New $55m fund to supercharge Singapore's financial hub status

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Singapore's central bank and financial regulatory body, has announced a new S$75m ($55m) grant, called the Grant for Equity Market Singapore (GEMS), with the intention to boost Singapore's status as an enterprise financing hub. The GEMS grant scheme is Singapore's latest effort to boost the country's reputation as an enterprise financing hub. In November 2018, the MAS announced a $5bn private markets programme (PMP) to fund locally-based fund managers who invest in private enterprises or infrastructure projects. In a statement, Ng Yao Loong, assistant managing director at MAS, said: "Singapore has been working to enhance our private and public markets so that domestic and international growth enterprises are able to access different types of capital best suited to their needs." GEMS will be launched on February 14, funded under the Financial Sector Development Fund, and will be three-year initiative split into three components: Listing Grant; Research Talent Development Grant; and Research Initiatives Grant.