More money in your pocket – with 94% of Core fully cost-optimised

We have refined the Syfe Core portfolios in our latest rebalance. Where last year’s update broadened regional and factor exposures, this year is about efficiency: same strategy, implemented better — with less tax and cost drag on your returns, covered by your fees at no extra cost to you.

At a Glance:

• Core has been upgraded with a significant increase in UCITS coverage. Combined with fee optimisations, 94% of Core now invests through the most cost-effective vehicles available.
• Compared to the same portfolio without our optimisations – from this and previous rebalances – Core could save you up to 0.86% a year, which could compound to add more than S$12,000 on an S$100,000 investment over 10 years.
• That makes Core one of the most cost effective ways to stay invested and grow your wealth in global markets for the long term.
  

PORTFOLIO	EST. ANNUAL SAVING*	PER S$100,000	COMPOUNDED OVER 10 YEARS†
Core Equity100	0.30%	S$302/yr	S$7,093
Core Growth	0.52%	S$521/yr	S$10,665
Core Balanced	0.74%	S$744/yr	S$11,988
Core Defensive	0.86%	S$856/yr	S$12,228

* Estimated annual improvement for that portfolio, combining withholding tax savings and differences in fund expense ratios, based on current dividend yields and applicable tax rates. Actual savings will vary over time.
† Illustration only, per S$100,000 over 10 years, compounding each portfolio’s saving at its 8-year annualised return as of June-end 2026. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Less Tax, More Money in Your Pocket

US-listed ETFs are popular vehicles, but for international investors they lose part of the income they pay to US withholding tax. Irish-domiciled UCITS equivalents of the same funds halve that tax on equity dividends and remove upfront withholding requirements for bond interest.

Equities — Withholding tax halved:

• UCITS coverage in Core is now as high as 83%. The remaining US-listed positions were kept only because their UCITS alternatives did not give us the same exposure, sufficient scale and liquidity, or a genuine net saving after all costs.
• International investors holding US-listed ETFs pay a 30% US withholding tax on the dividends those ETFs distribute. Their Irish-domiciled UCITS equivalents are taxed at the reduced 15% treaty rate — half the US-listed rate.
• Several of the new funds are accumulating share classes, meaning income is automatically reinvested within the fund rather than paid out, putting more of your money to work seamlessly.

	DEVELOPED MARKETS EX-US	CHINA (BROAD MARKET)	CHINA INTERNET
Current (US-listed)	iShares MSCI EAFE ETF (EFA)	iShares MSCI China ETF (MCHI)	KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF (KWEB)
New (UCITS)	Xtrackers MSCI World ex USA UCITS ETF (EXUS) (NEW)	iShares MSCI China UCITS ETF (ICHN) (NEW)	KraneShares CSI China Internet UCITS ETF (KWEB LN) (NEW)
Est. annual saving*	0.64%	0.61%	0.99%

Bonds — Now 100% UCITS:

• US bond interest is generally exempt from withholding rules — but the exemption is applied retrospectively: the full 30% is typically withheld first and only refunded months later. In the meantime, that’s your money sitting out of the market.
• We have moved four bond ETFs to their iShares UCITS equivalents: US Treasuries (GOVT), US inflation-linked bonds (TIP), investment-grade credit (LQD) and high yield (USHY). This has doubled the fixed income sleeve’s UCITS coverage to 100%.
• This unlocks an estimated 0.9%–1.9% of each bond holding’s value that would otherwise be withheld upfront each year, keeping more of your capital invested and compounding from day one.

	INFLATION-INDEXED	GOVERNMENT	INVESTMENT GRADE	HIGH YIELD
Current (US-listed)	iShares TIPS Bond ETF (TIP)	iShares US Treasury Bond ETF (GOVT)	iShares iBoxx $ IG Corporate Bond ETF (LQD)	iShares Broad USD High Yield ETF (USHY)
New (UCITS)	iShares $ TIPS UCITS ETF (ITPS) (NEW)	iShares $ Treasury Bond UCITS ETF (GOVT NA) (NEW)	iShares $ Corp Bond UCITS ETF (LQDE) (NEW)	iShares Broad $ High Yield Corp Bond UCITS ETF (HYUS) (NEW)
Est. annual saving*	0.91%	1.03%	1.29%	1.91%

Following these switches, the share of your portfolio held in UCITS structures rises substantially — from around 41% to 75% for Core Equity100 and from roughly 45–52% to 78–83% for the multi-asset portfolios (Growth, Balanced and Defensive). Same manager, same market exposure, better after-tax income.

Building Breadth for Resilience

In an increasingly concentrated market where returns are driven by the same few stocks, portfolio breadth becomes strength. Beyond efficiency, this rebalance also spreads your growth engine across more of the market:

• Removed MOAT, a narrow strategy that has been working less well in a broadening market. Our other existing, more cost-effective positions in DUHP & DFAT continue to provide the portfolio’s tilt towards profitable, sensibly valued companies, across a far wider set of stocks.
• Broadened our China exposure – by trimming internet position (KWEB, 2.8% → 2.1%) to fund MSCI China, which is more representative of the economy and is now 6.4% of Core Equity100; total China exposure is steady at ~8.5%. The UCITS China funds also cost less to hold (0.28% vs 0.59% for broad China).
• EXUS modestly extends developed-market coverage to Canada; our targeted value (DFAT) and profitability (DUHP) exposures are unchanged.
• Overall geographic exposures unchanged — roughly 65% US, 21% developed markets ex-US and 14% emerging markets.

Summary and Outlook

Every change in this rebalance reflects the same philosophy that guides Syfe Core: globally diversified portfolios, systematic exposure to the long-term drivers of return — value, size and quality/profitability — and delivering value for money for our clients.

Each dollar that stays invested compounds over time. This upgrade keeps more of your money working for you – without any more work from you. And with the breadth we’ve built in, your portfolio is now better positioned to weather whatever the market brings.

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Still have questions? Sign up to this webinar on 10th September, where you can get your questions answered by experts from Syfe and Xtrackers, one of the world’s largest ETF providers and a key partner of ours powering Core portfolios.