The First Money Market ETF in South East Asia Launched on SGX

The first Singapore-domiciled money market exchange-traded fund (ETF) on SGX, and the only money market ETF in South East Asia, started trading today with S$100 million in assets under management (AUM), an embodiment of its great attractiveness in the region. With a minimum bid size of S$0.001, it allows dual currency trading in Singapore Dollars and US Dollars. 

The newly-launched product provides a new financial tool for institutional investors and can be taken as an investment instrument for individual investors for more efficient cash management.

Managed by Phillip Capital Management and keep tracing of FTSE SGD 3-month Singapore Dollar Swap Offered Rate (SOR) Index, the fund focuses on short-term, high-quality money market securities and deposits of established institutions to generate returns that are comparable to Singapore-dollar savings deposits. 

It would be helpful for fund managers and brokerage firms to manage liquidity and generate higher returns for clients, and for individual investors to make use of their idle money in saving accounts.

Linus Lim, Director and Chief Executive Officer of Phillip Capital Management, said, “With Phillip SGD Money Market ETF, investors will be able to improve the yield pick-up on their funds without compromising on liquidity and manage their core investments through a single brokerage account. The simplicity of a single account takes away the hassle involved in setting up and managing multiple accounts. We believe this will make a straight-forward cash management tool for corporate treasurers and investors.”

Michael Syn, Head of Equities at SGX, said, “We are pleased to work with Phillip Capital to further expand SGX’s suite of fixed income ETFs, at a time when investors are facing a prolonged low-yield environment across international markets. The Money Market ETF listed on SGX offers cost-efficient intra-day access to a diversified pool of short-term high quality Singapore-dollar money market instruments. Such access is usually available only to large institutional investors.”

 Phillip Capital Management is an independent fund management company, based in Singapore since 1995, managing funds for both individual investors as well as institutions. With an investment team local on the ground participants in the capital market, it has insight into hyper-local investment situations. It favours companies with clear and sustainable business models, strong balance sheets and a track record of high earning quality. Another investment principle it holds dear is investing only when the potential rewards of an investment substantially outweighs the risk of doing so.