Global fund research firm Morningstar last week published the results of a study that measures the “investor-friendliness” of the mutual funds industry in 16 countries worldwide.
Singapore was given an overall ranking of “C” from a possible grade of A to D.
Some of the factors that were evaluated included transparency of the fees and reports in the prospectus and fund reports, sales practices and tax benefits.
Singapore scored “C” in all areas except for taxation, where it scored an “A”. New Zealand scored the worst with “D-”. Their fund reports do not even disclose the portfolio holdings!
Here’s the rest of the rankings:
- US – A
- China – B+
- Taiwan – B
- Japan – B
- The Netherlands – B
- Italy – B
- Canada – B-
- France – C+
- Switzerland – C+
- UK – C+
- Singapore – C
- Australia – C
- Germany – C
- Hong Kong – C
- Spain – D
- New Zealand – D-
5 comments
Rhin says:
May 24, 2009 at 12:03 pm (UTC 8)
Hi Lion,
Is this report available online?
Why do you think Singapore only scored a ‘C’?
Thank you.
lioninvestor says:
May 24, 2009 at 9:32 pm (UTC 8)
Hi Rhin,
the report can be found here:
http://corporate.morningstar.com/us/documents/MethodologyDocuments/ResearchPapers/MRGFI.pdf
wiseinvestor says:
May 24, 2009 at 4:06 pm (UTC 8)
C is 2.00.
That means Singapore “graduated” with a no class honors while US “graduated” with a first class honors.
Sophie Goh says:
May 25, 2009 at 7:27 pm (UTC 8)
Hi Lion,
Tks for the Morningstar report.
Also, I was wondering, do you have any recent reports/studies on green buildings? A friend of mine is writing a story for the BCA Green Mark awards, which will be given out sometime later this week.
Thanks,
Sophie Goh
lioninvestor says:
May 25, 2009 at 11:00 pm (UTC 8)
Hi Sophie,
Not exactly. Your friend should be able to google something on that quite easily.