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‘Companies don’t roll their eyes anymore’: SGX equities boss on getting firms to list
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Mr Ng Yao Loong, head of equities at SGX, noted that the exchange has been courting a wider pool of firms.
PHOTOS: LIANHE ZAOBAO, SGX
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SINGAPORE – After years of subdued interest, a broader range of companies – from technology and fintech to digital infrastructure and biotech, including those that might previously have chosen to list overseas – are becoming more open to listing on the Singapore Exchange (SGX).
“Companies don’t roll their eyes any more when I talk to them about doing an IPO on SGX,” said Mr Ng Yao Loong, head of equities at SGX, noting that the exchange has been courting a wider pool of firms, from digital banks and artificial intelligence (AI) players to the subsidiaries of Singapore companies listed elsewhere.
Should this courtship prove successful, it could widen investment opportunities, deepen liquidity and create a more mature capital market to help firms grow.
The shift in sentiment comes as trading activity on SGX has picked up following government-led efforts to revive the market, including a scheme launched in February 2025 allocating state capital to selected fund managers for investing in local stocks.
In February, average daily trading value rose 45 per cent year on year to $2.1 billion, the highest level since 2020, according to bourse data.
While a revival may be under way, sustaining it over the long term will require rebuilding long-neglected parts of the market – as well as shifting long-held mindsets on disclosure and compliance, Mr Ng said.
Improving Catalist
One area now under review is Catalist, SGX’s secondary board for smaller, fast-growing companies that may not meet mainboard requirements.
While some Catalist stocks like CNMC Goldmine and ISOTeam are actively traded and a few such as Oiltek, Lum Chang Creations and LHN have recently upgraded to the mainboard, most struggle with thin liquidity and poor investor interest.
Yet, Catalist has so far been left out of the recent stock market reforms.
In February, Workers’ Party MP Jamus Lim called in Parliament for moves to boost Catalist’s attractiveness as part of a broader push to build a better bourse in Singapore.
While supportive of government efforts to underwrite listing costs, he said such incentives should also be extended to Catalist firms and stressed the need to help more of them graduate to the mainboard.
Mr Ng said Catalist has a role to play as a junior board, and changes to improve it as a platform for growing companies are under review.
While the mainboard’s quantitative requirements are not overly difficult for some Catalist companies, others still fall short of qualifying for a transfer, underscoring the need for alternative pathways.
There may also be scope to facilitate that transition for stronger firms, he said.
There is also discussion on whether Catalist sponsors can play a more value-added role in supporting growth, beyond facilitating listings and ensuring compliance, though this raises concerns about conflicts of interest.
For example, some market participants have suggested allowing sponsors to be paid in shares to better align incentives.
“You can argue it’s alignment of interests. Others will say it’s a conflict,” Mr Ng said, adding that such issues would need to be managed carefully without stifling the system.
Meanwhile, uneven investor demand – with some avoiding Catalist altogether – underscores the need to improve listing quality.
While EQDP fund managers can invest in such stocks, stronger companies with more compelling growth stories will be key to attracting and retaining interest, Mr Ng said.
He noted that Catalist plays a broader role in building SGX’s listing pipeline, particularly among the local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
“These are your bread-and-butter companies. If we get this segment right alongside the bigger listings, then SGX becomes much more relevant.”
Building new clusters
To grow its IPO pipeline, SGX is building sector clusters beyond REITs and banks to expand investor options while offering issuers more competitive valuations.
Financial technology is one example. While Singapore’s equity market already includes DBS, OCBC and UOB, this could be broadened to include more fintech players, digital banks and wealth technology firms, creating a deeper financial services cluster on the exchange beyond traditional banking.
“DBS is already a digital bank. Then, we also have companies like iFAST,” Mr Ng said, referring to the mainboard-listed digital wealth management platform.
Another cluster that has been identified is AI and digital infrastructure.
Mr Ng said SGX may not compete at the most advanced levels of AI like large language models, but can target adjacent segments such as green energy for data centres, chips, servers, connectivity and cooling systems.
By building a cluster across these interconnected areas, the exchange can help investors better understand how companies fit together and enable relative valuation.
He added that this approach mirrors how SGX previously built depth in real estate investment trusts (REITs), by starting with core industrial or commercial properties and expanding into niche segments like data centres, workers’ dormitories and student accommodation.
SGX is engaging companies early, even before they are ready to list, to better understand their capital needs and position an IPO as one of the solutions, Mr Ng said.
Given that firms have global listing options and SGX may not always compete on liquidity, the exchange is building relationships early rather than approaching them only when they are ready to go public.
SGX is also working with research platform Smartkarma to produce reports on targeted firms, helping to educate investors and raise companies’ profiles ahead of a potential listing.
Over the past three months, Singapore’s five licensed digital banks – GXS Bank, MariBank, Green Link Digital Bank, ANEXT Bank and Trust Bank – have received coverage, alongside payments and wealth management firms such as Airwallex, Nium, Chocolate Finance, Endowus, Syfe and StashAway.
Other firms covered operate in areas such as AI infrastructure.
Forward guidance: Nobody wants to be the first
Beyond attracting new listings, SGX is also encouraging existing companies to raise their valuations by improving investor communication, strengthening compliance and enhancing disclosures.
One of the biggest hurdles may be forward guidance – providing investors with projections about future performance.
While SGX Regulation (RegCo) has recently adopted a strongly supportive stance on forward guidance, actively encouraging listed issuers to provide clear and credible information about their future performance and strategies, companies are seen to be reluctant to issue projections they might later miss.
In a regulator’s column on Jan 16, SGX RegCo clarified that it will adopt a “sensible approach” to compliance, where forward-looking disclosures made in good faith, backed by reasonable assumptions and accompanied by disclosures of inherent uncertainties, should not attract regulatory queries even if projections are missed.
Mr Ng said SGX is exploring ways to encourage companies to provide more forward guidance, though this remains an evolving area with limited precedents locally.
“There is a sense that it can be done, but no one wants to be the first,” he said.
Currently, most firms offer longer-term guidance, such as revenue outlooks, while more specific forecasts – such as earnings per share – are less common.
Mr Ng said there is ongoing discussion on what form such guidance should take, whether over the short or medium term, and which metrics – such as return on equity or return on invested capital – would be most useful to investors.
SGX is also seeking feedback from market participants, including EQDP fund managers, on the type of disclosures they would value.
One possible starting point could be distribution per unit, or dividend forecasts for REITs, which are already provided at the IPO stage, though companies have been hesitant to take the lead.
For now, SGX is encouraging voluntary adoption rather than mandating disclosures.
“You want companies to do this willingly because they see the value,” he said.
Over time, practices adopted by companies listing on the upcoming SGX-Nasdaq Global Listing Board (GLB) could help set precedents that filter through the broader market.
The GLB – expected to go live in mid-2026 – aims to attract IPO candidates as well as companies already listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market with a market capitalisation of at least $2 billion and an Asian nexus to also list on SGX.
“There are companies in the pipeline that probably would not have considered SGX otherwise,” Mr Ng said.
Aligning with US market practices could reshape elements of Singapore’s capital markets, including how IPOs are structured and how retail investors participate.
The alignment may also influence disclosure practices, including the use of forward-looking statements.
Ultimately, sustaining interest in Singapore stocks will hinge on implementing the changes needed to broaden participation across companies and investors alike.
“When you broaden the ecosystem, that’s when the market has the highest chance of becoming sustainable,” Mr Ng said.
