BlackRock, the world’s largest asset management company with assets under management of more than US$3 trillion, will be rolling out its unit trusts to retail investors in Singapore.

Previously, their offering were only available to accredited investors in Singapore. Having registered with MAS 25 of their Luxembourg-based retail funds that feed into the BlackRock Global Fund (BGF) umbrella recently, retail investors will be able to invest into them very soon.

The full list of BlackRock Global funds that will be made available are:

• Global Allocation Fund
• Global Equity Fund
• European Fund
• Latin American Fund
• Emerging Europe Fund
• China Fund
• World Gold Fund
• World Mining Fund
• World Energy Fund
• Global Dynamic Equity Fund
• US Basic Value Fund
• US Flexible Equity Fund
• Emerging Markets Fund
• Asian Dragon Fund
• Asia Pacific Equity Income Fund
• India Fund
• New Energy Fund
• World Technology Fund
• World Healthscience Fund
• World Financials Fund
• World Agriculture Fund
• Global Inflation Linked Bond Fund
• Asian Tiger Bond Fund
• Local Emerging Markets Short Duration Bond Fund
• US Dollar High Yield Bond Fund

MoneySense has published a pretty useful guide about Unit Trusts for the layman.

The purpose of the guide is to help you understand what unit trusts are and what you should consider before investing in them. It highlights the benefits and risks of investing in unit trusts, what you should look out for in the prospectus and other important information you should know to make sense of your unit trust investment.

You can download this 28-page guide here:

Making Sense of Unit Trusts

Dollardex has announced that all funds purchased under CPFIS from 8 June 2010 to 31 July 2010 on their platform will be at 0% sales charge.

This comes a few days after they conducted a poll to ask whether the current 3% cap on sales charge of CPFIS is reasonable.

Competition is getting intense with front end load on unit trusts having come down much over the years. Both Dollardex and Fundsupermart (FMS) are now locked in a fierce battle to grow and maintain their market share while trying to maintain a lid on their costs.

Consumers are smart and will vote with their feet to wherever they can find the best price and value.

Franklin Templeton Investments has launched six new funds in Singapore this week. The addition of these funds brings the total number of Franklin Templeton Investment Funds (”FTIF”) available for subscription by the Singapore retail public to 68.

FTIF – Franklin Gold and Precious Metals Fund

The fund seeks capital appreciation by investing its net assets principally in companies around the world that mine, process or deal in gold or other precious metals such as silver, platinum and palladium. The Fund principally invests in equity securities, including small and mid-size gold and precious metals operation companies, located anywhere in the world.

The portfolio managers follow a research-driven, bottom-up approach to stock selection combined with critical analysis of market trends. They further seek to reduce overall volatility while still providing desired returns by gaining significant exposure to precious metals.

FTIF – Franklin Real Return Fund

The fund seeks to achieve the highest level of real returns (total return less the estimated cost of inflation) by investing substantially in inflation-protected securities, which are structured to provide protection against inflation. The Fund also seeks to invest in mortgage and other asset-based securities, short-term fixed-income securities as well as equity securities with high correlation to inflation.

FTIF – Franklin Templeton Global Equity Strategies Fund

The fund invests in companies located anywhere in the world, including emerging markets, through an allocation between different investment strategies. It also seeks to invest in companies involved in mergers, consolidations, liquidations and other reorganisations. The three investment strategies focus primarily on worldwide equity securities selling at prices unusually low relative to the portfolio managers’ appraisal of value.

FTIF – Franklin Templeton Global Fundamental Strategies Fund

The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation with a secondary objective of current income, through a diversified, value-oriented approach. Through an allocation between three different investment strategies, it generally invests in equity and debt securities of companies of any market capitalisation located anywhere in the world, including emerging markets, as well as debts securities issued by any government or by supranational entities.

FTIF – Templeton European Corporate Bond Fund

The fund seeks to maximise total investment return through interest income and capital appreciation by investing principally in investment-grade debt securities of European corporate issuers and/or non-European corporate issuers with a business presence in the European region.

FTIF – Templeton Euro Money Market Fund

The fund seeks to maintain a high degree of capital preservation and liquidity whilst maximising returns returns in the Euro currency by investing in a portfolio of high quality Euro denominated debt and debt related securities, money market securities and cash denominated in Euro.

MAS yesterday released a consultation paper pertaining to revamp of the licensing requirements of fund management companies (FMCs).

Currently, persons conducting regulated activities in Singapore under the SFA are required to obtain a Capital Markets Services [“CMS”] licence.

The Second Schedule to the SF(LCB)Regs provides exemptions from the need to hold a CMS licence for companies conducting fund management, leveraged foreign exchange trading and advising on corporate finance. For example, FMCs who notify the Authority that they are serving not more than 30 qualified investors may be exempted from licensing.

Under the proposed business conduct requirements, there will be three categories of FMCs:

1) Notified FMCs

FMCs whose Assets under Management [“AUM”] are not more than S$250 million, and who serve not more than 30 qualified
investors, of which not more than 15 are funds. The underlying investors of such funds will have to be accredited investors. No formal approval from the authority will be required for this category of FMC.

2) Licensed A/I FMCs

This refers to licensed FMCs who serve only accredited and/or institutional investors. The Authority clarifies that the underlying investors of funds managed by Licensed A/I FMCs will also have to be accredited investors and/or institutional investors. FMCs whose AUM are less than S$250 million may also apply for a CMS licence under this category, provided they meet all admission criteria.

3) Licensed Retail FMCs

Licensed FMCs who serve retail (i.e. non-accredited and non-institutional) investors. The shareholder of, or the financial group
to which the prospective Licensed Retail FMC belongs, will be required to have corporate track record of operating a regulated entity conducting fund management in an equivalent jurisdiction for at least five (5) years, and a global AUM of at least S$1 billion.

I find it an irony that while the requirements for operating a fund catering to retail investors is quite high, any tom, dick and harry can easily open a company selling “investment products” like gold, wine, land to retail investors without the need to comply to any regulation.

The full consultation paper can be found below:

Review of Regulatory Regime for Fund Management Companies and Exempt Financial Intermediaries

Annex A of Consultation Paper

Any feedback can be sent to fmccp@mas.gov.sg or 6225-4063 (fax) by 31st May 2010.