TWO former senior employees of UOB Kay Hian Private Limited (UOBKH) were charged on Wednesday for allegedly lying to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in relation to reports on a then Catalist aspirant. Lan Kang Ming, 38, and Wee Toon Lee, 34, each face three charges of providing MAS with false information in October 2018 in relation to due diligence reports on an unidentified company applying to list on the Catalist board of the Singapore Exchange. MAS said in a media statement on Wednesday that it was performing an onsite inspection of UOBKH between June and August 2018, to assess the latter's controls, policies and procedures in relation to its role as an issue manager for Initial Public Offering (IPOs). During the examination, Lan and Wee were said to have provided different versions of a due diligence report relating to background checks on a company applying to be listed on the Catalist board of the Singapore Exchange. UOBKH had acted as the issu...
Comments
14 November 2014
I refer to Jimmy Ho’s letter, “It’s not a ‘quality market’ for investors” (BT, Nov 12). We appreciate Mr Ho’s feedback, but do not agree with his depiction of the Singapore stock market as suffering from a “malaise”.
In fact, over the past 12 quarters, the Straits Times Index (STI) and its dividends have rewarded investors with a 10 per cent return annually - much higher than interest rates and broad residential housing prices, which have averaged gains of less than one per cent each year.
While we acknowledge that not all products we have introduced to the market have worked, such as Extended Settlement (ES) contracts and American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), some have gained traction among investors. For example, assets under management (AUM) for the STI ETFs, namely the Nikko AM STI ETF and the SPDR STI ETF, have grown 12 per cent to US$419 million at the end of last month from US$374 million as at end-2011. Regular Savings Plans (RSPs) across POSB, OCBC and Phillip continue to be popular, with AUM increasing 15 per cent every month on average over the last year and 70 per cent more investors since the beginning of this year.
Mr Ho’s concerns over thin market volumes - which affect the livelihoods of trading representatives like himself - are valid. But liquidity is not the only gauge of a market’s quality; the ease of raising capital is just as important. In this regard, the Singapore Exchange’s (SGX) equity fund-raising efforts have held up well. Between January and October 2014, SGX had a total of 30 equity listings; two-thirds posted gains over their offer price on their first trading day. Two recently listed companies - MS Holdings Ltd and ZICO Holdings Inc - closed with a return of 54 per cent and 72 per cent respectively on their first trading day. Post-IPO, the performance of shares listed in 2014 has been positive, with an average gain of about 10 per cent as at end-October. ISEC Healthcare, Starburst Holdings and IPS Securex registered strong gains of 39 per cent, 95 per cent and 54 per cent respectively as at Oct 31. Furthermore, issuers continue to find Singapore an easy place to raise capital, as reflected by OCBC Bank’s S$3.3 billion rights issue which was easily absorbed by the market.
To help boost liquidity, we lowered clearing fees and introduced a market maker (MM) and liquidity provider (LP) programme for 70 of our most traded stocks in June. Though this initiative is still in its infancy, we are seeing some positive results. The quality of the market has improved, as shown by the 10 per cent narrowing of bid-ask spreads for top stocks with market makers, which has effectively lowered trade execution costs.
More recently, SGX began a series of roadshows to engage retail brokers, gather feedback and share information on bid-ask spreads and market depth for various stocks, to help revive the market. Since the roadshows began last month, some 1,280 trading representatives have attended the 22 roadshows.
We agree with Mr Ho that healthy speculative activity is part and parcel of a high-quality, well-functioning market. SGX devotes much attention to implementing regulatory and equity market structure initiatives to enhance price transparency and facilitate best execution, so as to encourage fair competition and foster a sense of quality.
In similar vein, the existing practice of continuous all-day trading gives investors more opportunities to trade and manage their risk as well as improves connectivity between our securities market and other key markets.
Cognisant that remisiers play a vital role in injecting vibrancy into the stock market, we have taken steps to attract, retain and nurture talent in the industry. To help trading representatives (TRs) serve their clients better, SGX Academy introduced the Fundamental Analysis and Technical Analysis (FATA) Sales Management Programme in 2012. Since then, some 462 TRs have attended the programme.
Lastly, we would like to point out that buy-in penalties for accidental short sales have largely been waived for trading representatives and retail investors.
SGX is in the midst of putting in place various market enhancements to improve the liquidity and trading structure of our marketplace, and it will take time for these initiatives to bear fruit. Every stakeholder has a role to play to improve the quality of our marketplace.
Chew Sutat
Executive Vice-President
Singapore Exchange