Bank of Scotland International - Case Study of Matthew Oakley
Matthew Oakley (42), MVO MBE, didn’t acquire such an impressive string of letters to follow his name by leading an everyday existence. As a teen Matthew found languages came easily to him, especially German and French. This ensured that his path towards a life overseas was laid out in front of him at a relatively early age, and by the time he had spotted a national newspaper ad that enigmatically requested candidates with five O-Levels and a desire to work overseas, he was soon taking his first major step along that path.
The ad turned out to have been posted by the Foreign Commonwealth Office, which began Matthew’s 21-year career as a Foreign Office Diplomat. Along the way Matthew was awarded an MBE for his role in the response to the Bali Bombings in 2005, where having literally “crawled out of the flames and rubble”, he worked with the local consult until the foreign office could bring in support staff from Jakarta and London. He was also awarded the MVO in 1999 for taking the lead role in supervising the logistics, protocol and security for the Queen’s weeklong state visit to South Africa.
All of this experience in foreign living puts Matthew in an enviable position when it comes to offering advice to anyone looking to follow in his footsteps and embark upon a life abroad; although Matthew concedes that moving around the world with the Foreign Office was “a slightly cushioned environment as they look after everything for you.”
Despite having lived all over the world, including stints in Germany, Athens, Cyprus and South Africa, Matthew spent the longest period of time in Singapore. Here he split eight years between working for the British High Commission, a role as referee development manager for the Singapore Rugby Union and the directorship of security company Drum Cassac.
Of Singapore Matthew comments, “Singapore is and should be a very easy country to move to and do business in. In some respects it is the most ‘un-Asian’ region of Asia, in that English is the first language of business and it is incredibly well regulated,” a sentiment supported by the Economist Intelligence Unit, which placed Singapore first from 2003-07 and third in its 2008 business environment tables. Matthew continues, “It is also highly internet capable. You can successfully set up a business within a working week – provided your paperwork is in order.”
Matthew also commends The Economic Development Board’s active encouragement of inward investment, which creates a positive environment for professional entrepreneurs to go to Singapore and invest in start-ups. Completing the picture, Matthew also sites a well-educated workforce, a world-leading airport, and unrivalled geographical positioning – being as it is at the heart of the South East Asia, within reasonable distance of Australia, New Zealand and Dubai – as contributing factors to Singapore’s continuing success.
Matthew does sound a word of caution regarding the cost of living; “It is not a cheap place for a family to live, especially if you have children to put through international schooling. If you want to live the champagne lifestyle, then you will find that alcohol is very expensive. However if you want to embrace the genuine Singapore lifestyle, the food found in the backstreet markets is not only of a very high quality but is also very affordable.” Cars are also prohibitively expensive to run. In an attempt to keep congestion to a minimum it is essential to buy a licence, which costs at least the price of the car – effectively doubling the amount you have to pay to get one on the road. This system however is a necessary and successful evil in encouraging people to use Singapore’s state of the art train service.
When it comes to financing your life overseas an offshore bank account is essential, according to Matthew, a Bank of Scotland International (www.bankofscotland-international.com) customer. “You need £5,000 to open an account but it’s a great way to have world-wide access to your money, competitive interest rates and certain tax advantages. I have sterling and euro accounts, giving me more options if I have to move money from my savings to any part of the world.
