“Singapore’s equities market has performed well. We have seen increased trading activity supported by both institutional and retail participation, and underpinned by increased activity in small- and mid-cap stocks,” says Chee at a media briefing on Nov 19.
In 3Q2025, the Singapore Exchange (SGX) reported an average daily turnover of $1.5 billion, 16% higher y-o-y and the highest since 1Q2021. Initial public offerings (IPOs) also picked up significantly, with total funds raised over $2 billion so far this year, compared to $46 million in 2024.
The measures have all been announced, but the review group’s work is not over.
$2.85 bil to be placed out
See also: Amova, Manulife IM, Lion Global reveal details of fund strategies chosen under MAS’s $5 bil EQDP
Among the key announcements were the names of six asset managers appointed by MAS to launch fund strategies under the Equities Market Development Programme (EQDP). Following an initial group of three firms appointed in July, this second batch of asset managers — Amova Asset Management (formerly Nikko Asset Management), AR Capital, BlackRock, Eastspring Investments, Lion Global Investors and Manulife Investment Management — will receive $2.85 billion from MAS’s $5 billion EQDP fund.
Including the first $1.1 billion tranche placed with Avanda Investment Management, Fullerton Fund Management and JP Morgan Asset Management, MAS has allocated a total of $3.95 billion across nine asset managers. The remaining EQDP submissions will be reviewed with the next phase of appointments scheduled for release in 2Q2026.
To Clifford Lee, managing director and global head of investment banking at DBS, the $2.85 billion tranche marks a “positive momentum” and “more will come” after.
See also: SGX and Nasdaq to simplify dual listings by streamlining regulations and fundraising
Tan Kuan Ern, UBS’s co-head of its Asia country coverage global banking business, also believes the EQDP fund is just the first wave. After all, the asset managers chosen by MAS would have committed strategies to MAS and raised funds via other sources on the back of what’s been given. “It should not be interpreted that the money comes in and that’s it,” says Tan.
In its July statement, MAS said the first batch of fund managers was chosen for, among other things, the “strength of their proposals to crowd in third-party capital into their strategies” alongside MAS’s funds.
Jason Saw, group head of CGS International’s (CGSI) investment banking business, lauds the appointment of the second batch of asset managers, as it will broaden the participation of funds in local markets, with each one likely to bring different strategies to the table.
$30 mil ‘Value Unlock’ programme
Another initiative is the “Value Unlock” programme by MAS and SGX, first announced in September. The programme seeks to help listed companies strengthen investor engagement and sharpen their focus on shareholder value creation.
Here, MAS will allocate $30 million from the Financial Sector Development Fund to two grants, named “Equip” and “Elevate”, to help listed companies build competencies in corporate strategy, capital optimisation and investor relations.
The Equip grant provides up to $15,000 per listed company to co-fund training and capacity-building in investor relations, media training, corporate strategy or financial management. In comparison, the Elevate grant provides up to $200,000 per listed company to co-fund the engagement of investor relations, corporate strategy or financial management consultants.
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MAS will also work with SGX to help companies better communicate their strategic plans. Both parties will work with partners within the ecosystem to foster peer learning and collaboration through platforms like the Singapore Institute of Directors’ Chairpersons Guild.
David Gerald, founder, president and CEO of the Securities Investors Association (Singapore), or Sias, says: “[With] MAS providing a grant to companies to train officers to communicate better on their growth stories, on the valuation [of] the company, and what they’re doing to unpack valuation — that would encourage them to look at the company better and even consider investing more. It will also attract new investors.”
SGX to partner Nasdaq for dual listings
MAS also announced a partnership between SGX and Nasdaq to enhance market connectivity.
Under the partnership, named the Global Listing Board, companies with a market capitalisation of $2 billion and above will be able to list on both exchanges with a single set of documents. According to MAS, eligible companies should have an “Asian nexus” and global ambitions to raise capital from both markets.
