Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 26): The financial regulatory authorities of Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand have revised the Asean Collective Investment Schemes (CIS) framework to enable fund managers operating in one jurisdiction to offer funds constituted and approved in that jurisdiction to retail investors in the other two jurisdictions, under a streamlined authorisation process.

In a joint statement, the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC), the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand said the revised framework, which incorporates feedback from extensive industry consultations, seeks to promote more cross-border offerings of Asean funds and allow fund managers to offer a broader range of fund products to investors in the region.

The three regulators have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to enhance the CIS Framework. Under the enhancement, a wider range of fund managers are able to participate in the framework by lowering qualifying criteria to US$350 million assets under management, from the current US$500 million.

The enhanced CIS also allows for a shorter time-to-market for the launch of funds, as the signatories have committed to reviewing within 21 calendar days, a complete application from fund managers for the authorisation of a fund.

Also, participating fund managers have more flexibility to delegate the investment management of a fund by increasing from 20% to 100%, the proportion of the fund’s assets that can be sub-managed by a manager that is not regulated by a signatory.

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