MAS Unveils Three New Measures to Keep Singapore’s Asset Management Industry Competitive
A new tax exemption, a hedge fund investment programme, and a fresh immigration track for senior investment talent were all announced on the same day, months ahead of the usual Budget timeline.
Singapore is making another move to reinforce its position as an international asset management hub. On 19 August 2026, the Monetary Authority of Singapore announced three new measures aimed at strengthening the country’s competitiveness as a base for asset managers, a proposed tax exemption for qualifying profit related returns, a new Hedge Fund Investment Programme, and a dedicated Investment Management Track under the Overseas Networks and Expertise Pass, or ONE Pass. The measures come as competition for asset managers, investment capital, and senior talent across international financial centres continues to intensify.
The scale of what is at stake explains why MAS is moving now. Asset management accounts for roughly 15 percent of the financial sector’s output and 13 percent of its employment, and the industry has grown at an average of 7.5 percent a year over the past five years to reach almost S$7 trillion. It supports close to 25,000 jobs spanning portfolio management, investment research, client servicing, and risk management, with around 80 percent of those roles held by Singaporeans and permanent residents.
The Three Measures
1. A Tax Exemption on Profit Related Returns
MAS and the Ministry of Finance plan to introduce a tax exemption for qualifying profit related returns arising from the provision of fund management services to qualifying funds. In practical terms, the measure is aimed at arrangements where a corporate entity, partnership, or individual receives, directly or indirectly, a contractual share of a qualifying fund’s profits in return for providing fund management services. Ordinary salaries, bonuses, and other fixed forms of staff compensation are not the target of the exemption.
The measure is expected to take effect from the Year of Assessment 2027, with further details to be announced at Budget 2027. Qualifying funds will also need to meet applicable economic substance requirements, including minimum headcount conditions. For now, the direction is clear, but much of the detail is still to come.
2. A New Hedge Fund Investment Programme
MAS will also establish a dedicated Hedge Fund Investment Programme. Under the programme, MAS intends to invest with hedge fund managers that commit to establishing or expanding their presence in Singapore. Beyond simply anchoring individual managers and their investment teams, MAS said the goal is to build out the broader hedge fund ecosystem in Singapore, including the prime brokerages and other service providers that tend to cluster around a healthy hedge fund industry. Further details on how the programme will operate are still to come.
3. A New Investment Management Track Under the ONE Pass
The third measure focuses on talent. Working with the Ministry of Manpower, MAS intends to introduce an Investment Management Track under the ONE Pass framework aimed at senior investment professionals and industry leaders.
The existing ONE Pass framework includes a S$30,000 fixed monthly salary threshold for candidates qualifying through the salary route. That does not always fit neatly with the way senior investment professionals are compensated, where a meaningful part of remuneration can come through performance linked returns rather than fixed salary. The proposed Investment Management Track is intended to recognise that distinction. MAS said returns linked to investment performance may be taken into account where they form a significant and recurring part of established compensation arrangements for specialised fund management services. Detailed eligibility and assessment criteria are still to come.
Is This About Hong Kong
Hong Kong is inevitably part of the backdrop. Singapore and Hong Kong have long competed for asset managers, investment firms, and senior financial sector talent, and recent policy developments have brought that competition back into focus. MAS, however, has framed the latest measures more broadly around strengthening Singapore’s competitiveness as an asset management centre, rather than responding to any single rival.
The distinction matters. This is less about matching Hong Kong measure for measure, and more about making sure Singapore’s overall proposition remains competitive as the industry evolves. The latest package does that across three interconnected areas, tax, capital, and talent.
Why Announce Now, Months Before the Budget
The timing is notable. The detailed mechanics of the proposed tax exemption are not expected until Budget 2027, yet the direction of the policy has been announced months earlier.
There is a practical reason why that matters. A manager deciding where to establish a new hedge fund, build an investment team, or relocate a senior portfolio manager may be making that decision now, not six months from now when the detailed Budget measures arrive. By signalling where policy is heading early, Singapore is giving the industry greater visibility over the environment it intends to create. For firms deciding where to put people, capital, and their next phase of growth, that visibility can matter.
What to Watch Next
- The full mechanics of the profit related returns tax exemption, including qualifying fund criteria and applicable economic substance requirements.
- Further detail on how the Hedge Fund Investment Programme will select managers and structure its investments.
- How the new ONE Pass Investment Management Track will assess performance linked compensation and determine eligibility.
- Whether other financial centres, including Hong Kong, introduce further measures as competition for asset management activity continues.
None of the three measures will transform Singapore’s asset management industry overnight. What they do show is a willingness to keep adjusting the country’s proposition as competition for asset managers, capital, and talent evolves.
There is also a logic to introducing the measures together. One addresses the tax treatment of qualifying performance related returns, another puts capital behind managers willing to build in Singapore, and the third seeks to better accommodate the way senior investment professionals are actually compensated. Taken together, the message to the industry is fairly direct, Singapore does not intend to assume that its existing advantages will be enough on their own.
Sources: Monetary Authority of Singapore and Ministry of Manpower, August 2026. Further details of the proposed measures, including the tax exemption, Hedge Fund Investment Programme, and ONE Pass Investment Management Track, remain subject to subsequent announcements. This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal, tax, regulatory, or immigration advice.
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