As part of his ongoing journey across Asia, Swiss Finance Minister Ueli Maurer spent time in a major fintech hub in Singapore. During the visit it was suggested Asian start-ups might also look to Switzerland.
In Singapore the high-level Swiss delegation led by Federal Councillor Ueli Maurer and Joerg Gasser, State Secretary for International Financial Matters (SIF), as well as the top representatives of the Swiss Bankers Association, first held talks with the local exchange, SGX, and the local banking association.
On the second day of their stay in the tropical wealth management hub, the representatives were due to meet with Singapore's regulator The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
Leading Fintech Hub in Singapore
Prior to that however they visited the Fintech hub Lattice80 - which turned out to be an important program point on the seven-day trip to Asia's financial centres.
With a space over 30,000 square feet and equipped with more than 300 dedicated desks, Lattice80 is one of the leading Fintech hubs in Singapore (besides BLK17, JTC LaunchPad and One North). In just five months, it has succeeded in attracting 85 start-ups, which have implemented their projects on two large floors of the Robinson Road building. Premises which were formerly home to Societe Generale Private Bank in Singapore.
Expansion Plans to Europe
The centre is run by the Marvelstone Group, a private investment partnership, which, in addition to its activities in the asset management sector, also supports financial technology firms and partly invests in them, as founder Joe Seunghyun Cho told finews.asia.
Last year Marvelstone recalibrated its Hong Kong, Seoul and Kuala Lumpur units, then decided to centralize all its activities from its core hub in Singapore. Now the company is seriously looking at expanding into Europe as soon as possible.
Once established there, the Marvelstone Group wants to serve Asian fintechs as a conduit to push into the European hinterlands, but at the same time also work with European companies keen to come the other way into Asia.
Powerful Swiss Ally
As was clear during the visit, the Swiss government is very keen to have such a bridgehead in its own country, as Finance Minister Maurer explained. The Federal Council has recently also made its mark as a pioneer of the Swiss fintech scene, as finews.ch reported.
A version of Lattice80 in Switzerland would in fact have a tremendous radiance and would give the fintech scene an additional international component, not least with a view to liaising with a very important growth market.
Asia's fintech infrastructure and daily use is well established with China powering ahead as the most developed fintech country in the world .
Decision in the Summer
As Cho told finews.asia, Luxembourg's financial center is also an attractive option for Lattice80. The Swiss delegation though might just be able to pull off another Singapore and Swiss collaboration.
Ultimately, the Marvelstone founder, together with his partners this summer - after attending various fintech events in Europe, including the Money20/20 Europe in Copenhagen, the largest fintech fair of its kind in Europe, will decide.
