Two of Asia’s foremost financial cities, Singapore and Shanghai, have signed a total of nine agreements as part of the third Singapore-Shanghai Financial Forum (SSFF) organised by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (
MAS) and the Shanghai Financial Services Office.
The agreements, signed by both government and private entities, are in line with the increased focus by both territories’ governments on trade and investment relations.
“We will build on the strong partnership with our Shanghai counterparts to facilitate greater collaboration as we navigate the new financial world order,” Jacqueline Loh, deputy managing director of MAS, was quoted by Today at the forum’s opening.
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Some of the agreements signed include improvement of risk management and hedging tools, ensuring better insurance coverage of infrastructure projects, and making both markets more conducive to financial technology and start-up firms.
The MAS is also looking at creating a customised training programme to encourage mutual exchange between players of both financial sectors. This will increase firms’ understanding of each other’s markets, making it easier to do business.
According to OCBC Bank chief executive Samuel Tsien, both cities are critical gateways for trade, investment, and capital flows not only in Asia, but for the rest of the world as well.
Tsien said that direct investment flows between China and the ASEAN economies of Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand totalled around US$20.4 billion.
“The ties and connectivity between the two cities will certainly deepen further,” said Tsien. “It is therefore very important that banks, insurance companies, and asset management companies follow the financial market developments in China attentively, and be positioned and prepared for the opportunities that are bound to increase, as investment, wealth, capital, trade and people flows intensify,”
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