business – Legend Business Group

Singapore tops two highly respected international surveys

admin_legendbusiness — Tue, 10 May 2016 10:17:52 +0000

Singapore yet again grabbed the top spot in this year’s Business Environment Rankings released recently by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

Singapore has held on to its distinguished top rank for seven consecutive years. Switzerland took second place while its closest competitor in the region Hong Kong came in fourth. While New Zealand made it in to the top ten – by moving from its previous 11th place ranking into 9th, Germany slipped to the 12th spot from its prior 10th. The EIU ranking measures the quality of the business environment in 82 countries. Factors examined include political environment, market opportunities, and policies related to free trade, foreign investment, and the labor market. Each category contains a number of indicators that are assessed by the Economist Intelligence Unit for the previous five years and the next five years. The competition between the East Asian countries has intensified to attract investment. In their quest to become regional financial, manufacturing and distribution hubs they have taken proactive initiatives and policy reformations to improve their business environments. Malaysia is a prime example, moving from 24th place in 2013, and entering the top 20 for 2014, taking 19th place. However there is much room for improvement in terms of infrastructure, an area where most Asian countries are significantly lagging behind. Singapore stands out amidst the rest of the nations whose confidence has been jittered by the weak economic environment and rising international and domestic tensions. While countries like Malaysia, Thailand and its close commercial competitor, Hong Kong, are marred by domestic political turmoil, Singapore has a stable political system, which is of great reassurance to investors. Its neutral stand and investment friendly policies such as zero tax on capital gains and 100% foreign ownership are great tractions to investors. Singapore also comes in top, for the ninth consecutive year, in the World Bank’s Doing Business report that was released recently. The scores for the ranking is a measure of the ease of conducting business, such as the ease of registering a business, property etc., or the ease of obtaining credits, permits and licenses, the ease of resolving commercial disputes, the ease of customs procedure, imports and exports, etc. Enterprises from diverse sectors have made Singapore their home and have committed to big investments here. For instance, ExxonMobil with more than $10 billion in assets is the single largest investor. Procter & Gamble has established its regional headquarters in Singapore in addition to their headquarters for beauty and personal care products. DuPont, the innovation driven company, has established global headquarters for sustainable solutions in Singapore. Philips, the Dutch consumer electronics giant, will soon operate its regional headquarters here as well. Last year Unilever opened its S$80 million Four Acres Singapore global leadership development centre, its first and only outside the UK. Earlier this year Lucasfilm opened its Sandcrawler building, the state of the art building will be the regional headquarters for Lucasfilm Singapore, The Walt Disney Company (SEA), and ESPN Asia Pacific. Commenting on the latest accolades endorsing the business friendliness of Singapore Ms. Jacqueline Low, COO of Hawksford Singapore said, “Singapore is well placed, well sized and well managed making it the ideal destination for investments. The regulatory regime is constantly reviewed and revised in order to remain relevant for the changing global situations and measures are taken to keep them simple and easy to follow. This makes all aspects of establishing a company and growing it easier. East Asia, especially ASEAN is gaining lot of attention among the investors and global enterprises, therefore the FDI influx into this market is growing. Singapore is a hub for so much of Asia and has the top-class enterprise ecosystem attracting several MNCs as well as SMEs to setup subsidiaries in Singapore. While the business environment has constantly remained favorable the government is not resting on their laurels and is taking efforts to improve its competitiveness by addressing issues such as rising labor costs, through special schemes such as PIC and tax incentives. We hope to further strengthen our edge over the rest and attract more businesses and investors here”.

Singapore based service companies to benefit from upgrades to the China – Singapore Free Trade Agreement (CSFTA)

admin_legendbusiness — Sun, 27 Mar 2016 07:06:53 +0000

The governments of Singapore and China have recently agreed to renegotiate and upgrade the terms of their Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The upgraded FTA will further liberate the terms of engagement when it comes to trade in goods and services between these two jurisdictions.

