VCCs are flexible corporate structures used for both open-ended and closed-end investment funds. They can issue in a range of assets and the sector dates back to the start of 2020.

Yesterday, Standard Chartered launched its 10th sub-fund under its Variable Capital Company (VCC) platform, a structure set up in Singapore more than six years ago to boost the Asian city-state’s wealth management sector.

The UK-listed banking group said that BNY Investments, part of BNY, is acting as the sub-investment manager to the sub-fund. Standard Chartered’s VCC platform has raised $2.6 billion in AuM for the new fund since its 2024 inception. 

The latest entity within the VCC is the Signature Select Premium Cash Reserve Fund, which is an enhanced cash management solution designed for clients who wish to preserve capital while seeking to generate returns above cash.

Singapore's launch of a VCC framework in January 2020 was one of the ways in which the jurisdiction sought to bolster its wealth management industry, already one of the most important in Asia and wider world. In 2025, when authorities sought to tighten standards on VCCs, this news service spoke to a senior figure in the industry about the matter.

This sub-fund is managed by Insight Investment, the fixed income specialist within BNY Investments. The fund aims to beat the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) by investing in a diversified portfolio of high-quality short-term fixed income and money market securities.

As reported by this news service, there are signs that some HNW and ultra-HNW clients are holding higher-than-usual cash levels, perhaps uncertain whether to fully deploy into risk assets against a backdrop of high market volatility. 

“Cash is playing an increasingly important role in portfolio construction as investors seek greater resilience and flexibility amid evolving market conditions,” Doni Shamsuddin, head of Asia-Pacific, BNY Investments, said: “This strategy has been designed to aim to meet those needs through an enhanced cash management solution offering daily liquidity. We are delighted to support Standard Chartered in broadening the range of investment solutions available to its clients."

Standard Chartered said the fund will be available to Accredited and Professional Investor clients across Standard Chartered’s Priority, Priority Private and Private Banking segments in Hong Kong, Singapore, the UAE, Jersey, Kenya and Nigeria, with other markets expected to follow.

The launch of the Signature Select Premium Cash Reserve Fund marks the Bank's fifth VCC fund launch in 2026.

VCC changes and standards
VCCs are flexible corporate structures used for both open-ended and closed-end investment funds; they can invest in a wide range of assets, including equities and fixed income instruments, both in public and private asset markets. The vast majority are offered to only accredited and/or institutional investors. VCCs enable branches of a family with different goals to run separate sub-funds while pooling their costs.

Among the areas of concern, in late June 2025, MAS said that some VCCs did not maintain their assets with independent custodians; certain VCCs appointed additional directors who were not appointed representatives of the VCC manager; managers in some cases managed VCCs that held no assets or had no investors; and there were cases of VCCs holding illiquid assets on behalf of a single investor or a few related investors, which previously belonged to these investors.