According to head of Fixed Income (Singapore) at Manulife Asset Management, Murray Collins, Asia is a good investment option right now, in particular Singapore.  As such, the company has established the Manulife SGD Income Fund which seeks to “deliver higher stability and lower risk, with an emphasis on income” for its clients, with at least 50 percent of holdings in Singapore dollar-denominated bonds. The way the firm limits its clients’ currency risks is by transferring all the non-Singapore dollar exposures into Singapore dollars.

Boasting over two decades of experience in the industry, Collins has the knowledge to realistically anticipate that there are existing options for income-focused investors to gain exposure in the higher-quality issuers in the Singapore market with investment-grade bonds predicated by Singapore’s solid credit rating, still look good.

Indian firms are finding the region attractive too with it being the top destination for total direct overseas investment in 2016.  Overall that investment figure escalated by 32 percent and in December alone, companies from India invested a staggering $2.06 billion into Singapore (more than 82.5 percent of the total commitment).

Furthermore, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced earlier this month that an additional 3 application channels have been opened for the Singapore Savings Bond (SSB) program. Attractive to small savers, these are: OCBC’s Internet banking portal, OCBC’s mobile app and UOB’s Internet banking portal.