SINGAPORE: Move over, private banking. Enter the so-called family office service – a growing arm of banking dedicated to family businesses which are reportedly outperforming other business structures.

The new Straits Trading Building stands tall and gleaming in the heart of Singapore’s premier Raffles Place business district. One of the earliest prime office developments, it has been extensively rebuilt on the same site, officially re-opening its doors in 2010. And this, building something new out of the old, perhaps best symbolises the transformation taking place at one of Singapore’s oldest companies.

There is a keen need within the sector to professionalise family philanthropy, thus ensuring more strategic focus and an evolved mode of operation and funding.

SINGAPORE: Philanthropies in Singapore and Hong Kong made the highest proportion of international donations among Asian countries, according to a study by UBS and Insead.

Families of Chinese and Indian origin headed the Singapore list, sending the biggest proportion of funds back to China and India respectively.

The TAN CHIN TUAN FOUNDATION (TCTF) was established in 1976 by the eponymous prominent banker and philanthropist, fondly known as “Mr OCBC”. A self-made man who worked his way through the rungs to transform OCBC Bank – from the 1960s to the 1980s – from a community bank to a globally-ranked, sustainably performing financial institution, the Singapore-born Tan Sri Tan Chin Tuan also despised nepotism, callous wealth and social irresponsibility.

Singapore, Thursday 5th May 2011 – The Society of Friends of Encore! a non-profit organization promoting the European culture in Singapore announced the return for the fourth year of the highly successful Encore! the European Season in Singapore established in 2008 by the European Cultural Institutions.