Given the static and dynamic properties of high-performance financial systems and their role in the functioning of the real sector of the economy—as well as the international competitive properties of the national financial systems themselves—how should the prospects of individual financial centres be gauged? That is, based on the foregoing discussion of criteria for high-performance financial systems: (1) in domestic financial intermediation; (2) in competing as a financial centre for value-added services for non-residents; and (3) as a viable home base for financial institutions in their efforts to compete effectively internationally, how do individual financial systems appear to perform? Perhaps a good approach is to begin with a set of criteria such as those provided in Table 9.1, containing the main issues covering the three aspects of financial performance measurement. To illustrate, we shall apply them to the case of Singapore.

As the basis for forming some reasoned judgment on this question, it is useful to outline briefly the salient characteristics of Singapore's financial system and its evolution.

Economic and Policy Environment

The evolution of Singapore's financial sector is profoundly conditioned by the strong economic performance of the country itself and the region in which it lies. Singapore has historically had a very high rate of real economic growth, averaging 8.4 per cent during 1960-90 and attaining 6.7 per cent in 1991 and 5.8 per cent in 1992—a period of comparatively weak global economic activity. Comparable real growth rates were recorded in the remaining ASEAN countries (with the exception of the Philippines) and in Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong and China, making the regional market for financial services generated in Singapore the world's most buoyant.

Rapid growth in Singapore and its environs had been coupled to an extremely high domestic gross savings rate averaging 19.3 per cent in the 1970s, 34.2 per cent in the 1980s, and attaining 46.4 per cent in 1992.