SINGAPORE: Asia’s “Fort Knox,” a private, maximum-security vault in Singapore, is for sale.
Formerly known as the Singapore Freeport, the building was heralded as part of the city state’s effort to boost its wealth management industry and become a regional hub for luxury collectables and bullion trading. For a while, that worked. In an emailed response to questions about Le Freeport sent via a spokesman, Bouvier declined to comment on whether the business was for sale. He said the “attacks by Mr. Rybolovlev against me in various courts and in the media have had a very negative effect on my business operations worldwide, including on the FreePort in Singapore.
IE Singapore, a government agency now known as Enterprise Singapore, in 2014 said the facility provided Asia “with its own Fort Knox,” a reference to the U.S. Bullion Depository in Kentucky. The building, designed by Swiss architects Benedicte Montant and Carmelo Stendardo, includes energy-saving features such as vegetation-covered walls to help maintain temperature and humidity levels.
In 2015, Singapore imposed new obligations to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing on GST-exempt warehouses including those at the Freeport.