SGX waives clearing fees for ETFs for institutional, retail investors

From June until December.

Following MAS’ regulatory amendments of the Excluded Investment Products (EIP) definition for collective investment schemes, the Singapore Exchange today revealed that it will waive Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) clearing fees for both institutional and retail investors for a promotional period of 1 June 2015 to 31 December 2015.

This move aims to further promote ETFs as investment products and will help provide retail investors with a simple and low-cost way of building a well-diversified investment portfolio.

The SGX expects a total of up to 20 EIP ETFs to be accessible for retail investors without enhanced safeguards under the new EIP scheme.

For instance, a newly converted ETF to the EIP status on SGX is Asia’s most liquid SPDR® Gold ETF, which investors can also use to invest their CPF funds.

“With the scope of EIP ETFs expanded, retail investors have improved options for simple and low-cost method of diversification. Investors should take the time to understand the rewards and risks associated with ETFs so that they can secure long-term returns in this product class,” said Lim Kok Ann, Chief Executive Officer, DBS Vickers Securities.