education and financial services. we have been focusing efforts to become an international fund management and wealth management centre. more financial institutions are using singapore as a regional hub to conduct their investment activities. singapore ’ s asset management industry has continued to grow, with assets under management surpassing us $ 430 billion. this is complemented by the presence of an active financial research community. singapore is also a hub for innovative equity products, including reits ( real estate investment trusts ), business trusts, derivatives and etfs ( exchange traded funds ). singapore currently has 16 listed reits and 5 listed business trusts with a total market capitalisation of about us $ 20 billion. given the huge developments taking place in asia, more foreign capital will be required and singapore could be the hub to raise capital for asian real estate and infrastructure players. we are mindful of rising business costs. office rental has gone up because of the spurt in demand. it should stabilize as more office space becomes available in the next few years. this year we have cut our corporate tax rates to 18 %. i can assure you that our corporate tax rates will always be competitive. talent, not just banks and investment houses, are drawn to a place where the living environment is clean, green, safe and buzzing with cultural vibrancy and business excitement. we will continue to make singapore an attractive city where foreign talent will want to come to work and live and where they will feel at home. conclusion let me conclude. asean is entering a new and exciting phase. individually, each asean country possesses unique strengths and offers unique opportunities. together, an integrated and revitalised asean holds great promise to become the third engine of growth in asia. singapore will contribute to the power of this engine. i wish you a pleasant evening and hope that you will have a fruitful stay in singapore. thank you.

surveillance and strict enforcement are therefore critical. mas takes a serious view of any false statement or omission of material information that misleads the market. we will not hesitate to impose stiff penalties on issuers who have made misleading statements in initial public offerings, or ipos. but no regulator can totally prevent fraud or misconduct. take for instance our experience with s - chips, or chinese companies listed on the sgx. many of them are reputable companies and add breadth to our equity capital market. but some of them are not. since 2006, accounting irregularities or outright frauds have been discovered in 14 such companies listed on the sgx. most of these cases came to light when the auditors were unable to confirm the companies ’ cash and account receivables. the counters were suspended pending investigations by special auditors, and investors had to bear the losses. i still get bis central bankers ’ speeches letters from investors who had lost money in these shares. i can understand their frustrations. many have asked mas to do more to bring the full force of our law to bear on the wrongdoers. let me state the position categorically : mas will leave no stone unturned to take rigorous action against those who break our laws. but there are real challenges when the fraud is perpetrated by parties outside our jurisdiction. cross - border investigations and enforcement are intrinsically difficult. singapore is not alone in facing challenges with international listings. co - operation among securities regulators and enforcement agencies in different jurisdictions is therefore critical. we cannot eliminate fraud. but we can and must ensure that companies that are brought to the market are of good quality. sgx must be rigorous in evaluating the suitability of listing applicants before admitting them. other stakeholders must play their part too. first, directors of the company seeking a listing must exercise adequate oversight of internal controls and ensure the veracity of information disclosed. second, ipo advisers have a legal and professional responsibility to conduct proper due diligence when bringing companies public. they must have a healthy dose of skepticism, and never place their commercial interests above the need to ensure that a company is suitable for a public listing. mas will not hesitate to take advisers to task for poor due diligence work. if the regulators, issuers, and advisers each do their jobs well, we can reduce the likelihood of poor quality companies gaining access to our markets. investors – safeguarding their interests this brings me to the second component of the capital market ecosystem