BlackRock has announced the launch of an ASEAN systematic active equity strategy under the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) Equity Market Development Programme (EQDP).

The world’s largest asset manager said it received approval from the MAS on Monday to launch the BF1 Advantage ASEAN Equity Fund, which will invest in small- and mid-cap companies listed in the region.

The portfolio will hold between 100 and 300 securities, with roughly half allocated to Singapore equities, with the other half invested across ASEAN markets such as Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.

The fund will adopt a systematic approach, with regular rebalancing designed to capture opportunities using information from unstructured datasets, managed by portfolio managers Ryan Kim and Filip Mena-Berlin.

Mena-Berlin said: “ASEAN offers compelling equity opportunities, with Singapore as a key gateway to regional growth.”

“The strategy differentiates itself through a systematic, liquidity‑aware approach that harness large‑scale data and machine learning techniques to assess market dynamics across Singapore and ASEAN equities, supported by BlackRock’s global scale and disciplined risk management across market cycles.”

The fund will be benchmarked against the MSCI ASEAN Investable Market Index, with an ongoing charges figure (OCF) of 0.9%, according to BlackRock’s product highlights sheet.

Andrew Landman, deputy head of Asia Pacific at BlackRock, said, “Singapore is a critical capital markets hub for Southeast Asia. We welcome the opportunity to reaffirm our long-term commitment to supporting EQDP’s objectives in enhancing market liquidity, broadening investor participation, and attracting global capital to Singapore.”

BlackRock’s fund launch comes a few months after JP Morgan Asset Management also launched a Singapore & Asia Equity Income fund with a 50% allocation to Singapore and 50% allocation to Asia ex-Japan equities as part of the EQDP.  

The EQDP was launched in February 2025 to strengthen Singapore’s asset management and research ecosystem and increase investor interest and participation in its local equity market.