Summary
The article is correct. Money is flowing to Singapore. Not only money from Switzerland, but also money from China, Russia, and Indonesia. People do not trust their governments, and they are putting their trust in the benevolent dictator in Singapore. Singapore's government can stand up to the pressure put on it by other governments. It is a cross roads nation, and they have done a very good job positioning themselves to be a center of commerce in Asia.
I think the other thing the article proves is that people respond to incentives. If a government gets too overbearing, they will hide money. Look for the underground economy in the US to grow with the heavy tax hand of the Obama administration.
Analysis
Companies that are trading companies will be forced to set up shop in Singapore. Exchanges will have to have Asian exposure. Depending on what the US government regulatory re-work looks like, US companies and exchanges will have to set up some operations in the far east.
The regulatory environment in Europe has hurt volume at the DeutscheBorse. They have also not positioned themselves to be a world exchange. The LSE is a world exchange, but not because of anything they have done, but simply by virtue of the time zone they sit in. Plus, London continues to be an international city, where Berlin is not.
NYSE has expanded into Europe via Euronext and LIFFE, but they will have to expand into Asia to remain dominant. Possible places to go would be Singapore, or Hong Kong.
CME has turned itself into a global exchange via it's tele-hub system. It has expanded into Asia via Malaysia.
Still, the Chinese seek to dominate. They are not ready for full blown exchanges similar to what the west has. Hong Kong has been their financial engine, but the government will slowly transfer those networks and operations to Shanghai. Shanghai will be the center of the Chinese financial universe.
