Since the mid-nineties, the Singapore Government has identified the investment management industry as one of the key financial sectors to develop. To this end, the Singapore Government, through the Monetary Authority of Singapore ("MAS"), has introduced various incentives and reforms to encourage the growth of the investment management industry.
Some of the key measures taken by the Singapore Government include:
-
introduction of tax incentives which allow qualifying fund management
companies to enjoy tax exemption or concessionary tax rates for the fee income earned from providing investment management or advisory services. In addition, unit trusts and approved trustee companies are also offered concessionary tax rates; -
relaxation of the minimum shareholders' fund requirement for an Investment Adviser's licence from S$500 million to S$100 million. The minimum amount of global funds that the company must manage was also lowered from S$5 billion to S$1 billion. In addition, the MAS introduced a streamlined licensing scheme aimed at admitting more boutique fund management firms to add greater depth to the fund management industry;
-
introduction of a new regulatory framework to streamline and enhance the supervision of the capital markets and financial advisory industries;
-
allowing external fund managers to manage a portion of the government funds and encouraging statutory boards and government-linked companies to place out their excess funds to external fund managers;
- revamping of the Central Provident Fund ("CPF") Investment Scheme to increase the number of quality asset managers and products available to CPF members.
The measures taken by the Government of Singapore
have been successful. As at 31 December 2002,
total reported assets managed by Singapore-based
financial institutions in Singapore amounted to
S$343.8 billion, as compared to only S$65.9 billion
in 1994.
The graph below illustrates the growth of the
asset management industry in Singapore over the
years.
Click here to view larger image
In addition, in comparison to Hong Kong - Singapore's close rival within the Asia-Pacific region as fund management centres - the Singapore Government incentives schemes seems to have encouraged more financial institutions to set up their operations in Singapore as compared to Hong Kong. This can be illustrated by the rate of growth in asset under management as shown in the table below.
Click here to view larger image
Although, Hong Kong is a larger fund management
centre based on the numbers, Singapore has been
growing steadily over the years. This can be attributed
to the Singapore Government strategy to stimulate
the growth of the industry through a range of
incentives as opposed to Hong Kong which appears
to be largely market driven. In both countries,
however, the regulators have been active to provide
a regulatory framework for the industry to expand
further. With the relaxation and streamlining
of the licensing requirement, there are at present
92 licensed fund management
companies in Singapore. In addition to this, there
are also a large number of exempt fund managers
who provide services to only high-net worth individuals
and institutions.
Currently, the Government of Singapore and the MAS are stepping up their efforts in attracting hedge fund managers to set up operations in Singapore through further liberalisation and incentives as well as providing a conducive business environment for fund managers.
The Government of Singapore is committed to positioning Singapore as a major investment management centre in Asia for Asian (ex-Japan) mandates of global funds and the global mandates of Asian clients.
Quek Bin Hwee: Singapore
Tel : (65) 6236 3028
Email: bin.hwee.quek@sg.pwcglobal.com
John Kwai: Singapore
Tel : (65) 6236 3022
Email: john.kwai@sg.pwcglobal.com
