Speaking to the regional news service last week, senior analyst at Forecast, Sani Hamid explained that:

"Very important here is credibility. Singapore has to prove that it can function as an Islamic banking (and) wealth management centre according to Syariah principles with credibility, with its expertise, and professionally."

Although Middle Eastern investors have reportedly been keen to seek out investments in Singapore which comply with Islamic principles, Mr Hamid suggested that it is in the area of Islamic wealth management that the Singapore authorities should concentrate their efforts.

"We have only about 500,000 Muslims in Singapore, so therefore when you talk about setting up several banks with Islamic banking facilities it just doesn't make sense because the critical mass is not there. When you talk about wealth management, you're talking about the whole world, investors from the Middle East, Indonesia, Malaysia and even the US. Therefore the critical mass is there for the taking," he concluded.