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Schemes and Initiatives
 Published Date: 17 September 2021

Grant for Equity Market Singapore Scheme

MAS introduced the Grant for Equity Market Singapore (GEMS) scheme to support listings and strengthen the equity research ecosystem. GEMS has two components: (i) a Listing Grant that helps issuers defray listing related expenses and (ii) a Research Development Grant that provide incentives to enhance research coverage of companies that are part of Singapore’s equity market. 

Grant Details

1. The Listing Grant supports: (i) Initial Public Offerings ("IPOs") [Table 1]; (ii) Exchange Traded Funds ("ETFs") [Table 2]; and (iii) Depository Receipts ("DRs") [Table 3], to list in Singapore by defraying part of their listing-related expenses. The criteria are as follows:

Table 1 - IPOs

   Details

 

Listing Board

 

 

SGX Mainboard

 

SGX Catalist

 

Qualifying Issuances

 

 

IPOs including Special Purpose Acquisition Companies ("SPACs")[1], Real Estate Investment Trusts (“REITs”) and Business Trusts (“BTs”) (with REITs and BTs subject to a cap), secondary listings and Reverse Takeovers (“RTOs”).

 

 

IPOs, secondary listings and RTOs.

 

Funding Level

 

 

All listings, including secondary listings, with concurrent fund raising:

Market Capitalisation

Funding

S$1 billion and above

70% co-funding of eligible expenses with a grant cap of S$2 million

Below S$1 billion

70% co-funding of eligible expenses with a grant cap of S$1 million


Secondary listings (minimum market capitalisation of S$1 billion and above) without concurrent fund raising:

Date of Fund raising

Funding

Within 6 months

70% co-funding of follow-on fund-raising expenses with a grant cap of S$1.5 million

Between 6 - 12 months

70% co-funding of follow-on fund-raising expenses with a grant cap of S$1 million

No fund-raising or fund-raising 12 months[2] after listing

70% co-funding of eligible listing expenses with a grant cap of S$500,000

 

All listings with concurrent fund raising:

20% co-funding of eligible expenses, with a grant cap of S$300,000, regardless of market capitalisation.

 

Eligible Expenses

 

 

Eligible expenses[3] refer to business spending made to Singapore based providers that are directly attributable to a qualifying issuance as deemed appropriate by MAS, including the following:

  • Underwriting and placement fees;
  • Issue manager and sponsor fees;
  • Audit fees;
  • Legal fees;
  • Intangible assets valuation and evaluation related expenses[4];
  • Independent market research fees;
  • SGX listing fees; and
  • Sustainability Report fees[5].

Table 2 - ETFs


  Details

 

Qualifying

Issuances

 

 

(i)  The ETF must be newly listed on SGX. This includes: 

  1. Primary-listed ETFs[6];
  2. ETFs cross-listed on SGX; and
  3. Feeder ETFs that feed into a master ETF on another exchange.

(ii) The ETF should be launched with an Initial Offer Period (“IOP”)[7]. 

 

(iii)The ETF should remain listed on SGX for at least 2 years. This will be monitored by SGX and MAS will reserve the right to claw back the funds should the ETF be delisted before this 2-year period ends.

 

(iv) Marketing plans and promotional material of the ETF must be included in the application submission for this grant.

 

Funding Level
  • For primary-listed ETFs, the funding amount is S$250,000 per ETF.

  • For cross-listed and feeder ETFs, the funding amount is S$180,000 per ETF.

Table 3 - DRs


 Details

 

Qualifying
Issuances 

 

(i) The DR issued must either be from a:

  1. Singapore DR issuer launching DR(s) with underlying foreign-listed stocks on SGX (“SDR issuer”); or
  2. Foreign DR issuer launching DR(s) with underlying Singapore-listed stocks on overseas stock exchange(s) (“FDR issuer”).

(ii) The DR issued should remain on SGX or the overseas stock exchange(s) for at least 2 years. This would be monitored by SGX, and MAS reserves the right to claw back the funding should the DR be delisted before this 2-year period ends.

 

Funding Level
  • The funding amount is S$40,000 per DR.
  • Funding will be capped at 5 DRs per jurisdiction for each SDR issuer and 5 DRs for each FDR issuer.

 

2. The Research Development Grant provides incentives to enhance research coverage of companies that are part of Singapore’s equity market. This is done through funding for: (i) pre-IPO/IPO/ Post-IPO research reports [Table 4]; (ii) research dissemination [Table 5]; and (iii) research on private companies with strong local presence [Table 6]. The criteria are as follows:

Table 4 - Pre-IPO/IPO/Post-IPO Research Reports

  Details

 

Eligible Applicants

 

 

Financial institutions, including brokers, fund managers, venture capital firms, private equity firms, private banks, credit rating agencies with equity research capabilities, and independent research providers based in Singapore; including those that serve Accredited and Institutional Investors.


To join the scheme, financial institutions/research houses will need to hold the requisite license, such as a Financial Adviser’s license, or a Capital Markets Services License with an exempt Financial Adviser status to disseminate research reports to investors (Retail, Accredited/Institutional).  Please ensure that your firm holds the requisite license and confirm your eligibility with SGX before submitting your application. 