Chee says the move will enlarge the pie for both Nasdaq and SGX, while Enterprise Singapore chairman Lee Chuan Teck, who is a member of the review group, says the partnership with Nasdaq is “ideal”. “The two exchanges are very complementary in the sense that Nasdaq accesses mainly large US and European investors; SGX accesses Asian investors.”
There will also be “absolute fungibility” between the counters on both exchanges, Lee adds.
While the proposal is subject to the completion of relevant regulatory processes, market-watchers are already looking forward to the so-called “dual-listing bridge”; index stock Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel) could be eyeing this new framework, scheduled to go live in mid-2026.
Singtel group CFO Arthur Lang is “very positive” about the proposal and has already identified two suitable companies under Singtel’s umbrella that could benefit. “Personally, thinking as Singtel’s CFO, already there are two companies we have in mind to consider in the next few years,” says Lang to The Edge Singapore, though he stopped short of naming the companies.
NCS, Singtel’s regional enterprise services unit, and Nxera, its growing data centre venture with investment firm KKR, are two possibilities.
The framework “taps two pools of very large liquidity”, says Lang. “You’ve got Southeast Asia liquidity, which is not small. Singapore has been a magnet for Asian capital, so it’s centred here. At the same time, there’s a massive amount of capital out of the US, where you have a lot of US investors who typically only invest in US-listed companies. So, this is really the best of both worlds.”
UBS’s Tan describes the dual-listing initiative as “novel” and expects it will help issuers save on costs associated with filing another prospectus or paying another set of lawyers. However, he notes that few companies can tap into the initiative, given the minimum market cap requirement of $2 billion.
Lee of DBS says the “test is in the pudding” but notes that connectivity and collaborations between exchanges are becoming “more crucial” in this new world order. He adds that the initiative will give issuers and companies more options to plan their investor reach and access to capital markets.
That said, Lee acknowledges that the initiative will only add value to US companies that may want to expand their reach to Asian investors, given the region’s potential growth.
CGSI’s Saw says the dual-listing bridge “makes sense” for “high-value cases”. “It fills SGX’s strategic needs of global connectivity — driving a new cluster of new economy companies that will lift valuation on SGX and result in a new differentiation against [the] Hong Kong Stock Exchange.”
Jenny Sofian, CEO of Fullerton Fund Management, calls the initiative a “significant milestone”, adding that she expects it to attract greater participation from local and regional asset managers, as well as institutional and retail investors.
As the listing rules and prospectus regulatory compliance on both exchanges are “substantively different”, Robson Lee, director of Kennedys Law, believes SGX will have to create a separate board from its current Mainboard and Catalist board for companies seeking to dual-list on the Nasdaq.
To that end, given that an issuer looking to list on both exchanges will have to comply with both sets of regulatory requirements, the benefits will have to “significantly outweigh the costs in preparation for the IPO and post-IPO before an issuer embarks on a dual-listing”.
SGX to reduce board lot sizes
In a move to improve investor access and boost trading activity, the SGX will reduce the board lot size for securities above $10 to 10 units from 100 units previously. The move will also broaden investor participation, says MAS.
The size of the board lots was last reduced in January 2015 from 1,000 to 100 units. At the time, the SGX said a smaller board lot size would make it more “affordable” for retail investors.
“We have analysed, obviously, the stocks that we have. Many of our stocks trade in the single digit,” says Loh Boon Chye, CEO of SGX.
“We have decided that we start off with the stocks that are worth $10 and that’s almost 30% or a third of the turnover, which I think would allow for wider participation.”
SGX’s head of equities, Ng Yao Loong, said the bourse has focused on providing accessibility. “Today, the share prices of some of our index stocks have risen significantly. In fact, buying one lot of a local bank stock (at 100 shares) is more expensive than buying a single share of Tesla. That’s why we want to lower the lot size and make investing more accessible, without going to the extreme of one-share lots at $1 or less.”
