1. MAS News
On 1 September, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Singapore Exchange (SGX) have both issued consultation papers seeking feedback on proposed changes that would facilitate bond offerings to retail investors. Under this framework, retail investors will be able to buy bonds initially offered to institutional and accredited investors after these bonds have been listed for six months (seasoned bonds). These issuers will also be able to sell to retail investor additional bonds in terms similar to the seasoned bonds without issuing a prospectus with MAS.
Only issuers who are able to satisfy certain requirements above the eligibility criteria can offer bonds to retail investors without a prospectus. Safeguards will also be put in place to protect retail investors if the proposed changes come to pass.
According to MAS, in recent year, there are growing retail interest in fixed income products such as plain vanilla corporate bonds. However, corporate issuers typically targets institutional investor and accredited investors in bond offerings. Only a small portion of such bond issuances have being allotted to retail investors.
“These proposals are part of MAS’ overall efforts to improve retail access to simple investment products that give decent returns without too much risk,” said MAS managing director Ravi Menon.
MAS and SGX have issued consultation papers which are available on their respective websites. Interested parties can send their comments to SGX and to MAS by Sept 30.
Source: MAS website
2. MAS News
On 17 September 2014, The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has announced that it has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) to allow trade repositories licensed in one jurisdiction to provide relevant data to the authority in the other jurisdiction. This MOU follows the licensing by ASIC of DTCC Data Repository (Singapore) Pte Ltd, a trade repository established and licensed in Singapore.
According to the press statement issued by MAS, both “ASIC and MAS express their intent to cooperate with each other in the interest of fulfilling their respective responsibilities and mandates by facilitating each authority’s access to relevant trade repository data, while ensuring the confidentiality of the information is appropriately protected”.
Source: MAS website
3. MAS News
The Singapore Ministry of Finance, Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore are inviting feedbacks on the proposed regulations to assist Financial Institutions to comply with the US Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).
Singapore has substantially concluded a Model 1 Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) with the US and is now seeking public feedbacks on:
· The draft Income Tax (International Tax Compliance Agreements) (United States of America) Regulations 2014, which sets out the due diligence and reporting obligations of Singapore-based financial institutions in relation to the FATCA IGA; and
· A draft FATCA e- Tax Guide, which provides further explanation of those obligations.
Source: MAS website
