SGX chair urges investors to take greater responsibility for decisions

Letting investors see facts and decide is better than trying to remove risks, he says

- Tay Hong

Retail investors should take more responsibility for their investment decisions on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) as measures are taken to boost liquidity on the local bourse, and as it positions itself to be the listing venue of choice for promising startups in Southeast Asia.

Having a regulatory regime that lets investors see the facts and decide for themselves works better than trying to remove all the risks, SGX Group chairman Koh Boon Hwee said in a Sept 15 letter to shareholders published in the group’s annual report for the 2025 financial year.

“Protecting retail investors is not about shielding them from risk, because risk will find them.

“It is about equipping them to face it in our markets and on our terms, before others do it on theirs,” he said.

Mr Koh’s remarks follow the work of a review group set up by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in late 2024 to rejuvenate the local stock market.

The group has since recommended that the SGX shift away from a prescriptive approach, where regulators dictate exactly what companies can or cannot do, towards a disclosure-based framework that emphasises transparency and timely reporting, allowing investors to make informed decisions.