Tag: sgx

The bourse is adding 13 Asia ex-Japan and emerging markets Asia regional and single country futures to its shelf of benchmark equity derivatives.

The new futures are based on Net Total Return (NTR) and Price Return indices calculated by FTSE Russell, which has approximately $16 trillion in reported fund assets under management (AUM) tracking its benchmarks.

SGX said the benchmarks of the new future, which cover Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam, addresses customers’ «increasing demand for institutional-grade exchange solutions in Asia which offer superior operational and capital efficiency.»

The new contracts are expected to be certified by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), enabling US investors to trade them directly from within the U.S.

SGX currently has the largest and most liquid FTSE and MSCI equity index derivatives for Asian markets.

Michael Syn, head of equities at SGX, said its collaboration with FTSE Russell is the «next step in further developing and advancing SGX’s Asia-access waterfront.»

«We look forward to bringing investors even more asset-class opportunities within the pan-Asian capital structure, based on broad strategies, sectors, and themes,» Syn said.

The bourse said this will help global investors to gain exposure to a broad representation of large and mid-cap Taiwan stocks, while meeting fund managers’ diversification objectives.

Singapore Exchange (SGX) will launch a futures contract based on the FTSE Taiwan RIC Capped Index (FTSE Taiwan) on July 20, it announced on Wednesday.

The index is broad-based and diversified, and covers nearly 80 percent of Taiwan’s listed companies by market capitalization, providing strong correlation with other major Taiwan benchmark indices, SGX said.

Michael Syn, Head of Equities at SGX, said that the future contract aims to cater to the rising demand from U.S. and European investors for access and investment exposure to Taiwan.

Taiwan is the seventh-largest economy in Asia and occupies a key position in the global industrial and technology value chain.

SGX expects to receive certification from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to offer the contract in the U.S. shortly after launch.

In response to growing client demand for a broader suite of Singapore-linked equities products, Singapore Exchange (SGX) will launch 10 Singapore Single Stock Futures (SSFs) on 15 June 2020.

The list of underlying securities for the SSFs are Comfortdelgro, DBS, Genting, Keppel, OCBC, Singtel, Thai Beverage, UOB, Wilmar and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, the bourse announced on Tuesday. Most of these securities are also SGX MSCI Singapore Free Index (SiMSCI) stocks.

SSFs represent a next natural step in the growth of the ecosystem and offer market participants a new shelf of risk management instruments, SGX said, noting that it has observed greater synchronization and correlation between the price of futures and the underlying stocks across various intraday timeframes, indicating growing institutional participation across both markets.

SGX also signed a license agreement for four products on MSCI Singapore indices, including SiMSCI futures and options and net total return contracts, which will continue to be listed on yhe exchange after February 2021.

Our Singapore franchise is at the heart of SGX’s pan-Asian access offering and with these latest developments, we are well on track to broaden the continuum of our equities shelf, Michael Syn, SHX head of equities said in the announcement.

Just last week, SGX said it would discontinue its license agreements with index provider MSCI for equity futures indices and futures contracts when they expire in February 2021. At the same time, MSCI signed an agreement with Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) to license a suite of its indexes in Asia and emerging markets for the introduction of futures and options contracts in Hong Kong.

Social distancing measures could make the holding of annual general meetings (AGMs) and the performance of statutory audits for full-year financial results challenging, SGX said.

Singapore Exchange Regulation will automatically extend by 60 days the deadline for all issuers with financial year-end on or before 31 March 2020 to hold their AGMs, it announced on Tuesday.

The decision was made in consultation with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in light of government advisories and measures amid the Covid-19 situation.

ACRA also said it will grant an extension of 60 days for all companies, both listed and non-listed, whose AGMs are due between 16 April to 31 July. It is also giving a 60-day extension to companies whose annual return filing due dates fall between May 1 and Aug 31.

The strategic investment will help the growth of its Data, Connectivity and Indices (DCI) business by strengthening its research-based index design capabilities as well as broaden the range of index products and clientele.

Singapore Exchange (SGX) has paid €186 million ($204.83 million) in cash for a 93-percent stake in independent index provider Scientific Data, it announced in a press release.

The Singapore-based company, established by EDHEC-Risk Institute (ERI Asia), an affiliate of EDHEC Business School, specializes in smart beta strategies – investment strategies that emphasize the use of alternative index construction rules instead of traditional market capitalization-based indices – with expertise in factor-based and risk-managed solutions.

Scientific Beta is a well-known brand among asset owners worldwide. Over 60 asset owners and asset managers use its indices to track or benchmark their smart beta investments, which total almost $55 billion. This figure that has grown more than tenfold in less than four years, with 30 percent of these assets under replication integrating ESG dimensions, the announcement said.

SGX CEO Loh Boon Chye called the acquisition «an important step» in the evolution of the firm’s index business. «Besides being complementary to our existing SGX Index Edge thematic and custom index capabilities, we also see new product opportunities based on Scientific Beta’s indices.»

In the announcement, SGX noted the «significant growth» in factor investing in recent years. It cited BlackRock data that assets using factor-based strategies are forecast to reach $2.7 trillion by 2020, at a compound annual growth rate of 17 percent between 2011 and 2020.

More can be done to make it more attractive for high-growth tech firms to list on the Singapore bourse, including educating retail investors about such companies, said Singapore Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (SVCA) chairman Jeffrey Chi.

He said the Singapore Exchange’s plans to become the first Asian bourse to allow dual class share listings is a step in the right direction but more can still be done.

Dr Chi was speaking at the launch of the Southeast Asia Private Equity Report on Friday (Apr 21). The report, released annually by management consultancy Bain & Company and SVCA, tracks private equity and venture capital deal flow in the region

It showed private equity investments in South-east Asia soared to US$6.8 billion (S$9.5 billion) last year. This was up from US$4.8 billion a year earlier and 14 per cent higher than the average deal value from 2011 to 2015.

This robust growth is expected to continue this year, but experts flagged longer-term challenges in South-east Asia’s capital markets – such as companies’ reluctance to launch initial public offerings on regional bourses.

“The institutional investor base understands investing in high-growth tech companies which might not be profitable yet,” said Mr Suvir Varma, who leads Bain’s private equity practice in Asia-Pacific.

“But many South-east Asian (public) markets are heavily retail investor-oriented. The average retail investor might not understand the concept of strong revenue growth but continuous negative earnings.

“Retail investors in the region are cash oriented, they want dividends and returns.”

Dr Chi, who is also the managing director of venture capital firm Vickers Venture Partners, said: “Will our own unicorns necessarily decide to list in Singapore? It’s a big risk for a company to list on an exchange without a track record.

“Also, is the investor base open to it? That’s a longer term issue which involves education.”