Specified Investment Products (SIPs) are financial products that may not be as widely understood by retail investors as others, as their structures, features and risks may be more complex in nature.

There are two categories of SIPs:

1. Listed SIPs

   Examples of SIPs listed on Singapore Exchange (SGX) and Overseas Exchange securities markets include the following:

   • Certificates
   • Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)
   • Exchange Traded Notes (ETNs)
   • Futures (Extended Settlement Contracts)
   • Structured Warrants
   • Callable Bull / Bear Contracts (CBBCs)
2. Unlisted SIPs

   Examples of Unlisted SIPs include the following:

   • Over-The-Counter Products
   • Leveraged Foreign Exchange

If you wish to trade SIPs, financial institutions will have to conduct the following reviews based on your declaration of your educational qualifications, work experience and investment or trading experience before offering any SIP to you:

• Customer Account Review ("CAR") for Listed SIPs; and
• Customer Knowledge Assessment ("CKA") for Unlisted SIPs.

The criteria used to qualify the investor in CAR and CKA are as follows:

1. Educational Qualifications

   Diploma or higher qualifications in one of the following fields:

   • Accountancy
   • Actuarial Science
   • Business Administration/Business Management/Business Studies
   • Capital Markets
   • Commerce/ Economics /Finance
   • Financial Engineering
   • Financial Planning / Computational Finance and Insurance
   • Professional Finance-related qualifications ( including Chartered Financial Analyst Examination conducted by CFA Institute, USA and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) Qualifications)
     
     
2. Working Experience

   Have a minimum of 3 consecutive years of working experience (such working experience would also include the provision of legal advice or possession of legal expertise on the relevant areas listed below) in the past 10 years, in the development of, structuring of, management of, sale of, trading of, research on or analysis of investment products, or the provision of training in investment products (as defined in Section 2 of the Financial Advisers Act (Cap. 110)). Work experience in Accountancy, Actuarial Science, Treasury or Financial Risk Management activities will also be considered relevant experience.

   Note: Support functions in the areas mentioned above that are administrative or clerical in nature will not be considered as relevant experience.

3. Investment Experience
   • CAR - At least 6 transactions in Listed SIPs in the preceding 3 years.
   • CKA - At least 6 transactions in the specific Unlisted SIP in the preceding 3 years.

   For example, with the new requirements becoming effective on 1 January 2012, the period of the preceding 3 years is from 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2011. If you have a DBS Vickers online Trading Account, you can check whether you have the sufficient number of trades to qualify you to be eligible for trading or investing in SIPs by logging in to your online account.

   If you do not have a DBS Vickers online Trading Account but you have an offline Trading Account, you can contact your trading representative to check your eligibility status for trading or investing in SIPs.

1. For Joint Trading Account - Both Account Holders must qualify for the CAR and/or CKA.
2. For Individual Account with Mandate - Both Primary Account Holder and the Mandate must qualify for the CAR and/or CKA.

Expert Investors** as defined under the Securities and Futures Act (SFA) or any other applicable law or regulation are exempted from CAR and/or CKA. Corporate clients are also exempted.

**Expert Investor means-

1. a person whose business involves the acquisition and disposal, or the holding, of capital markets products, whether as principal or agent;
2. the trustee of such trust as the Authority may prescribe, when acting in that capacity; or
3. such other person as the Authority may prescribe.

If you do not qualify for the CAR but still wish to invest in Listed SIPs, you have to visit www.sgx.com/sip to take the SGX Quiz. Upon passing, please provide us with your quiz results by calling our Customer Service Line at (65) 6327 2288 or emailing to [email protected] with your Trading Account number, full name and NRIC/Passport Number.

Note: Passing score for SGX Quiz is 75%.

After you are assessed to be qualified to trade SIPs, we will conduct the CAR once every 3 years for accounts trading in Listed SIPs, and CKA once every year for accounts trading in Unlisted SIPs. If you are trading in both Listed and Unlisted SIPs, we will conduct your review annually.

Note: If you have been assessed to fulfill the Educational Qualifications (as stated above) based on your initial declaration, you would be exempted from subsequent assessments until you have declared otherwise.