Assets managed by Singapore's fund managers recorded a sharp decline in 2015 compared with the previous year, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said in a report.
Assets under management (AUM) rose to S$2.6 trillion in 2015, a 9 percent increase over 2015, but this was dwarfed by the 30 percent rise in 2014, the central bank data showed.
Globally, assets under management grew just 1 percent to US$71.4 trillion compared to 8 percent in 2014, the report said. The downtrend was caused by slower growth in emerging markets and fears of monetary policy normalization in the US.
However, the performance of Singapore was in line with mainstream Asia, excluding Japan and Australia, where the growth was 10 percent. The buoyancy in Singapore was due mainly to the entirely new assets under management.
The MAS report said trends in different segments were mixed. "Whereas private equity/venture capital and real estate grew by over 40% and 80% to S$136 billion and S$69 billion respectively, AUM managed by traditional asset managers increased at a modest pace of 4%."
Several emerging market managers also saw outflows from their equity and bond funds, the report said.
"These trends illustrate the crossroads facing the asset management industry: Interest rates, which have been low for several years, look likely to remain low for longer."
