Singapore has seen an influx of family offices — set up by the ultra rich to manage their affairs and investments — on the back of its growing appeal as a financial hub. The number of single family offices there rose to 1,100 by the end of last year, compared with 400 in 2020.
Singapore is investigating the role that some single family offices played in one of the city’s largest money laundering cases and weighing further rules on the sector.
Authorities found that one or more of the accused in the case involving more than $2.8 billion of assets may have been linked to single family offices that were awarded tax incentives, Minister of State Alvin Tan said in parliament on Tuesday.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore is reviewing its internal incentive administration processes, and will tighten them where necessary, Tan said. No “adverse information of note” related to the individuals and entities were detected when they applied for the incentives, he said.