The CSFTA was originally signed in October 2008 and came into effect on 1 January 2009. The FTA allowed all goods originating from China to be exempt from tax when exported to Singapore. Presently, 95% of Singapore exports to China are duty free. However, investors and enterprises are keen on further liberation, especially in sectors like ecommerce, environment, business services, education and healthcare. With the evolving business and economic landscape, the review is rightly timed. New sectors have emerged and the cross-border engagements have magnified. The profile of investors and their requirements have changed. In order to ensure the relevance of the FTA and also to substantiate its significance in improving trade and investments, it is essential to relook and revamp the FTA.

Review Focus

The focus of the original CSFTA was highly skewed towards liberalisation of trade in goods, with the area of investments and services trade receiving less attention. The upcoming review is expected to principally address the limitations of the FTA in these two areas. The review and upgrade of the CSFTA will be completed by the end of 2016. The review will focus on the following three key aspects that will benefit Singapore companies:

Protection for Singapore investments in China
Eliminating barriers for investment in China
Improving Singapore firms’ access to China’s service sector

Benefits to Singapore

Singapore’s service sector is very strong and commands world-class standards and quality. An improved gateway to China’s growing service sector will primarily benefit Singapore companies venturing into China, so that they may capitalise on China’s strategic measures to modernise the sector. Singaporean companies operating in education, health care, environmental, legal and accounting sectors, will be the prime beneficiaries of the upgrade. Singapore service companies that are largely constrained by the size of the domestic market will find growth opportunities in the rapidly urbanising China. Singapore is an important offshore Yuan trading hub and in fact the second largest offshore hub after Hong Kong. With the recent inclusion of the Chinese currency in the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights (SDR) basket and the bi-lateral co-operation in the expansion of Yuan trade channels, Yuan based investments and transactions are set to escalate in the coming years in Singapore. In the evolving scenario, an upgraded CSFTA will act as a catalyst for bi-lateral trade and investments. Finance and investment companies focusing on the Chinese markets can offer Yuan denominated products for their clients, thus benefiting greatly from the upgraded CSFTA. More importantly, these developments will prompt more Chinese companies looking for regional expansion to use Singapore as a springboard, by setting up Singaporean subsidiaries. The reduced transaction costs may draw more international companies trading with China to set-up Singapore subsidiaries also, to efficiently manage their financial transactions. China does not permit 100% foreign shareholding, so Singapore investors and enterprises expanding into China must currently find local partners for Joint Venture opportunities. The upgraded CSFTA is expected to incorporate articles that adequately liberalise and protect Singapore investments in China. With the increased protection for Singapore investors under the CSFTA, international companies looking to invest in China will be able to set-up Singapore holding companies and route their investments through Singapore. The upgraded CSFTA will complement Singapore’s role as a regional business hub, an international financial center and as an important offshore hub for Yuan trading, thus catapulting the significance of Singapore in China’s ‘One Road One Belt’ scheme. Singapore will become the epicentre for China bound investors and businesses, as well as Chinese investors and enterprises looking for regional opportunities. Singapore’s ageing population and its growing focus on the environment and health care sectors offer potential investment grounds for Chinese investors and entrepreneurs. Welcoming the review Ms. Jacqueline Low, the COO of Hawksford Singapore, says, “It reflects China’s commitment to economic reforms. Liberalisation of the access to the service sector will benefit Singapore service companies. The consumption led growth model will attract more international companies to leverage the FTA to venture into China via Singapore. The trade engagement between both countries has spiked in the recent years, while Singapore is the largest ASEAN trading partner for China and China is the largest trading partner for Singapore. But as a service economy Singapore will positively gain with the potential upgrades to CSFTA. It will elevate Singapore’s role as a preferred domicile for global companies interested in Chinese markets and vice versa.”

Singapore tops two highly respected international surveys

admin_legendbusiness — Sun, 27 Mar 2016 07:05:08 +0000