Boost market-making, broaden indices with bold moves, not incremental steps

THE Straits Times Index (STI) touched a 17-year high on Monday (Sep 23), hitting 3,638.54 points in intraday trading. Securities trading volume has been healthy lately, led by inflows of institutional money. How can Singapore quickly unfurl its sails to catch the wind at its back?

At the recent corporate governance conference organised by the Securities Investors Association (Singapore), Second Minister for Finance Chee Hong Tat said industry players have “shared ideas on possible measures to catalyse broader investor participation from both institutional and retail investors”.

These include “incentivising market makers to facilitate price discovery, broadening stock indices and expanding the pool of equity market derivatives”, he said.