Making Daily Headlines · Page 4
Singapore Offers Gold a Better Closet and a Tax Conversation
· New York time
Singapore is stepping up efforts to become a bigger player in the global gold market, betting that vaulting services and tax incentives will attract flows. The financial center's pitch combines an unglamorous requirement, secure storage, with the more glamorous prospect of attracting valuable business. Gold trades across borders, but the metal itself has to be held somewhere. Vaults, services and the rules governing transactions all matter to participants choosing where to do business. Singapore's campaign is an attempt to win more of that activity, not proof that its desired share has already arrived. The contest is relevant to a global market in which buyers, sellers and financial institutions operate across many jurisdictions, including the United States. A location offering convenient storage and favorable tax treatment is competing for the business around the metal as well as for the metal itself. The contrast makes for an unusual marketing challenge. Gold is usually advertised through scarcity, shine and images of wealth. A financial center must also sell the virtues of secure rooms, logistics and paperwork. Singapore's proposition is essentially that a precious object deserves a practical home, and that the landlord's tax arrangements are worth a look. Even a bar of gold, it seems, needs someone to manage the lease.
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