|
 |
|
Source:
www.mas.gov.sg |
|
Keynote Address by Mr Kola Luu,
Executive Director, MAS, Structured Products Asia 2007 Shangri-La
Singapore |
|
An Excerpt |
|
|
The Singapore fund management industry has
done well in the last few years, thanks to strong economic growth as
well as the increase in depth and breath of our financial markets. |
|
Singapore has maintained its position as a
major forex trading center in the world, based on the latest BIS
triennial survey on OTC FX volume. |
|
The trading of OTC commodity derivatives has
also flourished over the years. Last year, total trading volume amounted
to approximately US$600 billion, accounting for almost 8% of global
trades. |
|
Singapore is also home to the largest REIT
market in Asia ex-Japan with a total market capitalization in the region
of USD$20 billion. |
|
The Merrill Lynch report also noted an
interesting investment trend for HNWIs in Singapore. On the average,
alternative investments (including structured products) account for
almost 10% of total portfolio allocation for 2006. |
|
This is in line with global averages for
portfolio allocation and indicates the emergence of “new wealth”. This
represents a group of young and sophisticated entrepreneurs who often
prefer to play a more active role in the management and investment of
their wealth. |
|
To meet the needs of these investors, banks
provide structured products customized to clients’ investment
objectives. This trend is likely to catch on in other parts of Asia as
financial markets in the region matures and as transparency, governance,
disclosure as well as risk management improve over time. |
|
However, as structured products may involve
multiple risk components, proper risk disclosure should be provided by
relationship managers to the clients. |
|
Investors looking to invest in relatively
more complex structure should also exercise extra caution before
entering into such financial transactions. Many governments in the
region have begun developing legislation and guidelines to provide
investors with the information necessary to understand the nature and
risk associated with complex investments. |
|
As an integrated financial services
sector regulator, MAS also continually reviews existing regulations
to ensure that they remain relevant to market developments. |
|
For example, MAS has just completed a
final phase of amendments to the Securities and Futures Act (SFA)
and the Financial Advisor Act (FAA) which are aimed at |
|
• enhancing MAS’ supervisory
oversight of capital markets services and financial advisers’
license holders; |
|
• increasing the responsiveness of
MAS’ regulatory framework to market innovation. |
|
MAS had also introduced a set of risk
management guidelines earlier, which highlighted the importance of
senior management oversight, strong risk management processes and
operating procedures and need for competent personnel in the risk
management, control and audit functions. |
|
While growth in the financial industry
has been robust, the need for manpower and expertise continues to be
a key factor for continued success. |
|
In consultation with industry, MAS
initiated the Financial Sector Manpower Conversion Scheme in 2004 to
help re-channel manpower quickly to new growth areas in the
financial sector. This is done through customised conversion
training programmes in partnership with partners such as the Wealth
Management Institute (WMI) and ACI Singapore. |
|
Over the last few years, WMI’s flagship
Masters of Science in Wealth Management has provided the industry
with a pool of highly qualified and competent wealth managers. |
|
Additionally, the programme has been
crafted to provide wealth managers with expertise on specific asset
classes, including a module on Structured Products, aimed at
presenting participants with a good understanding of the risk and
return of structured products, and their use in portfolio
management... |
|
Full Text of Speech |
|
Source:
www.mas.gov.sg News 6 Dec 2007 |
|
 |
|
Important
Notice |
|
Our FrontPage
Editions are a historical record of our Web site and reflect
the changing of the times, and also of our Web site through
time. We do not and will not update the links and stories on
these FrontPages even if they have become obsolete. |
|
FrontPage Edition: Fri 21 December 2007
All rights reserved
