No way, there are hundreds of boutique asset management firms out there and the industry is by no means "small" in Singapore. Banks, GIC Temasek and large institutions are just the more popular ones that every layman on the street knows.

I worked as IT engineer for an outsourcing firm last year. Many of these companies outsource their IT maintainance and support & my team have been looking after their networks for a lot of them.

They are usually small with <20 employees and tend to take up offices in less expensive areas instead of the usual Raffles Place / Marina Bay area. Take a stroll along Amoy St / Club St / Tanjong Pagar area and you will see a lot of them tucked in some small shophouse 2nd or 3rd floor. Beach road area like Key Point, Concourse, Fortune Centre also got quite a bit.

Another kind of company that largely similar to PE are the private foundations. Their investment process is not too different from PE, but they tend to be more conservative. Sometimes when I talk to them, many are from big banks and institutions, but took a pay cut for more control over their lives or other non-monetary fulfilment.