Singapore Will Follow Hong Kong On Hedge Funds

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

06 August 2002

Following Hong Kong's initiative making hedge funds available to retail investors, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has now said that it will issue its own guidelines on the sale of hedge funds to less wealthy people within a few weeks.

MAS managing director Koh Yong Guan made the announcement at a press conference coinciding with the MAS's annual report. Suggestions are that the minimum investment for hedge funds will fall from the current $100,000 to zero for a capital-guaranteed hedge fund, and between $10,000 and $20,000 for so-called 'fund of hedge funds'.

'What we have right now is a $100,000 minimum subscription, and that was what we could do at that time because funds wanted to introduce their products then,' said MAS deputy managing director Yeo Lian Sim at a press briefing yesterday.

'We have since looked more closely at the subject and crafted a regulatory framework which is more comprehensive, so that it deals with single-manager funds, fund of funds and capital-protected sorts of funds.'

She added: 'We've been talking to various industry people and we expect to come up with a draft in a few weeks' time for public comment.'

Still under discussion however are rules about disclosure and compliance issues: hedge funds have traditionally been secretive - one of the reasons that led regulators to ban them from retail markets.

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