total aum managed by pe / vc players in singapore has increased more than four times 2 / 5 bis - central bankers'speeches since 2015 to over s $ 650bn as of 2023. iii. we can position singapore as a good venue for successful ipo exits, to allow companies to access growth capital and asset owners to recycle capital, creating a virtuous cycle of growth, innovation and a vibrant financial market. 7. to do so, we must strengthen our local stock market. indeed, as boon hwee mentioned earlier and in his letter to shareholders last september, a vibrant and liquid stock market is one of the key pillars of our financial ecosystem. a. last year was a mixed picture for our local equities market. i. on one hand, the straits times index was southeast asia's best - performing stock market index. it has gained more than 15 per cent – driven primarily by our three local banks – which marks its best annual performance since 2017. daily average volumes also grew in tandem, rebounding by more than 50 % compared to previous year. ii. on the other, a combination of global economic uncertainties, high interest rates and competition from regional exchanges as well as alternative fundraising methods had resulted in a dearth of new listings. b. the establishment of the equities market review group last august is timely to build on singapore's strengths and ensure we remain an attractive venue for enterprises to raise capital. 8. as we seek to revitalise our local equities market, we will need to address three key issues. a. first, on the supply - side, we need to better define the profile of companies we want to attract. i. the success of our reit market is a good example of this. i. since the launch of the first reit - namely, capitamalltrust - in 2002, sgx has grown to become the largest reits market in asia ex - japan. ii. and with a healthy ipo pipeline comprising data centres, healthcare, industrial and accommodation assets, there is good reason to be optimistic that we will continue to be a preferred listing destination for reits in asia. ii. with exchanges and equities trading becoming a lot more cross - border, it is not surprising that companies are enticed to list on foreign venues where liquidity is concentrated. the review group and sgx will therefore need to define the space where singapore can be attractive to growth companies.

i. minister chee hong tat had previously shared that the review group is looking at companies which are already based in singapore, as well as companies from emerging markets and in areas such as fintech, innovation and sustainability. 3 / 5 bis - central bankers'speeches ii. in addition to this, the review group, informed by market feedback, is studying how we can better position our equities market to attract high quality mid - cap growth companies that are likely to be less visible on larger exchanges in the us, china and japan, but can benefit from being listed on sgx due to brand familiarity with investors in the region. iii. by being clear with the profile of companies we want to attract, we can better design our incentives for these companies to consider singapore as a listing venue, as well as for fund managers to launch products that invest in the local equities market. b. second, on the demand side, we need to not only jump start interest but also make it sustainable. this will require a range of measures to attract capital and sustain post - ipo liquidity and trading volumes, so that listee companies have confidence to list, market interest is raised, and trading liquidity is maintained. i. while it is inevitable that a sizeable proportion of liquidity will be concentrated in a number of well - known counters, we must aim to broaden liquidity beyond these counters. this will be especially critical for smaller counters, for example those with market cap between $ 500 million and $ 3 billion. ii. we must also crowd in commercial capital on a sustained basis, such as institutional wealth, individual investors and family offices. while there have been suggestions to channel sovereign monies into our equities market, it is not practical to rely on sovereign monies alone to sustain these funds and to support the equity market. instead, any use of public funding has to catalyse commercial capital for trading interest in our equities market to be sustained over the long term. iii. to this end, i note that the review group is studying how we can make optimum use of seed capital to draw in more commercial capital to ensure that government developmental capital is deployed on a fiscally prudent basis. iv. we must also strengthen the larger ecosystem to build a stronger pipeline of quality listings, catalyse investor interest and sustain liquidity. for example, we can explore enhancing research coverage into the types of pre - ipo growth companies we want to