MAS to regulate gold buyback, landbanking schemes

[CityFarmer]

The latest effort of MAS on regulation...

MAS to regulate gold buyback, landbanking schemes
22 Sep 2015 14:23
By Kenneth Lim

SINGAPORE will begin to regulate occasionally controversial investment schemes like gold buybacks as capital markets products, and will raise the hurdles for wealthier accredited investors to access those schemes, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced on Tuesday.

The regulatory changes, which will be tabled in Parliament in 2016, will treat precious metals buyback schemes as debentures equivalent to collateralised borrowing.

Collectively managed investment schemes, which are similar to traditional investment funds but do not pool investors' contributions, will be regulated as collective investment schemes. They will not be allowed to be sold to retail investors without MAS authorisation, and will be restricted to investments in securities or other assets that are liquid, like precious metals, or that have stable income, like completed real estate.

The new rules will also require financial institutions to treat new accredited-eligible investors as retail investors by default, meaning that they would not automatically be deemed to be suitable for certain complex investment products. Qualifying investors, however, can opt to change their status to accredited.

An accredited individual investor is a person with net personal assets of at least S$2 million and whose annual income is at least S$300,000. MAS is also planning to limit to S$1 million the amount that a person's primary residence can contribute to the net worth assessment.

Source: Business Times Breaking News

[d.o.g.]

As usual, MAS is closing the barn door after the horses have bolted. But I suppose late regulation is better than no regulation. Small comfort to those who lost their life savings to these schemes though.

[pianist]

Those who lost monies to these unregulated scams, any recourse?

[corydorus]

Those who lost monies to these unregulated scams, any recourse?

The rules are for prevention. It already happened so changing rule halfway not going to help much. They went in with their eyes open.
I think the moral recourse for those who lost monies are to accept they made a mistake and reflect onto themselves on how not to repeat it.
AND not to rely on regulation to protect them because it is hard to be foolproof to go against human ingenuity which will find loopholes to go around it.

Kudos to MAS to finally listen and coming up regulations to manage them. I suspect more fine tuning later.

[kichialo]

Regulatory changes tabled only in 2016 parliament. Too slow in my opinion.

[brattzz]

"AND not to rely on regulation to protect them because it is hard to be foolproof to go against human ingenuity which will find loopholes to go around it."

Yes sir! totally agreed!

How to regulate the world? it's a wild wild west sir!
So beware and aware!