The Monetary Authority of Singapore announced the first batch of three asset management companies under the Securities Market Development Plan (EQDP), with a total investment of 1.1 billion yuan.
Since the February announcement, the HKMA has received more than 100 applications from global, regional and local asset managers, and the authorities will announce the second batch of asset managers in the fourth quarter of this year.
Sh Fangda Xu, Minister of National Development and Vice Chairman of the HKMA, said in an interview with the media: "When we invited asset management companies to apply, we have shown that this is not just an injecting capital into Singapore, but we also want to truly develop Singapore's fund management industry.
The review team strives to complete all review work and publish a report before the end of this year.
"Of course, at the same time, we also hope that these asset management companies will attract more private capital participation, thereby promoting liquidity in the Singapore stock market, especially small and medium-sized stocks."
The second batch of asset managers will be announced in the fourth quarterThe first batch of selected asset managers are Avanda Investment Management, Fullerton Fund Management and J.P. Morgan Asset Management.
The HKMA also allocated an additional RMB 50 million to Singapore Capital Market Subsidy (GEMS) to encourage securities to conduct analysis and research on new listed or pre-listed companies. This Singapore Capital Market allowance, which was launched in 2019, will be extended until the end of 2028.
Xu Fangda, who also led the securities market review team, revealed that the team is discussing more practices to boost local stock markets, including how to promote corporate disclosure, improve the value proposition and attractiveness of the Kelly board of the Singapore Exchange, encourage more retail investors to participate in local stock markets, and how to cooperate more with overseas exchanges to promote cross-border trading and listing.
In order to improve investor protection, the HKMA is also discussing how to strengthen existing legal provisions to allow retail investors to recover compensation if they suffer losses due to market misconduct, there are appropriate ways to pursue civil litigation. The HKMA will conduct public consultation later this year.
Eligible fund management companies invest in Singapore's stock market for the first time. They cannot only invest in Straits Times index components, they must also have the ability to attract other investors to participate.
The HKMA made the above announcement on Monday (July 21). In February this year, the authorities announced the launch of a securities market development plan with a total of 5 billion yuan, as well as the first phase of stock market boost measures.