Singapore targets fund managers with tax exemption, talent measures. The proposed tax exemption is expected to take effect from 2027. Get the hottest Fintech Singapore News once a month in your Inbox Singapore plans to offer fund managers a new tax break as competition for global investment firms heats up. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Ministry of Finance plan to exempt certain profit-related returns earned from managing qualifying funds. The exemption would apply when companies, partnerships or individuals receive a contractual share of a fund's profits for providing fund management services. It would not cover salaries, bonuses or other employee remuneration. Eligible funds must qualify under existing tax exemption schemes, meet economic substance requirements such as minimum headcount and be managed by Singapore-based fund managers. The exemption is expected to take effect from the Year of Assessment 2027. Further details will be announced during Budget 2027. MAS targets Hedge Fund managers. MAS will launch a Hedge Fund Investment Programme to invest with managers that establish or expand their presence in Singapore. The programme aims to attract global and regional hedge fund managers and investment talent. It will also support related businesses such as prime brokerages and other service providers. MAS will release more details at a later date. New ONE Pass track for investment professionals. MAS and the Ministry of Manpower also plan to create an Investment Management Track under the Overseas Networks and Expertise Pass framework. The track will target global leaders and senior investment professionals who already contribute or could contribute significantly to Singapore's asset management industry. Authorities may refine how salaries are assessed to reflect industry compensation structures. This could include recognising recurring returns linked to investment performance and fund outcomes alongside fixed monthly salaries. Singapore's asset management industry accounts for about 15% of financial sector output and 13% of its employment. It grew by an average of 7.5% a year over the past five years to nearly S$7 trillion. The sector employs close to 25,000 people across portfolio management, investment research, client servicing and risk management. Local workers make up about 80% of the workforce. Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by Hong Tat Chee, Minister for National Development via LinkedIn

Adecco Singapore launches Project Global Ready to strengthen workforce competitiveness. 14 August 2026 Adecco Singapore has been appointed to lead a public-private partnership with the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) under AfA-ACES, supporting workforce competitiveness and development. Through Project Global Ready, the initiative aims to help individuals build leadership capabilities, gain international market exposure and strengthen their workforce readiness, particularly those who may not otherwise have access to such opportunities. This initiative offers a valuable platform for developing skills and capabilities needed to thrive in an increasingly global and competitive business environment. Discover more here

The next safety push in Singapore isn't about construction sites. August 1, 2026 For years, workplace safety in Singapore has meant hard hats, scaffolds and confined spaces. But when MOM took the stage at the WSH Conference last week, the message was different: the next frontier of injury prevention is the ordinary workplace - the office corridor, the retail stockroom, the restaurant kitchen. And most of those workplaces are nowhere near ready. A new alliance, A broader battlefield. On 23 July, at the Singapore Workplace Safety and Health Conference held at Marina Bay Sands, the Ministry of Manpower announced the launch of the Alliance for Action on Safety and Health for Employment Longevity - AfA-SHEL - jointly led by MOM, NTUC and the Singapore National Employers Federation. The alliance's stated focus marks a quiet but significant shift in national safety policy: injury prevention for the general workforce, not just the high-risk industries that have traditionally dominated WSH enforcement. Singapore-registered organisations can submit proposals under the open call until 31 August 2026, with selected projects entering a 14-month innovation programme from August. Why ordinary workplaces are now in the spotlight. The timing is no accident. Singapore recorded 21 workplace fatalities by mid-2026 - a figure concerning enough that MOM called for a nationwide voluntary Safety Time-Out, with enhanced measures running through 31 July. But behind the fatality numbers sits a much larger volume of injuries that rarely make headlines: slips, trips and falls, and work-related musculoskeletal disorders. These are precisely the risks AfA-SHEL has been created to tackle, and they occur in workplaces that have never thought of themselves as dangerous - offices, shops, kitchens, warehouses and clinics. The compliance gap nobody talks about. Here is the uncomfortable truth for many SME owners: the Workplace Safety and Health Act applies to every workplace in Singapore, not just construction sites. Employers are required to display clear hazard signage wherever risks are present - wet floors, uneven steps, manual handling zones, restricted areas. Yet walk through a typical shophouse F&B outlet or a small logistics depot and you'll find laminated A4 printouts where SS 508-compliant signage should be, or nothing at all. When an inspector visits - or worse, when an injury claim lands - that gap becomes very expensive, very quickly. What compliant signage actually looks like. Singapore's SS 508 standard, aligned with the international ISO 7010 pictogram system, specifies the shapes, colours and symbols that make a sign legally and functionally effective: yellow triangles for warnings, blue circles for mandatory actions, red circles for prohibitions, and green squares for safe conditions and escape routes. The standard exists because consistent visual language works across a multilingual workforce - a wet-floor pictogram needs no translation. For general workplaces, the priority list is short and affordable: slip and trip warnings at wet or uneven areas, mandatory PPE signs where handling occurs, and photoluminescent exit signage that stays visible when the lights go out. Getting ahead of the curve. AfA-SHEL signals where enforcement attention and insurer expectations are heading: everyday workplaces will be held to the same visual-communication standards long expected of construction sites. The employers who act now - auditing their premises, replacing improvised printouts with compliant signage, and documenting the change - will be the ones who sail through inspections and keep their people off the injury statistics. Safety signage is the cheapest control measure in the entire WSH hierarchy. There has rarely been a clearer signal to get it right. Browse its full range of SS 508-compliant workplace safety signs at safetysigns.sg.