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Ten more Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) have been converted to Excluded Investment Products (EIP) status, increasing the total number of EIP ETFs listed on SGX to 19 and providing retail investors with more choices, without them having to be pre-qualified.
Issued by Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management and predominantly cash-based, these 10 ETFs cover a wide geographical spread of developed and emerging economies, including Brazil, China, South Korea and Thailand, allowing investors to have easy access to tap into these countries’ growth.
| Equity Name | SGX Code |
| db x-trackers FTSE China 50 UCITS ETF (DR) | HD8 |
| db x-trackers MSCI Brazil Index UCITS ETF (DR) | J0O |
| db x-trackers MSCI China Index UCITS ETF (DR) | LG9 |
| db x-trackers MSCI Korea UCITS Index ETF (DR) | IH2 |
| db x-trackers MSCI Malaysia Index UCITS ETF (DR) | LG6 |
| db x-trackers MSCI Pacific Ex Japan Index UCITS ETF (DR) | J0Q |
| db x-trackers MSCI Philippines IM Index UCITS ETF (DR) | N2E |
| db x-trackers MSCI Singapore IM Index UCITS ETF (DR) | O9A |
| db x-trackers MSCI Taiwan Index UCITS ETF (DR) | HD7 |
| db x-trackers MSCI Thailand Index UCITS ETF (DR) | LG7 |
Jenny Chiam, Head of Securities, SGX, welcomed the conversion of the 10 ETFs saying, “We are pleased to see ten more ETFs have become available to all investors, coming within two months of the regulatory changes. With more choices and access to products from different countries, retail investors can benefit from ETFs as a simple and low-cost way of building a well-diversified investment portfolio.”
Marco Montanari, Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management, Head of Passive Asset Management for Asia Pacific, said, “We are pleased to have 10 of Deutsche AWM's ETFs converted as EIP. These 10 ETFs offer investors easy access to various exposures in the global equity markets.”
Kevin Hardy, Head of Beta Strategies in Asia Pacific and Country Head of Blackrock Singapore said, “The regulatory changes made by MAS have enabled open access to a greater range of ETFs listed in Singapore, including our iShares MSCI India Index ETF which complements our existing two fixed income EIP qualified funds. At BlackRock, we see these changes as a spark to future development for the Singapore ETF market, and when combined with the clearing fee waivers announced by the SGX these definitely help to create a better ecosystem for market participants, fund providers and investors.”
Joanne Goh, Regional Equity Strategist, DBS Group Research said, “Market volatility will persist for a while as Greek bailout negotiation talks and Fed hikes uncertainty perturb markets. Portfolio diversification through the use of ETFs will be most appropriate in this environment. To help retail investors better understand ETFs, DBS also has a series of seminars on this asset class.”
To promote ETFs as investment products, SGX has waived ETF clearing fees for both institutional and retail investors beginning 1 June 2015 to 31 December 2015. SGX will also waive clearing fees for ETF block trades, with effect since 2 February 2015 and will last till 31 December 2017. This will help institutional investors minimise the cost of reporting over-the-counter ETF transactions to the exchange while reducing their counterparty risks.
As part of SGX’s efforts to further investors’ understanding of ETFs, SGX is holding a series of ETF investor education events. SGX Academy also offers complimentary ETF seminars every month. The upcoming events include:
- 28 July – SGX will hold an ETF seminar covering the China market
- 15 to 16 August - SGX will organise an ETF Pavilion holding ETF-related talks at Shareinvestor’s Invest Fair
Investors can also learn more about ETFs through SGX MyGateway, MoneySENSE and SPDR University.
A full list of EIP ETFs is available at SGX’s website here.
