Singapore’s repute as a protected harbor for rich mainland Chinese language households is fading, reversing an influx that got here on the expense of rival wealth hubs like Hong Kong and Japan. Its attract for China’s rich surged after 2019, when a wave of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong led to a clampdown by Beijing and the introduction of a nationwide safety legislation the following yr. These occasions pushed mainland Chinese language households in Hong Kong to hunt distance from Beijing’s grip. Political stability, a positive family-office regime, impartial courts, and Mandarin fluency made Singapore a pure draw for China’s super-rich. Within the wake of a 3 billion Singapore greenback ($2.3 billion) money-laundering scandal in 2023 — dubbed the “Fujian case” the place the culprits hailed from — Singapore’s regulators and banks launched into an aggressive clean-up, tightening guidelines and re-screening of rich purchasers. “When the Fujian information broke, loads of these rich Chinese language left. So actually, nearly all … they go to Hong Kong, the Center East, Japan,” stated Ryan Lin, a director at Bayfront Legislation in Singapore . That departure has accelerated since then. A number of layers of checks Lin, who vets and processes functions from rich Chinese language people in search of to determine household places of work or reside in Singapore, fielded 50% fewer functions from mainland purchasers now in comparison with 2022, particularly as compliance checks and different new rules come into power. From their standpoint, [wealthy mainland clients] are pondering: Do I really want to declare my illegitimate son simply because I need to handle wealth in Singapore? director at Bayfront Legislation Ryan Lin The Financial Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) push to strengthen compliance, significantly round crypto, has additional chilled curiosity, particularly for individuals who discovered wealth on this particular house. In 2025, Singapore launched rules requiring platforms working in Singapore providing merchandise comparable to cryptocurrencies, stablecoins or tokenized equities, to clients exterior the city-state, to be licensed. Singapore’s central financial institution signaled approvals could be uncommon, whereas imposing steep compliance prices, together with a SG$250,000 minimal capital requirement alongside strict anti-money laundering, expertise danger, and conduct guidelines. Crypto corporations providing providers to clients inside Singapore are already regulated underneath current legal guidelines. “So for this yr, those that are within the crypto house significantly, they’ve all gone due to this specific laws by the MAS,” Lin stated. “It is already very laborious to use for a license in Singapore, and then you definately come out with one other laws concentrating on even providers to individuals exterior Singapore. So all of them left.” “I nonetheless suppose [the exodus] could be very pushed by rules. In order the rules turn out to be stricter, these Chinese language simply say: neglect it. My persistence is gone,” he added. In response to CNBC’s question, Singapore’s MAS stated that the cash laundering case has not modified its place on regulatory requirements. “Singapore welcomes professional wealth. MAS is working with monetary establishments in Singapore to enhance our practices in order that they’re sound, efficient and environment friendly,” stated an MAS spokesperson. The fallout from Singapore’s money-laundering scandal and high-profile crypto failures like Three Arrows Capital and FTX triggered an aggressive compliance push in 2024, in response to Iris Xu, founding father of company providers agency Jenga, whose purchasers are rich mainland Chinese language in Singapore. Banks and monetary establishments undertook sweeping “clean-ups” — redoing know-your-customer (KYC) checks, re-screening household workplace functions, and in some circumstances closing accounts altogether. That left many rich Chinese language purchasers in limbo, unable to entry or open new accounts. “After the entire yr, it destroyed a few of the purchasers’ persistence and confidence. “Should you do not give them accounts, the place are they going to do enterprise?” Xu stated, noting that pissed off purchasers started transferring funds to Japan, Hong Kong and Dubai as a substitute. The boundaries transcend finance. Candidates for everlasting residence and household places of work should endure intensive background checks, together with disclosures about their household and dependents — necessities they see as invasive, stated Lin. “From their standpoint, they’re pondering: Do I really want to declare my illegitimate son simply because I need to handle wealth in Singapore?” he advised CNBC. Is Singapore dropping its wealth hub standing? In accordance with Henley & Companions, an advisory agency that helps rich purchasers to acquire residency via investments, Singapore is about to see a pointy slowdown in wealth migration in 2025, with a projected internet influx of 1,600 millionaires — lower than half the three,500 anticipated in 2024 . Carman Chan, founding father of Click on Ventures, a single-family workplace, equally famous that lots of her household workplace friends who arrange companies in Singapore are relocating again to Hong Kong. Chan, whose single-family workplace has a presence in each places, cited challenges like longer KYC screenings and hiring quotas for the rich to run a household workplace in Singapore. Household places of work within the city-state that need to qualify for tax exemption schemes should rent a minimal variety of funding professionals in Singapore, who should have taxable earnings within the nation. For small outfits, this requirement can really feel like a close to one-to-one ratio of native to overseas employees, since a two-person workplace should already embrace a neighborhood rent. “If they do not have sufficient locals, that is additionally a bottleneck as a result of you may’t simply fly individuals from exterior and relocate them to Singapore,” Chan stated. Coupled with more durable compliance checks, Chan famous that some KYC approvals took over a yr, prompting some traders to shift operations elsewhere. Comparatively, it reportedly takes about two to 6 months in Dubai’s Worldwide Monetary Centre . For Hong Kong, securing residency or a piece visa for household workplace professionals is normally uncomplicated, relative to Singapore, in response to advisory agency Acclime . After they lived in Hong Kong earlier than, they is perhaps partying at 4 or 5 within the morning with associates. And so they like that way of life. Associate at Pandan Investments Christopher Aw “It is a lengthy queue, and that is why some individuals really relocate again to Hong Kong,” she added. This yr, Hong Kong rolled out extra measures like tax incentives to draw rich people and establishments. For one, Hong Kong has lowered the boundaries for rich individuals to qualify for residency via funding after revamping its Capital Funding Entrant Scheme earlier this yr. As a substitute of proving they’ve held 30 million Hong Kong {dollars} in property for 2 years, candidates now solely want six months, and so they can depend family-held wealth or make investments by way of family-owned corporations. “I used to be fairly shocked, as a result of I feel loads of these rich Chinese language have very brief recollections. They forgot why they got here to Singapore within the first place,” Bayfront Legislation’s Lin stated. Past rules, softer elements like way of life variations play a task, particularly for the youthful wealthy. “After they lived in Hong Kong earlier than, they is perhaps partying at 4 or 5 within the morning with associates. And so they like that way of life,” stated Christopher Aw, a companion at Pandan Investments who additionally famous that a number of rich Chinese language friends in Singapore have relocated to Dubai or Hong Kong. Dominic Volek, group head at Henley & Companions, frames the pattern as certainly one of rebalancing and hedging jurisdictional publicity. “Rising regulatory scrutiny, tightening compliance regimes, and social shifts might contribute to their want for larger privateness and suppleness elsewhere,” he stated. Singapore has been a “booming” hub, however now “it is cooling down, cleansing up,” Jenga’s Xu stated. “The previous few years have undoubtedly been a superb time for Singapore, and having some corrections now could be regular,” she added.
