Singapore asks banks to keep quiet on wealth inflows during China boom
https://www.ft.com/content/ea198ae9-7157-4e3c-9832-2db4cf93d1c2Singapore has asked the world’s biggest banks to avoid discussing the origins of the significant sums of money flowing into the city over the past year, as wealthy Chinese funnel billions into the Asian financial hub. The tacit directive from the Monetary Authority of Singapore was given during a February 20 meeting of an industry group made up of bankers and regulators, according to multiple people who attended.
The flow from China into Singapore has become a politically sensitive issue domestically, and the MAS wants banks to keep public discussion of the phenomenon to a minimum, said three people with knowledge of the talks.
.......it is acutely aware of the potential for domestic pushback against the influx of Chinese money and how it could widen Singapore’s income gap, already a political pressure point given the rising cost of living and soaring rents. “The Chinese presence is being felt everywhere,” said one industry group executive in the asset management industry. “It is not just super yachts and luxury cars anymore, it is being percolated down to everyday people and it is a topic of conversation across all layers of Singapore society. “We haven’t been told explicitly not to talk about” China, the executive added, “but there is a sense in the financial services industry that talking about it publicly will not be welcomed.”
