The ICBC CSOP FTSE Chinese Government Bond Index ETF will start trading on SGX on Monday, 21 September.
Managed by Chinese asset manager CSOP, the fund replicates the performance of fixed-rate government bonds issued in mainland China as measured by the FTSE Chinese Government Bond Index (CGBI), and has $676 million (RMB 4.6 billion) in assets under management.
The fund aims to «meet the growing demand from investors to access opportunities in China’s onshore bond markets, in an easy and efficient manner,» Singapore Exchange (SGX) said in the announcement. It is also the first ETF under the new Variable Capital Companies (VCC) framework launched by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) earlier this year.
In October 2019, CSOP became the first offshore asset manager set up by a regulated asset management company in China to establish operations in Singapore.
Growing ETF Market
The total market turnover value of SGX-listed ETFs grew by 70 percent to reach S$4.1 billion ($3.02 billion) in FY2020, and as of end-June 2020, the total AUM for all SGX-listed ETFs amounted to S$5.8 billion.
SGX highlighted the growing investor interest towards yield-focused products, such as fixed income and REIT ETFs, which currently make up 40 percent of the ETF assets held on SGX.
Chief executive Loh Boon Chye said the bourse will «continue to work with issuers and business partners to develop a multi-asset ETF product shelf that meets the demands of the investment community.»
