Written by Enrico Rossi
Swiss Embassy
Today, we were welcomed by the Swiss Embassy in Singapore. Joël Brunner greeted us. The newest embassy of all Swiss embassies represents sustainability, tradition, integrity, and innovation. It includes Switzerland Global Enterprise, Presence Switzerland, the Army Staff, Switzerland Tourism, and Swissnex. Currently, there are about 400 Swiss companies with about 25,000 employees in Singapore.
Switzerland first established a presence in 1871 with the Swiss Club. An interesting fact: one of the main reasons for founding the Swiss Club was mandatory shooting practice, which the founders wanted to fulfill even whilst abroad. The Swiss Embassy in Singapore was established in 1967, two years after Singapore gained their independence. There are also other Swiss non-profit organizations in Singapore which support swiss businesses and people in Singapore like SwissCham and the Swiss Association.
Following Joëls presentation Jonas Thüri introduced us to the company Tenity. Tenity invests heavily in FinTech start-ups in Europe and Asia. The company has 50 employees. Investments in Asia flow to Singapore because it has established itself well. Reasons for this include the rule of law, ease of setting up a company, and favorable tax policies. Singapore is a gateway to the ASEAN market and a financial hub, making it very attractive.
At noon, we enjoyed a delicious meal at the Swiss Club, where we felt at home thanks to the Swiss dishes and drinks like Züri Gschnätzlets and Rivella.
Swiss National Bank
In the afternoon, we visited the Swiss National Bank, which is also active in Singapore. Ramon Jud explained that one of the reasons for their presence here is to be closer to the Asian market and to take advantage of the time zone difference to trade during important market hours without being up very early or late.
Another exciting day came to an end. We thank Joël Brunner, Jonas Thüri, and Ramon Jud for this informative day all about Switzerland in Singapore.