Except reits etf. Except i dont know if it is applied to "reits etf" only or sreit holdings in any etfs
Both ES3 and this new ETF hold REITs. (The STI includes publicly listed/traded REITs.) If you’re trying to make the point that the compositional bias of this new ETF is more heavily skewed toward real estate (REITs), and therefore there will be a greater tax burden within the fund, OK, fair enough.
No matter how you slice it, you can skip the cocktail parties for this ETF launch. OK, if you’re getting a free drink, great, have fun. But I wouldn’t buy this ETF.
The only new investment product launches recently (within the past few years) that seem to be genuinely attractive are:
* Singapore Savings Bonds (SSBs), which have been running for about 3 years now. Those are useful in certain roles.
* MBH, the new bond ETF. There are certainly things I don’t like about MBH, starting with its name since it’s neither investment grade nor corporate. I also don’t like the annual (!) dividend. Either make it accumulating or make it quarterly, but annual is crazy. Nonetheless, it’s currently the best general purpose Singapore dollar denominated bond fund.
* Lion Global’s new “All Seasons” unit trusts are mildly interesting, with caveats.
Anything else?
What do investors in Singapore still need? Well, here’s my short list:
* I’d like to see the government add a quarterly Singapore Inflation Bond (SIB) issue, layered on top of the SSB system and with nearly identical rules. SIBs would be real return bonds, i.e. they’d pay an interest rate pegged to the Singapore Consumer Price Index (CPI). They’d be comparable to U.S. I Bonds. Plus a once per year 10 year real return SGS issue, probably starting in November or December next year since the SGS calendar is typically bare during that period.
* MBH added to the CPF Investment Scheme.
* Lion Global’s “All Seasons” funds added to the CPF Investment Scheme, and with lower costs.
And here’s my short list in other financial areas:
* An ATM card issuer that offers a Mastercard network card with no bank markup and with up to 3 ATM operator fee rebates per month.
* A better “as charged” public hospital B1 ward Integrated Shield plan than Great Eastern’s. It’d be nice if Prudential offers it, and it ought to be open to foreigners as well as PRs and citizens (as Prudential’s public hospital A ward plan is).
* An Integrated Shield plan rider that adds high quality global emergency medical coverage (including medical repatriation/evacuation) and, in Singapore, non-hospitalization-related outpatient coverage, including prescription drug coverage. One of the Integrated Shield carriers ought to strike a deal with Bupa, basically. Maybe Raffles would be interested in doing this.
* There’s still some room for DII improvements. There are problems with policyholders leaving Singapore and losing coverage, unavailability for homemakers and students (as examples), too short elimination periods (it should be 6 months as the default), and lack of a CPI-linked escalation in both the starting amount and the annual increment.
* The life annuity market needs some improvements. There should be more fully SRS qualified annuities, and they should be joint life, CPI-linked escalating, with guaranteed payouts full stop (no non-guaranteed nonsense), and with a modest death benefit. Nobody quite hits all the marks yet, even though there are 4 companies selling life annuities in Singapore (NTUC Income, Manulife, Tokio Marine, and Etiqa).
