Singapore’s central bank and financial regulator has chosen three asset managers – two local and a US firm – as the first batch of winners for its S$5 billion (US$3.9 billion) equity market development programme.
Fullerton Fund Management and Avanda Investment Management are the local winners and the US firm is J.P. Morgan Asset Management. Fullerton is a unit of state investment firm Temasek Holdings.
The three asset managers will collectively manage S$1.1 billion of the S$5 billion programme that was announced in February, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) says in a statement on July 21.
According to the central bank, it received “strong interest from the asset management industry in the programme, with indications of interest from over 100 global, regional and local asset managers.”
The regulator says it’s reviewing submissions and that the next batch of winners will be announced by the fourth quarter.
The equity market development programme is aimed at channelling funds to asset managers that have strong track records to invest in Singapore’s stock market. It was proposed by the MAS equities market review group that was set up last year to recommend measures to make the local stock market more attractive for investors.
Last week, Asia Asset Management quoted people familiar with the matter as saying that MAS has received over 70 proposals for the programme and that the winning bidders will announced by the end of the month.
