More ETFs reclassified as Excluded Investment Products under new MAS scheme: SGX

EIPs will grow from 8 to 20.

More Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) will be reclassified as Excluded Investment Products (EIPs) to give retail investors easier access to these securities.

The SGX stated that there are currently eight ETFs classified as EIPs in the local bourse. However, this number is expected to increase up to 20 ETFs over the next few weeks.

This follows the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) recent move to allow certain ETFs to be categorised as EIPs. Previously, the central bank categorised all ETFs as Specified Investment Products(SIP), which requires investors who wish to trade them to be pre-qualified by the brokers.

“With the new regulatory amendments, the easier access to a wider range of ETFs will provide retail investors with a simple and low-cost way of building a well-diversified investment portfolio. It will also give retail investors better access and exposure to international markets and other asset classes, without having to select individual stocks,” stated SGX.

The eight ETFs classified as EIPs at present are the ABF Singapore Bond Index Fund, iShares Barclays Capital USD Asia High Yield Bond Index ETF, iShares J.P. Morgan USD Asia Credit Bond Index ETF, Nikko AM Singapore STI ETF, SPDR® Straits Times Index ETF, CIMB FTSE ASEAN 40 ETF, CIMB S&P Ethical Asia Pacific Dividend ETF, and the SPDR® Gold Shares.

On average, these eight ETFs generate a year-to-date total returns of 3.4%, bringing their one-year total returns to 5.6%. They also maintain an average dividend yield of 3.7%.