Singapore central bank to place S$1.1 billion with asset managers to boost stock market

Singapore's central bank will place S$1.1 billion (HK$6.72 million) with three asset managers as part of a S$5 billion programme to boost the stock market, it said on Monday, with more co-investments to be announced late this year.

The move comes as part of an ongoing probe into the local stock market by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and a review group set up in August last year, with the aim of strengthening the way the market functions.

The fund managers selected as part of Singapore's Equity Market Development Programme (EQDP) are Avanda Investment Management, JP Morgan Asset Management and Fullerton Fund Management, which is owned by Singapore's sovereign fund Temasek.

MAS said it considered "a range of factors" when choosing the managers, including the "alignment of their proposed fund strategies with EQDP objectives" and their commitment to contribute to the growth of Singapore's asset management capabilities.

It added that more than 100 global, regional and local asset managers have shown interest in receiving funds for co-investment under the development programme, and that it will review the submissions in batches to speed up the appointment of asset managers and the deployment of capital.

In February, MAS and the Financial Sector Development Fund (FSDF) announced that the S$5 billion programme would invest in strategies managed by Singapore-based asset managers that "have a strong focus on Singapore listed equities and broaden investor participation beyond large-cap stocks", the central bank said.

Since Singapore announced that it would set up the review group to revive the stock market in August last year, the benchmark Straits Times Index had gained 23.9 percent as of July 18.

Reuters