The Singapore Branch of the SCSB officially opened on July 15. It showed SCSB’s resolution to expand its business in the Asia Pacific market. On the same day in the morning, Chairman Yung Hung-ching hosted the inauguration event.

The Singapore Branch hosted a celebration dinner on July 14, inviting Ambassador Ta-tung Chang, local Taiwanese and other Chinese-speaking businessmen, in total nearly 100 guests, the bank stated.

SCSB has set up branches in Hong Kong and Dong Nai, Vietnam and has set up representative offices in Bangkok, Thailand, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and Jakarta, Indonesia. The Singapore Branch is the sixth overseas location of SCSB and is an important base for the bank in its plan to expand the Asean market, stated the SCSB.

The Singapore Branch will focus on corporate finance as its core business, providing a wide variety of services and financial commodities that include foreign currency deposits, trade finance, business credit, cash management and currency exchange. Cooperating with the overseas branches, OBU and overseas representative offices, the Singapore Branch can provide Taiwanese and other Chinese-speaking businessmen with international financial services. In the future, local business teams in Singapore will develop local high-quality clients, said the SCSB.

The Shanghai Commercial Bank (SCB) is SCSB’s subsidiary in Hong Kong. SCB has set up 43 branches, including in London, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Shenzhen and Shanghai. There is even a branch in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone. Along with the six overseas service bases, the global financial network of SCSB is definitely complete, the bank added.

Singapore is the fourth global financial centre and is a pivot for global finance, trade and transportation. Taiwan and Singapore have always had a close economic relationship. Singapore is Taiwan’s sixth biggest trade partner. Last year the trade amount between the two counties reached US$24.37 billion. Singapore is Taiwan’s sixth most popular investment destination. As of May 31, there were 2,186 investment cases in Singapore, accounting for US$7.97 billion, according to the SCSB.

For Taiwanese investors, the most invested industries in Singapore are finance and insurance, electronics manufacture, food processing, chemical material manufacture. Among those major Taiwanese investors in Singapore, there is a wide array of public listed companies, such as TSMC, UMC, Hon Hai, Asus, Compal, Asia Cement, CTCI and Wan Hai. In Singapore, the average income is high, and the unemployment rate is low, the SCSB stated.