year to January 28, with banks, industrials, infrastructure and regionally exposed businesses performing well.

Kelvin Tan, founder and CEO of Straits42 Group, noted that the property is particularly attractive to US investors because it is exempt from ABSD, or additional buyer’s stamp duty – a tax of 60% of the property’s value that buyers from many countries must pay. Citizens of Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein are also exempt from ABSD.

If you’re looking for high risk, high reward, Singapore may not be the place for you. But Singapore boring market some suggested?

“I think that tag has been associated with narrow incomes … and limited conversations,” Howie said. “Today, it’s better described as a safe investment. In a world where investors increasingly value stability, management and downside protection, that reputation can be a strength rather than a weakness.”

“Investors don’t want surprises,” Ruddenclaw said. “They want predictability, and Singapore gives them that.”

— CNBC’s Anniek Bao and Arjun Harpal contributed to this report.