Who should investors ultimately trust to protect their interests?

LAST year, CFA Institute issued its biennial global report on trust. In that survey, only 36 per cent of investors had trust in the Singapore financial sector, down from 47 per cent two years earlier. This alarming fall prompted us to delve deeper into the data released by the global body for investment management professionals.

We held focus group discussions and interviews with retail investors as well as dialogues and presentations with financial institutions in a bid to uncover reasons for the slide in trust levels. This culminated in a trust report specific to the Singapore market.

In the recently released report, Trust in Singapore's Financial Services Industry - Are We At Rock Bottom Yet? Where Next?, we believe investors' faith in capital markets is influenced by a wide array of factors. Chief among them is returns, unsurprisingly so, especially when it comes to safer or blue-chip risk assets such as bonds widely followed or held by institutional investors. Real estate investment trusts (Reits) were another perceived safe haven, offering stable yields in a low interest environment.