(SINGAPORE) Singapore's growing financial sector is well known for attracting talent from other countries. But under the radar are Singaporeans who leave for Hong Kong, drawn by the territory's higher pay and gritty edge.
There are over 10,000 Singaporeans living in Hong Kong, according to Invest Hong Kong, a government agency.
Singaporeans have long been active in various business sectors including financial services, property, transport, trading, retail, food and beverage, publishing and IT.
Trade between Hong Kong and Singapore in 2006 was US$27.5 billion, and some 150 Singapore companies maintain regional headquarters or offices in Hong Kong.
Besides Singaporeans who are posted to work in Hong Kong by their employers, others are lured there by higher salaries and bigger opportunities, say headhunters.
Jiang W M, who moved to Hong Kong recently to work for a big American law firm for a monthly pay of at least US$10,000, is one of them. She will join the firm's derivatives, structured products and funds team.
Only 26 years old and with less than three years' experience after working at two law firms in Singapore, Ms Jiang said she is impressed by the knowledge of her new boss.
'It (Hong Kong) is a great place to build your CV,' she said. 'A lot of my friends are moving there. It's very exciting. A lot of big deals are done there. It's gritty. It's real. It offers you anonymity.'
J Hon's two children have been working in Hong Kong's financial sector since they left university.
'My daughter wanted to come back here but she said the pay difference was too great. She's been there 10 years,' said Ms Hon.
Her daughter, who currently works in a hedge fund, didn't start off preferring Hong Kong, but that was where she found her first job after graduation. Her son decided to join the sister after graduating one- and-a-half years ago.
Besides working in the financial sector, many Singaporeans can also be found in Hong Kong's IT industry, said Subrina Chow, director, Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Singapore.
Ms Chow said Singaporeans working in Hong Kong are pretty evident. 'You come across them in the street or at the next table (in a restaurant).'
Some older Singaporeans may already have had their fill of the excitement of working and living in Hong Kong, but their attempts to return home have not always been successful.
The wage differential is just too big, especially for the more senior positions - sometimes as much as double the salary will be offered by a foreign bank in Hong Kong, compared with what can be earned in Singapore, observers say.
'Over the past couple of years, quite a few Singaporeans have moved to HK, for bigger salaries due to the higher cost of living there and larger regional responsibilities,' said Andrew Price, director, banking & finance, at Global Search Partners Pte Ltd.
Even in private banking, where Singapore dominates as the preferred booking centre in Asia, there is still a discrepancy in salaries though this has narrowed quite a bit, said Nick Hughes of Fox Partnership, which specialises in placing people in private banks.
Hong Kong's financial markets in areas such as fixed income, fund management and treasury are bigger than those in Singapore.
Being next door to China, where some of the biggest deals are done, makes Hong Kong a natural magnet for major investment banks.
China is estimated to lead the region with an estimated US$39.8 billion of IPOs this year, says Thomson Reuters. Up to May, only five IPOs that raised a paltry US$53.1 million had been launched in Singapore this year.
Where Singapore takes the lead is in foreign exchange, private banking and back office processing. Most of the American banks have bigger investment banking operations in Hong Kong than Singapore.
But most of the European banks have bigger operations in the Republic. And all of them use Singapore as one of their main international bases for private banking, Mr Price noted.
This article was first published in The Business Times on 7 July 2008.
