'Landmark partnership': Singapore's SGX ties up with Nasdaq for dual listings to boost stock market

Singapore is doubling down connected its efforts to marque the city-state's banal marketplace much charismatic for companies and investors.

The country's bourse has tied up with the Nasdaq to simplify dual listings successful the U.S. and Singapore, introducing a "Global Listing Board" for companies with a marketplace capitalization of much than 2 cardinal Singapore dollars (about $1.5 billion).

The "Landmark partnership" is aimed astatine enabling firms to "access planetary capital, investors and liquidity done a harmonized cross-border listing model that bridges the 2 markets," according to a connection released by the Nasdaq and the Singapore Exchange precocious Wednesday.

A cardinal feature, the SGX said, would beryllium the streamlining of regulatory obligations and fundraising with a azygous acceptable of documents and simplified reappraisal process by mid-2026. So effectively, the companies volition lone request to capable a azygous acceptable of paperwork fulfilling the regulations connected some exchanges.

Speaking to CNBC's Martin Soong, SGX CEO Loh Boon Chye said that this benefits investors, due to the fact that it's a dual listing crossed antithetic clip zones.

"You get to person terms find astir circular the timepiece ... fixed wherever volatility is today, this allows investors to hazard negociate 24 hours, and you're besides giving choices to investors, whether that could beryllium US dollars oregon that could beryllium successful Sing dollars."

Adena Friedman, CEO of Nasdaq, told CNBC that this dual listing span was the "first of its kind," and added that it was "something that's precise breathtaking for companies that person an Asian footprint, privation to person planetary vulnerability and person a singular regulatory experience."

The measurement aligns with the broader efforts by the Singapore authorities to fortify the attractiveness of Singapore's banal marketplace to investors and companies seeking to database and entree maturation capital, SGX said.

The announcement besides travel arsenic the Monetary Authority of Singapore revealed much measures to fortify the competitiveness of Singapore's banal market.

These see a SG$30 cardinal "Value Unlock" bundle to assistance companies make abilities successful firm strategy, superior optimization, and capitalist relations.

"It is an opportune clip for companies to reenforce strategical fundamentals, heighten communications, and show worth instauration to pull and prolong capitalist participation," MAS said.

The cardinal slope besides announced placing SG$2.85 cardinal with six plus managers successful Singapore, adding connected to its SG$1.1 cardinal allocation successful July this year, aimed astatine processing Singapore's money absorption manufacture and expanding capitalist information successful Singapore equities.

CGS International analysts Lock Mun Yee and Lim Siew Kee said successful a enactment that the liquidity boost is simply a affirmative for the Singapore banal marketplace and caller measures specified the "Value Unlock" programme are complementary to the worth chain.

The MAS said that it had seen "increasing" enactment and involvement successful Singapore's equity market, with mean regular turnover successful the 3rd 4th of 2025 climbing 16% twelvemonth connected twelvemonth to SG$1.53 cardinal — the highest since the archetypal 4th of 2021.

In particular, trading enactment successful small- and mid-cap stocks has picked up. IPOs person besides gained pace, raising implicit SG$2 cardinal truthful acold this year.

CGS International cautioned that portion a imaginable dual listing successful Singapore could broaden determination capitalist access, factors specified arsenic the SGX's comparatively little liquidity compared to the Nasdaq stay near-term hurdles.

Analysts from Goldman Sachs said that the guidelines and enforcement details of the "Value Unlock" programme are presently limited, adding that caller capitalist engagements suggest that firm enactment would beryllium required for a further re-rating of the Singapore market.

Goldman pointed to Japan and South Korea that person implemented measures specified arsenic dividend taxation cuts and disclosure guidelines to thrust firm action.

Singapore's STI is up astir 30% since the equities reappraisal radical was established successful August 2024, compared to the adjacent 60% summation successful Japan and South Korea's equity markets aft the announcement of their respective betterment measures, Goldman said.