RPT-SPECIAL REPORT-Singapore swing: Playing for wealth crown

(Repeats with corrected currency conversion 12th paragraph)

* Singapore funds under management up 40 pct from 2008

* Bankers like the light-touch regulatory environment

* Big banks plan to increase assets, headcounts in Asia

* Casinos, theme parks, luxury homes cater to the wealthy

* Asia's rich saw assets surge 31 pct in 2009

By Raju Gopalakrishnan

SINGAPORE, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Along a sun-splashed cobblestone street in central Singapore, coatless bankers with loosened ties quaff imported beers in a neighbourhood of gaily painted shophouses called Duxton Hill.

The scene is almost European. And for long-time residents of this Southeast Asian city-state at the crossroads of some of the world's busiest shipping lanes, a bit bemusing. Just a couple of years ago late-night revelers used to tumble out of ill-lit pubs and grimy, illicit brothels on Duxton Hill.

The transformation is a microcosm of the reinventions Singapore has undergone to keep an island with almost no resources and roughly the size of New York City competitive in a neighbourhood of fast-growing emerging markets.

Boutique funds, advisory firms and brokerages are putting down roots in a revamped Duxton Hill, where opium and gambling dens run by Chinese triad gangs flourished last century.

Singapore has attracted hundreds of such firms in the past decade, lured by its light-touch registration requirements and relatively benign regulatory climate, even as Switzerland, the world's leading wealth manager, gets tougher on bank secrecy. >^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^ Factbox on Singapore financial regulation [ID:nSGE68E00P] Analysis on Swiss wealth mangement industry [ID:nSGE68L03X] ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^<

"Our vision of this place is the Singapore version of London's West End," said Ed Peter, 47, a Swiss-born fund manager who has been buying up shophouses in Duxton Hill.

The neighbourhood, in truth, bears little resemblance to London's theatre district, but it's also a far cry from its shady past.

"It's going upmarket. It's cool. It's funky," said Peter, speaking effusively at his office in a three-storey building which housed an Elvis impersonator bar just two years ago. "You've got half the financial community here."

Next door, the raunchy Aristocats pub closed shop a few months ago, providing space for Daun Consulting, a private equity adviser, to expand from its upper-level offices.

Peter, Deutsche Bank's (DBKGn.DE) head of asset management for Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa before setting up his own firm in Singapore, manages about $650 million.

The squeaky clean city of 5.1 million, nicknamed the "nanny state" for its propensity for micromanagement, is fast emerging as one of the world's hottest destinations for wealth -- and the wealthy, who now have casinos and theme parks for play, and seaside mansions and penthouses to stay. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the central bank, estimated overall assets under management in the city totalled a record S$1.2 trillion ($900 billion) at end-2009 -- the most in Asia and up about 40 percent from a year ago.

The Boston Consulting Group estimates private banks alone in Singapore manage about $500 billion in assets. The numbers are dwarfed by the estimated $2 trillion in private wealth managed in Switzerland, but the growth in Singapore is startling, wealth managers say. (For a graphic, click: link.reuters.com/mew25p)

"In the last 10-12 years I've seen Singapore really take a leadership role in changing the landscape of the wealth management industry," says Deepak Sharma, chairman of Citi Private Bank.

"The regulatory environment in Singapore is one of the finest. It has one of the best standards in the world, but at the same time, it is consultative. It engages the industry."

GO EAST YOUNG MAN

The big players, including Swiss giants UBS AG (UBSN.VX) (UBS.N) and Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX) who have a global stranglehold on private wealth management, are among those looking East. UBS, usually chary about its plans, says it will hire 400 new staffers in the Asia-Pacific region in the next few years.

Credit Suisse said net new assets from clients in Asia climbed to 11.5 billion Swiss francs ($11.78 billion) in 2009 from 8.4 billion in 2008. In the first six months of this year, net new assets came in at 7.1 billion Swiss francs.

Morgan Stanley (MS.N) plans to double its Asia headcount in wealth management over the next three years, largely focusing on the top end of the market.

JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) plans to triple its private banking assets in Asia over the next five years and plans to increase its headcount in the region by 40 percent over the current 400, a company spokesman in New York said this week.

"I believe Singapore will be the true private banking hub," said Massimo Hilber, managing partner at private Swiss bank Marcuard who, like Peter, has an office on Duxton Hill. "All the big players are here, and the smaller players like us. You have to be here."

Why Singapore?

First, assets held by Asia-Pacific's high net worth individuals -- people owning more than $1 million excluding home, collectibles and durables -- surged 31 percent in 2009 to $9.7 trillion, overtaking Europe, according to CapGemini/Merrill Lynch. (Click link.reuters.com/gew25p for a graphic)

Second, high net-worth individuals seeking high-return investments are turning to emerging markets. Accordingly, portfolios of such individuals included 22 percent in Asia-Pacific investments in 2009, up from 19 percent in 2008, and will soon overtake Europe, the CapGemini study says.

Many of these changes are focused on Singapore, which is at the crossroads of new wealth being created in China, India and Indonesia, some of the fastest growing economies in the world.

Singapore, which has the world's highest concentration of millionaires, is poised to grow its own economy 13-15 percent this year, possibly the fastest rate in the world. (Click link.reuters.com/kew25p for a graphic on millionaires)

Hong Kong is Asia's other big financial centre, but tends to focus on investment banking and deal-making in China rather than in the management of private wealth, bankers say.

"Hong Kong probably makes great business sense from an investment banker perspective, but I don't think it has invested as much in itself in creating a place for families to live," says Nick Pollard, Asia chief executive of private banker RBS Coutts.

"What Singapore has done very well is that it has almost created a whole infrastructure, not just a place to work, but also a place to live, a place to educate your children, a place to have great fun."