AFP News/Roslan
Rahman - View of a row bars and restaurants in Singapore's Tanjong
Pagar district on April 10, 2013
Singapore’s main
lifestyle drawcards were once only of the serious sort: good
schools, upmarket apartments, excellent public transport, and clean
air (at least compared with Hong Kong). These days, however,
bankers are finding new, more frivolous, reasons to adore the
city-state. Singapore boasts the densest millionaire population in the world
– and there are some new attractions to keep those rich
professionals occupied, from $25,000 cocktails to art gallery
openings.
“Traditionally,
Singapore relied on tax incentives, sound regulation and
‘family-friendly’ lifestyles to attract banking talent,” said
Clifford Lee, managing director and head of fixed income at DBS,
Singapore’s biggest bank. “But now we’ve largely achieved these
aspects, the more recent focus has been on making Singapore a more
vibrant and exciting place to live.”
Initial attempts
to soup up Singapore received strong government
support. Marina Bay
Sands, a casino, shopping, conference, museum, theatre and
hotel complex famous for its rooftop infinity swimming pool, opened
in 2010, while the Singapore Grand
Prix Formula 1 motor race has been drawing crowds to its
flood-lit street circuit since 2008.
But it’s not just
large projects like casinos and the recently opened Gardens by the Bay, a horticultural Disney Land,
that are helping Singapore shed its former staid reputation. “The
weekend before last you could choose from sipping champagne in the
VIP lounge of the Singapore Yacht Show, tasting a
chocolate-inspired steak sauce at the World Gourmet Summit, experiencing a pop-up
cocktail, cigar and dining event at ClubVivre, or attending one of eight gallery
openings in the newly-revamped Gillman
Barracks and Tanjong Pagar Distripark arts centres,” said
Virginia Brumby, director of Survival Chic, a
lifestyle members group for executives in Singapore.
Brumby said the
range and vibrancy of entertainment options are making bankers and
other professionals want to stay. “People will move here for their
careers, but the decision to stay is definitely affected by the
quality of the lifestyle,” she said.
Bankers in
Singapore often start their evenings at the many new bars which
grace the Marina Bay Financial Centre, a glitzy high-rise
enclave which is also home to Standard Chartered, DBS, Societe
Generale, Barclays, Macquarie Group and Nomura Securities. “They
can enjoy amazing views of the bay and watch the setting sun
glinting off the casino,” said Tony Latimer, an executive coach at
theAsia-Pacific Corporate Coach Institute in
Singapore. “Compare that to drinking at roadside bars in Hong Kong,
along dirty, traffic-laden back streets, sucking in the fumes of
diesel buses and taxis,” he added.
Singapore’s
drinking scene – once dominated by dowdy pubs like Harry’s, the favourite 1990s hangout of rogue
trader Nick
Leeson – has transformed itself in recent years. “We’ve
moved from friendly but basic bars to funky watering holes like
Japanese-style Kinki, and
New-York inspired cocktail joints like 28
Hong Kong Street,” said Brumby from Survival Chic. Then
there’s The Library, one of a new crop of “secret” watering holes that are too cool to
even have signboards.
For the ultimate
indulgence, try Pangaea, a posh club where bankers can spend their
bonuses on$25,000 cocktails that come with one-carat
diamonds. “It’s upped the ante, and the prices, for clubbing here,
and has attracted serious international jetsetters with limitless
credit cards,” said Brumby.
While some
financial professionals still prefer to dine in Singapore’s
traditional hawker
centres, open-air food courts selling cheap and tasty local
delights, a plethora of new high-end restaurants is helping many of
them part with their cash.
“Restaurateurs in
Singapore now have the money and the daring to push the envelope,”
said Brumby. “That’s what’s attracted international chefs
like Tippling Club’s Ryan
Clift and up-and-coming chefs like Alejandro Luna
of Sur or Keystone’s Immanuel Tee. The local talent is also considerable,
with the amazing Janice Wong of 2am: Dessert
Bar, and the eponymous Andre Chiang,” she
added.
Not everyone is
convinced that Singapore has the entertainment clout to compete
with other major financial centres. “We lack a New York, London or
Hong Kong ‘underbelly’ here – fringe theatre, live music on spec in
bars, indie dance clubs,” said Emma Boyd, director of Singapore
consultancyPinstripe Business Solutions and a manager at
the Financial Women’s Association Singapore. “And at
the top end, Singapore is a collection of formatted experiences,
which are nice once in a while when you’re escaping the kids for an
evening,” she said.