On the $10 cut-off, Ng says the move would affect only a “modest” number of stocks “in [the] teens”, but they account for about 30% of SGX’s trading volume and 40% of its market capitalisation. “So, this isn’t just about the number of companies; it’s about where market activity is concentrated. That’s substantial.”
That said, the number is still subject to change, as SGX kicks off the consultation process on the rule changes in 1Q2026. “Over time, we’ll assess whether we need to calibrate this threshold,” he adds.
‘Doing our best’
When asked whether the review group had set any internal targets, following the Straits Times Index’s (STI) outperformance and several bullish analyst calls this year, Chee said he wouldn’t set targets, citing market ups and downs. “Some of it could be due to the measures we put in place, some of it could be due to other factors.”
Instead, the group is focused on increasing its chances of capturing new opportunities by strengthening its competitiveness across different pillars in the ecosystem.
While the group will “certainly do [its] best”, any results will also have to depend on how the market, investors and companies respond.
DBS’s Lee said the latest announcement was a “good wrap-up” and that the review group is leaving “no stones unturned”.
The measures were also bringing in more IPOs. “This year, once you include the latest deal in the market, we should well cross the $2.5 billion, $2.6 billion mark.” The latest company to come to market is medtech firm UltraGreen.ai, which is aiming to raise US$400 million or $520.6 million at US$1.45 per share, according to a term sheet seen by Reuters.
Next year, Lee expects that the bank’s pipeline may well come close to double the funds raised this year. “If there’s no glitch in the market, we have a good chance of phenomenal growth.”
UBS’s Tan is also seeing an uptick in the bank’s IPO pipeline. “The number of reverse enquiries for IPOs has doubled or tripled,” he says. Companies, which have already planned to list, are also looking to accelerate the process for 2026, he adds.
Previously concentrated on REITs, the listing pipeline now includes a mix of REITs and corporates in business services, healthcare and tech, which he describes as “nice to see”.
REITs, however, remain popular, with substantial orders from the private banking sector. That said, these investors are looking for quality REITs that are well-sourced, with growth assets and have a good reputation.
With the EQDP in place, the outlook is brighter, as institutional funds that left previously are returning to Singapore’s market.
“I think the government was very smart to tackle not just the demand side but supply,” he says, noting that the issue of the lack of listings has happened for many years.
What analysts say
MAS’s $2.85 billion allocation to six fund managers stood “way above” John Cheong’s expectations. To the UOB Kay Hian analyst, the second tranche indicates “strong commitment” from the central bank.
Cheong says: “We note that only two out of six of the selected fund managers are active in the Singapore small- and mid-cap space (SMID), so we expect more institutional inflows into the quality SMID caps.” His top picks are Food Empire, Riverstone, CSE Global, China Sunsine, Valuetronics and Marco Polo Marine.
Maybank Securities’ Jarick Seet sees the measures as “very positive” for the Singapore market, but notes that a lot depends on the funds’ strategies and allocation towards SMIDs. “Value unlocking will also be key in helping [the] companies’ valuations reach their intrinsic value”. Seet continues to like stocks like CSE Global, Sanli Environmental, Marco Polo Marine and ISOTeam.
CGSI’s Lock Mun Yee and Lim Siew Khee are cheering the new initiatives as they could broaden the investor base and confidence. “We view the liquidity boost as positive to continue driving market momentum in the stock market. In addition to liquidity, we see the new measures improving demand through increasing affordability for retail investors, the value-unlocking programme to promote value creation and strengthening investor confidence as complementary to the entire value chain.”
Lock and Lim see SGX as a continued beneficiary of the “virtuous” EQDP cycle. Their current conviction parks include CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust (CICT), CapitaLand Ascendas REIT (CLAR), iFast, Keppel, Sats, Sembcorp and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding. — with additional reporting by Jovi Ho, Lin Daoyi and Kwan Wei Kevin Tan
