Singapore
Singapore Stock Exchange Equities
Trading Hours
Monday to Friday:
| From | To | |
| Pre-Open | 8.30 am | 8.58 - 8.59* am |
| Non-Cancel | 8.58 - 08.59* am | 9.00 am |
| Open | 9.00 am | 5.00 pm |
| Pre-Close | 5.00 pm | 5.04 - 5.05 pm** |
| Non-Cancel | 5.04 - 5.05 pm** | 5.06 pm |
| Close | 5.06 pm |
* Pre-Open Phase ends randomly at any time from 8.58 - 8.59 am and Non-Cancel Phase will begin immediately after Pre-Open Phase ends.
** Pre-Close Phase ends randomly at any time from 5.04 - 5.05 pm and Non-Cancel Phase will begin immediately after Pre-Close Phase ends.
Security Identifiers
ISIN: Yes
Other: None
Equities: Shares, preference shares, deferred shares, warrants, investment trusts, unit trusts, loan stocks, Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT), Exchange Traded Funds (ETF)
Debt: Singapore Government bonds, corporate bonds, convertible bonds, warrant issues, floating rate notes
Money Market: Treasury bills, Singapore dollar negotiable certificates of deposit, commercial paper
Other: Global Depository Receipts (GDR)
Board Lots
Equities: Most equites trade in lots of 1000 shares. A small number of trade in lots of 200 or 500 shares
Debt: Depends upon the isssuer.
Dividend Payment Frequency
Dividend Payment Frequency
Quarterly, semi-annual or annual
Interest Payment Frequency:
Quarterly, semi-annual or annual
Interest Accrual Rate:
Actual/365-day basis
Corporate Actions
Common Events: Rights, bonus issues, spin-offs and cash offers
Rights Tradeable: Yes
New Shares from Exercised Rights: Available in 2 to 3 weeks from the last date of the
subscription date
Proxy Voting
Foreign Investor Restrictions: No
Shares Blocked: No
Meeting Notices/ Agendas:
Provided in English. A notice of the general meeting must be received 15 to 21 days prior to the meeting. Extraordinary general meetings are announced one to three weeks in advance.
Meeting Outcome: Advised via SWIFT MT564
Company Reports: On request subject to availability
Power of Attorney: Not required
Other: Not applicable
Foreign Investors
Market Entrance Requirements:
None
Investment
Restrictions
Foreign investors are eligible to invest in all securities traded on SGX. In general, there are no foreign ownership level restrictions for local shares, unless specifically stated in the company’s Memorandum and Articles of Association (M&A)
There are certain companies in Singapore which are subject to their own M&A that limit foreign ownership of their shares. These are usually in industries such as banking, stock broking, airlines, national shipping lines and media companies. The percentage of foreign share ownership varies with different companies but is usually between 19% and 70%.
Each company has the responsibility for monitoring its own foreign shareholding limits.
Repatriation Policy
Principal, income and capital gains can be repatriated freely.
The Singapore Exchange (SGX) launched its Securities Lending program on January 7, 2002. The motivations behind this move are to pave the way for the development of a securities lending market in Singapore, to provide improved investment and hedging opportunities for market participants and to help create a more sophisticated capital market structure in Singapore.
Under this facility, the Central Depository (CDP) acts as counterparty to both lenders and borrowers and assures the return of all lent securities or their cash value equivalent, in the unlikely event the borrowed securities are not returned. Borrowers will need to pledge collateral (include cash, letters of credit from banks, and securities acceptable to CDP) for all loans.
Through Depository Agents (DAs) in Singapore, investors can register as lenders and/or borrowers of the list of selected stocks listed on the SGX Mainboard.
Taxation
Dividend Tax Rate
Corporate income tax is deducted (not reclaimable) at a rate of 20%. Singapore dividends are “franked”, or deemed to be paid net of tax deducted, by the distributing company. Non-residents are taxed 20% on the gross dividend. As this is equal to the corporate tax rate, no refund is due unless the shareholder has been specifically granted tax exemption by the Singapore tax authorities. Certain Singapore dividends are exempt from tax.
On January 1, 2003, a one-tier corporate taxation system was introduced where the tax collected from corporate profits is final. Dividends are exempt and investors will receive the full amount of dividends paid by companies. Companies are granted a 5-year transition period to utilise their available dividend franking credits which will effectively remove the existing full tax imputation system by the end of 2007.
Interest Tax Rate
Withholding Tax (WHT) on interest payments is generally applied at 15% to non-residents and 20% to non-resident corporations which operate in Singapore.
With the intention of further promoting and developing a vibrant bond market in Singapore, the Approved Bond Intermediary (ABI) tax incentive scheme was introduced in March 1999.
Under the ABI scheme, the Monetary Authority of Singapore will evaluate a financial institution’s debt origination and trading capabilities in Singapore on an overall basis. Once a financial institution has been accorded the ABI status, all debt securities (including Singapore Government Securities) lead managed by it would be treated as qualifying debt securities (QDS).
The following will enjoy tax exemption on the interest derived from any QDS issued during the period from February 28, 1998 to December 31, 2008:
* Any person who is not resident in Singapore and who does not have any permanent establishment in Singapore, and
* Any person who is not resident in Singapore and who carries on any operation in Singapore through a permanent establishment in Singapore where the funds used by that person to acquire the qualifying debt securities are not obtained from the operation.
Capital Gains Tax Rate:
None
Tax Treaties
| Australia | Indonesia | Pakistan |
| Austria | Israel | Papua New Guinea |
| Bangladesh | Italy | Philippines |
| Belgium | Japan | Poland |
| Bulgaria | Kore, Reoublic | Portugal |
| Canada | Latvia | Romania |
| China | Lithuania | South Africa |
| Cyprus | Luxembourg | Sri Lanka |
| Czech Republic | Malaysia | Sweden |
| Denmark | Maurtitius | Switzerland |
| Egypt | Mexico | Taiwan |
| Finland | Mongolia | Turkey |
| France | Myanmar | Thailand |
| Germnay | Netherlands | United Arab Emirates |
| Hungary | New Zealand | United Kingdom |
| India | Norway | Vietnam |
Stamp Duty:A 0.2% stamp duty on market value, based on the previous day’s SGX closing price, applies to the registration of physical certificates only.
Other Taxes
A 5% Goods and Services Tax (GST) is zero-rated for non-resident investors on:
* settlements
* collection of dividends and rights allocations
* immobilisation of securities
* issuance of new shares and redemptions
However, it may be applicable for the custody of physical certificates.
