Singapore, 5 Jan 2006...Singapore has been named the Financial Centre of the Future in The Banker magazine's inaugural awards^[1] for financial centres.  Singapore also came up tops in the Asia Pacific category.

2   The first-ever Financial Centres of the Future awards celebrate financial centres that have made the greatest strides in terms of growth and infrastructure in the past year. It recognises centres excelling in terms of growth, quality of regulation and supervision, infrastructure and business support services, as well as overall political and economic stability.

3   "Singapore has a combination of qualities that made it a natural choice as our Financial Centre of the Future 2005. There is strong regulation, an efficient business environment, and a diversity of instruments and services. The Banker congratulates the MAS on Singapore's success in winning the award," says Mr Brian Caplen, Editor, The Banker magazine.
 
4   "We are pleased to be selected for this inaugural award by The Banker," says Mr Heng Swee Keat, Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). "MAS is committed to our vision of Singapore as a leading global financial centre: one that is competitive, fosters enterprise and innovation, and maintains high supervisory standards. We have made good progress in these areas and will strive to do better."

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Information:

The Banker is the monthly financial publication owned by the Financial Times group of London. It was started in 1926 by Brendon Bracken who became Winston Churchill's Minister of Information during the Second World War. This year The Banker is celebrating its 80th anniversary with a special issue in January which included contributions from China's finance minister Jin Renqing, IMF managing director Rodrigo Rato and Opec president Sheikh Ahmad Fahad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah among others.

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