A panoply of services
Historically, Singapore never used to be a major centre for service providers to the Asia-Pacific hedge fund industry. In previous years, that role tended to be played by providers in Hong Kong or, to a lesser extent, in Tokyo.
Indeed, one visit to a well-known accounting firm in Singapore back in 2000 (when AsiaHedge was first published) centred on what precisely hedge funds actually did that was different from mutual funds. Education was clearly a major focus back then.
But things have changed out of all recognition in the intervening years. Indeed, if anything, it was the accounting firms and lawyers that initially led the way by increasing their direct involvement with hedge funds in Singapore.
The likes of PricewaterhouseCoopers, for example, first established a serious hedge fund effort in Singapore about five years ago. Law firm Clifford Chance also started to look at opportunities in...