 

Qualifying Reports

 

 

(i) Equity research reports covering the Singapore equity market[8] and includes coverage on pre-IPO, IPO and post-IPO companies.


(ii) Equity research reports must be authored or co-authored by Singapore Citizens or Permanent Residents, with at least 50%[9] by Singapore Citizens. 

 

 

Funding Level
  • Funding is on a per-report basis, and this count resets annually.
  • Basic Tier: Eligible applicants can apply if they produce a minimum of 20 equity research reports in a year. Applicants can claim S$4,000 per equity research report, up to 39 reports.
  • Enhanced Tier: Eligible applicants must produce at least 40 equity research reports. Applicants can claim S$5,000 per equity research report from the 40th report onwards, capped at the 80th report.
  • Additional funding across both tiers if the research reports fall under:

Research categories

Funding Level

a. Initiation report[10]; or

Additional S$1,000/report if one of the research categories are met

b. IPO/Pre-IPO companies (< 1yr from IPO).

Grant for Equity Market Singapore Scheme


Table 5 - Research Dissemination

  Details

 

Eligible Applicants

 

Approved participants for the pre-IPO/IPO/Post-IPO research reports funding (Table 4).

 

 

Qualifying

Dissemination

 

 

(i) Produce and disseminate financial research materials:

  1. Video or non-video digital formats[11]; and
  2. Carried out in-house or through engaging Key Opinion Leaders specialising in financial research.

(ii) Digital content must: 

  1. Be based off a qualifying report[12] (Table 4); and
  2. Meet a minimum of 5,000 views[13] per dissemination.

Funding Level

 
  • The funding amount is S$4,000 per video format dissemination and S$2,500 per non-video format dissemination.

  • Funding will be capped at 12 disseminations a year for each eligible applicant.

Table 6 – Research on Private Companies with strong local presence

  Details

 

Eligible Applicants

 

Interested applicants may submit proposals[14] to MAS for consideration.

 

How to Apply

Interested applicants can write to fsdf_ext@mas.gov.sg  for more information.

  • Applicants of Listing Grant can submit their applications no longer than three months after the issuance or listing date.
  • Applicants of Research Development Grant should express interest and submit their claims to fsdf_ext@mas.gov.sg  and SGX gemsresearch@sgx.com , no later than three months after the application anniversary (i.e., 12 months from the date of application or anniversary).
  • Applications with incomplete information or do not meet the criteria stated above will result in longer processing time.
  • The GEMS scheme will be valid from 21 Jul 2025 to 31 December 2028 (both dates inclusive).

 

[1] SPACs will only qualify for one-time claim upon listing and not at the stage of de-SPAC. 

[2] Issuer must submit the GEMS Listing Grant application within a maximum of 15 months from the date of their Technical Secondary listing on the SGX. If the issuer conducts a follow-on fundraising within 12 months of its listing, the GEMS Listing Grant application should be submitted three months from the date of the follow-on fundraising or within the 15-month period from the original listing, whichever occurs earlier. Each listing is limited to a single claim submission.

[3] Excludes all applicable Goods and Services Tax (“GST”) and other equivalent taxes.

[4] Intangible assets (“IA”) valuation fees are for the valuation of the IA of an issuer, usually provided by an auditor. IA evaluation fees are for the qualitative analysis and assessment of a company's IA portfolio, usually provided by intellectual property (“IP”) service providers such as legal firms which have the relevant expertise to assess IP.

[5] Issuers can submit claims for fees paid to an external consultant/reviewer for the production and issuance of a Sustainability Report for the purpose of listing on the SGX Mainboard or Catalist. Ongoing costs relating to a Sustainability Report after the listing will not be considered an eligible expense. The Sustainability Report should be prepared in accordance with the Sustainability Report requirements for SGX Mainboard and SGX Catalist listed companies/issuers set out by SGX RegCo, or any subsequent guidance by MAS or SGX. Some examples of eligible expenses include (i) Sustainability Report drafting and review fees; (ii) Sustainability Reporting assurance fees.

[6] For the avoidance of doubt, this includes funds domiciled in other jurisdictions without an existing listing and newly listed on SGX.

[7] For cross-listed ETFs where the ETF shares have already been issued in another market, issuers may be assessed to meet the IOP criteria if they demonstrate efforts to proactively engage product distributors to carry out pre-launch and post-launch marketing activities.

[8] SGX is the programme manager for the Research Development Grant and will curate and administer the research report requirements and stock selection list for each eligible applicant.

[9] This percentage is applied to the total number of equity research reports submitted by each eligible applicant for each claim cycle. For avoidance of doubt, the figure will always be rounded up. 

[10] A comprehensive initial report when the analyst first starts covering a stock. This is often called an “initiating coverage” report or “initiation report”. 

[11] For further details on eligible formats of video and non-video dissemination and other requirements, please contact the GEMS Research Programme manager at gemsresearch@sgx.com.

[12] At least 1 qualifying research report must be used per dissemination. Use of more than 1 qualifying research report is allowed.

[13] For further details on eligible digital platforms for meeting of viewership requirements, please contact the GEMS Research Programme manager at gemsresearch@sgx.com.

[14] For further details on format of the proposal, please contact the GEMS Research Programme manager at gemsresearch@sgx.com.