The government encourages companies to go public in Singapore, but the listing decision is ultimately decided by the company based on business considerations. The government will not put pressure on companies to go public in Singapore, including Temasek-owned companies.

Xu Fangda, Minister of Transport and Second Minister of Finance, made the above reply to a question from Workers' Party MP Cai Qingwei (Sengkang Grocery Constituency) when debating the Prime Minister's Office expenditure budget on Friday (February 28).

Cai Qingwei suggested that in order to revitalize Singapore’s initial public offering (IPO) market, the government could encourage Temasek to list in Singapore, allowing this generation of Chinese people to hold shares, such as the Singapore International Port Group, Mandai Wildlife Group and Changi Airport Group.

Xu Fangda said that the government and Singapore Exchange will continue to encourage companies to list in Singapore, and recently launched tax incentives for this. “But the listing decision is ultimately determined by companies based on business considerations. We should allow them to do so instead of imposing requirements on listing these companies in Singapore, because maintaining Singapore's attractiveness to the founders of the company and global investors who invest in these companies is more important to our overall economic competitiveness.”

Cai Qingwei also said that as the Monetary Authority of Singapore further shifts to an information disclosure-based mechanism and a regulatory stance that is conducive to enterprises, Singapore should strengthen corporate governance standards and redouble its efforts to carry out investor education.

Further reading

Enterprises and fund managers can enjoy tax incentives up to RMB 6 million when they are newly listed

Enterprises and fund managers can enjoy tax incentives up to RMB 6 million when they are newly listed

The HKMA promotes a 5 billion yuan securities market development plan to focus on investing in local stock markets

The HKMA promotes a 5 billion yuan securities market development plan to focus on investing in local stock markets

Xu Fangda replied that even if the regulation will promote listing in the future, high standards of corporate governance will still be maintained.

He said that the next phase of the securities market review team's focus is to increase shareholder participation and strengthen investor pursuit. The team will take strong enforcement actions for market misconduct and strengthen research coverage to enable investors to make smarter decisions.

The review team will announce the second phase of measures later this year.