Hong Kong and Singapore continue to battle for supremacy in the Asian cultural service sector industry. The auction business has been moving to Hong Kong since it came under the control of the mainland but Singapore has fought back by building a free port at the Changi airport. Christie’s just announced that it will take 40% of the 22,500 square meter facility to create an Asian home for Christie’s Fine Art Storage Services. ChannelnewsAsia takes the story from here:

Christie’s storage facility will feature Asia’s first ultra-high security and climate-controlled storage for billions of dollars worth of art works that are expected to be stored in Singapore. The development is expected to help jump-start other niche art services here.

Alain Vanderborre, President, The Singapore FreePort, said: “It will also spin off a number of new services that are not in Singapore today, in terms of dedicated art entrants, art lending and art appraisal services, fine art logistics services, as well as the ability to create in Singapore private collections which will be stored in The Singapore FreePort.”

Another of the spin-offs is expected to be new wealth management services in Singapore, such as art banking – lending which uses art pieces as collaterals. The Singapore FreePort said the facility will build confidence amongst banks and grow the art banking business here in Singapore. Currently, art banking services are understood to be unavailable in Singapore.

Christie’s to open Asia’s first high security storage facility (Channelnewsasia.com)