Fund Management
Standard Chartered Launches VCC Fund, Aims Initially At HNW Clients
Variable Capital Company Funds were initially launched in 2020 as a way for Singapore to be a more attractive destination for investors, including wealthy individuals and family offices.
Standard Chartered said yesterday that it has incorporated its first variable capital company (VCC) in Singapore.
The Standard Chartered Funds VCC enables the UK-listed bank to launch funds to give its clients access to what the lender calls unique investment strategies. Initially, the funds will be exclusively available to the bank’s high net worth clients, with accredited/professional investor status, in the bank’s Priority, Priority Private and Private segments in Singapore, Hong Kong and Dubai.
The funds under the umbrella structure will be handpicked by the bank’s strategy team, which manages investments daily.
The VCC structure – launched in 2020 – allows investment funds to be domiciled in Singapore. When these entities were rolled out, it was seen as a way for the Asian city-state to compete against rival hubs such as Hong Kong. (See commentary here.) There are also plans to update the VCC regime to make them attractive to single-family offices. See more here.
Singapore offers a variety of investment fund forms such as the Limited Partnership, Unit Trust, and the Real Estate Investment Trust. Companies, as corporations, are also used as investment vehicles of fund investments. The main aim of the VCC is to overcome existing challenges found in the current fund or Collective Investment Schemes. For example, compared with Singapore’s existing unit trusts, limited partnerships and companies, the VCC gives more flexibility in distributions and return on investment.
Standard Chartered said it will partner with and appoint global fund managers as sub-investment managers.
“Through [the] SC Fund, we will be able to issue and manage innovative and relevant fund solutions for our global affluent clients in key markets across Asia, Africa and the Middle East, right here from Singapore,” Patrick Lee, chief executive for Singapore and ASEAN, and chair of the SC Fund, said in a statement.
