UPDATE 1-Singapore to meet OECD tax standard after France deal

* Tax deal with France to mark 12th info exchange agreement

* Deal means Singapore to be removed from OECD tax grey list

* Liechtenstein says on Wednesday will be off OECD grey list

* Private bankers expect transparency to boost business (Updates with details, Liechtenstein move)

By Neil Chatterjee and Saeed Azhar

SINGAPORE, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Asian financial centre Singapore is set to be taken off the OECD's "grey list" of countries not implementing international standards on information exchange, giving a boost to its fast-growing wealth industry.

France will sign the agreement with Singapore on Friday, according to an invitation from the French government.

The agreement features the new internationally agreed standard that requires governments to disclose financial information upon specific foreign requests to chase tax evaders.

It marks the 12th such agreement Singapore has signed, the number of treaties required to be removed from the OECD list.

Singapore's Ministry of Finance could not immediately comment.

Liechtenstein said on Wednesday it had been removed from the "grey list" after it took steps to cooperate with foreign countries in tax matters, the latest offshore centre to fall in line with global standards.

The Group of 20 nations had threatened to impose sanctions on all financial centres that did not cooperate on tax issues. The G20 agreed in April to crack down on countries that failed to help in cross-border tax evasion cases.

Private bankers in Singapore have said the stamp of transparency will not scare rich clients away but will instead help the city-state's offshore wealth management industry, which vies with Hong Kong to be the biggest in Asia, by attracting fresh funds from Europe and the Middle East.

However, some worry that regional countries such as Indonesia, which has been cracking down on tax evasion, could also move to try to push Singapore to disclose the details of funds held by rich Indonesians in the city-state [ID:nSP436002].

The OECD in April published a "grey list" of more than 30 countries that had agreed to improve transparency but had not signed the necessary international accords, of which Singapore was one.

Singapore endorsed the OECD standard for the exchange of information for tax purposes in March and has been renegotiating existing agreements with various countries since then.