Q&A: How Nasdaq’s Partnership with SGX Will Create New Pathways for Companies to List in the U.S. and Singapore

This week, Nasdaq and Singapore’s SGX Group announced a landmark partnership that will create new pathways for companies to list on both the Singapore Exchange and Nasdaq’s U.S. exchange through a harmonized listing regulatory framework.

This new framework will allow issuers to raise capital, enhance visibility, and access investors across both the U.S. and Singaporean capital markets. The proposal is pending public consultation and is targeted to go live in mid-2026.

Bob McCooey, Vice Chairman at Nasdaq, sat down with the Nasdaq Newsroom to discuss this new partnership, which aims to foster a transparent and efficient environment for global capital formation.

Q&A with Bob McCooey, Vice Chairman at Nasdaq

Nasdaq Newsroom: What are Nasdaq and SGX Group announcing?

Bob McCooey: We’re announcing our partnership with SGX as they introduce the Global Listing Board, which enables companies to pursue dual listings in both the United States and Singapore through a harmonized, streamlined process.

We've had a long-standing technology partnership with SGX that goes back over 20 years and now we've been working with them on a dual listings partnership, and this is the next generation of that which will create an opportunity to build a bridge between Singapore and Southeast Asia and the U.S. markets.

Nasdaq Newsroom: Who is this for? What sort of companies will be eligible and interested?

Bob McCooey: The Global Listing Board on SGX would be available for companies with a targeted market cap of at least 2 billion SGD. We believe there's an underserved market between $2 billion and $6 billion SGD market cap, and those companies could greatly benefit from this initiative. However, this could also be beneficial to companies at various stages of development from industry leaders to established start-ups looking to scale and have access to both the U.S. market depth and global market growth opportunities.

We expect interest from companies from Singapore, secondarily from Southeast Asia, and then from across Asia more broadly. That could potentially include companies that do business in Southeast Asia and are growing their global footprint and want access to the tremendous group of the most sophisticated investors in the world that are here on Nasdaq as well as a growing pool of investors in Southeast Asia headquartered in Singapore.

Nasdaq Newsroom: Walk us through how an issuer would benefit from the Global Listing Board.

Bob McCooey: Currently, companies can pursue a listing on Nasdaq and also separately list on SGX. What this partnership will allow for companies to do is — with less friction and streamlined process — be able to conduct a dual listing with an accelerated timeframe and reduced cost where they can raise capital in both markets.

In order to enable private companies to dual list between both Nasdaq and SGX, we have worked very closely and diligently with many key stakeholders in both markets.

We’re announcing the partnership now as institutional asset owners and managers have expressed strong support for the Global Listing Board as it provides issuers with a springboard into both the U.S. and Singapore.

The combination of market liquidity and regulatory alignment offered by the framework will enable a new wave of growth companies to expand efficiently into the world’s most important financial hubs, driving capital formation and financial benefits for issuers.

We are expecting it to go live in the middle of next year after the public consultation period in Singapore is finalized and the ruleset is put in place.

Nasdaq Newsroom: Is this the first such agreement for Nasdaq? If so, why start with Singapore and SGX Group?

Bob McCooey: Yes, this partnership with SGX is the first dual listing partnership we've ever done on a formal basis like this.

We have had several memoranda of understanding with exchanges around the world, including a long-standing one with Singapore that we are building off of for this announcement. However, this is the first one where we've formalized this into a partnership and worked with the regulators in order to make it easier for companies to list in both markets at the same time.

As for why Singapore and SGX Group, it’s because the country is firmly the financial capital of Southeast Asia. Most of the large investment firms, large asset managers, and the largest banks have their headquarters in Singapore. And we think it's natural for us to begin by working with SGX, who is a long-standing partner on our market technology side of the house.

Nasdaq Newsroom: Why are Nasdaq and SGX announcing the Global Listing Board now?

Bob McCooey: This partnership began as part of a capital markets review that began in the summer of 2024 in Singapore—spurred by the government and working with SGX Group, regulators and major institutional investors in Singapore— to evaluate the capital markets landscape within Singapore.

They recognized that a partnership with Nasdaq could bring significant benefits to them as a capital markets hub, but also to the issuers that would come to their exchange and would be able to take advantage of a Nasdaq listing. So the Global Listing Board was an outgrowth of something that they were working on and they recognized that a global market leader like Nasdaq, who has been successful in cooperating with different regulatory bodies with different exchanges around the globe, would be the best partner for them to be able to achieve their goals in terms of growing their capital markets.

Furthermore, we're firm believers that the markets and capital are global. We want to support economic growth, innovation, and capital formation in global and regional and local markets.

Because at the end of the day, this is about the ability to help issuers access liquidity, enhance visibility and grow and that's where we see this cooperation being highly valuable for both the region and global markets as a whole.

Nasdaq Newsroom: What are the next steps for this partnership? What is the role of regulators in both countries?

Bob McCooey: Following our formal announcement, SGX and the regulator in Singapore will put out a consultation that is required in their market. We are optimistic that the initiative can be available for companies starting mid next year.

At that same time, our team at Nasdaq and our counterparts at SGX will begin to discuss with companies that might benefit from the cross-border listings. We will be working with them to get them prepared so that they can take advantage of the program once it is fully implemented.

Nasdaq Newsroom: Looking ahead, how does this initiative ladder up to Nasdaq’s role helping to connect and drive innovation within the global market ecosystem?

Bob McCooey: This SGX partnership is an amazing opportunity for us to collaborate on behalf of companies. Not only are there great growth companies in Southeast Asia, a significant number of which are headquartered in Singapore, but we are looking forward to working even more closely with a partner that we've worked alongside for years to help them with their local capital markets in conjunction with allowing for companies to have a seamless way to access the most robust pool of investors here in the U.S.

After all, innovation needs capital. Deep markets offer scale and liquidity, and diverse markets bring choice and resilience. Together, they ensure that bold ideas can find the right funding, at the right time, to grow and endure.

There are entrepreneurs all over the world, and Nasdaq is excited to work with them and to support the global capital markets as they lift up entrepreneurship.

Read More about Nasdaq and SGX Group’s Partnership.

Information set forth in this communication contains forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Nasdaq cautions readers that any forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and that actual results could differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to (i) the intent to launch the Global Listing Board, (ii) the timing of regulatory approvals and launch, and (iii) company interest in the Global Listing Board. Forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties or other factors beyond Nasdaq’s control. These factors include, but are not limited to, Nasdaq’s ability to implement its strategic initiatives, economic, political and market conditions and fluctuations, geopolitical instability, government and industry regulation, interest rate risk, U.S. and global competition.