Singapore regulator preps $5bn for finance investment
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is launching a $5 billion private market programme to boost the region’s private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) scene.
MAS will allocate all the money via its own funds.
Peter Ong, chairman at Enterprise Singapore and MAS board member, says: “This builds on the success of MAS’ existing external fund manager programme for the public markets asset class which has anchored global asset managers in Singapore and catalysed the growth of our asset management industry.”
“Through this $5 billion programme, a stronger platform for growth finance and infrastructure development will emerge,” he adds.
According to Ong, in Singapore the PE and VC sector is evolving rapidly. There are currently more than 220 such managers located in Singapore and for the past five years, their assets under management grew at a CAGR of 28% to reach SGD 190 billion ($137 billion).
Around 85% of their investments are invested in Asia, with ASEAN, followed by India and China as top investment destinations. This suggests investors’ increased awareness of ASEAN’s strong investment potential.
The institution’s other new initiative, MATCH (Meet ASEAN’s Talents and Champions), is a curated deal making platform which aims to connect global capital and the ASEAN enterprise community.
Already, participating investors have indicated their intentions to invest up to $12.2 billion into ASEAN enterprises over the next three years.
These two projects are complementary, as they are part of MAS’ collaboration with the industry to establish private market platforms to connect growth companies with investors.
In other news, yesterday (12 November) MAS released a set of principles as it seeks to promote fairness, ethics, accountability and transparency (FEAT) in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics in finance.
