If you bought the Nikko AM Singapore STI ETF a few years ago, the name on your statement may have changed. The fund manager rebranded to Amova in 2025, so the ticker you know as G3B is now officially the Amova Singapore STI ETF. Nothing about your holding changed: same 30 Straits Times Index stocks, same SGX listing since 2009, same CDP units. What did change is the cost. Amova cut the management fee cap to 0.09% a year from 1 October 2025, while the all-in expense ratio cap stays at 0.25%, with the audited figure running around 0.24%. That makes G3B the cheaper of Singapore's two STI ETFs. This guide covers the 2026 fee, the dividend, the new accumulating share class, CPF and SRS rules, and whether it beats the SPDR alternative.
It is a single fund, listed on the SGX under ticker G3B, that holds the 30 companies in the Straits Times Index in roughly their index weights. Buy one unit and you own a sliver of all 30, which together represent about 80% of the value of the Singapore market. The three local banks dominate: as of June 2026 the fund's top holdings were DBS at around 25.7%, OCBC at 15.5% and UOB at 9.6%, followed by Singtel at about 7.2% and SGX at 3.8%. So this is, in plain terms, a Singapore-dollar fund weighted heavily toward banks and blue chips.
The Nikko AM name is the legacy one. Nikko Asset Management ran the fund from its 2009 listing until the 2025 rebrand to Amova Asset Management Asia. Same fund, same SG1X52941694 ISIN, new house style. If the index machinery is new to you, the ETF glossary entry and index fund definition explain the mechanics in a paragraph each.
Cost is where this fund pulls ahead. Amova caps the total expense ratio at 0.25% a year (in place since 1 December 2023), and separately cut the headline management fee to 0.09% a year from 1 October 2025. The audited all-in figure has been running around 0.24%. The SPDR STI ETF (ticker ES3, managed by State Street) sits at about 0.28% a year. On paper that is a 0.04 percentage-point edge to G3B.
In dollars the gap is small but real. On a S$50,000 holding, 0.24% costs about S$120 a year versus roughly S$140 for the SPDR at 0.28%, so around S$20 a year. That is not a reason to switch funds and pay a brokerage commission on its own, but if you are buying fresh, the cheaper fund is the sensible default. The expense ratio glossary entry explains why this single number quietly compounds against you over decades.
| Amova STI ETF (G3B) | SPDR STI ETF (ES3) | |
|---|---|---|
| Manager | Amova (formerly Nikko AM) | State Street (SSGA) |
| Expense ratio cap | 0.25%; ~0.24% audited | around 0.28% p.a. |
| Management fee | 0.09% p.a. (from 1 Oct 2025) | not separately capped |
| Fund size (AUM) | around S$1.51 billion | around S$3.4 billion |
| Trailing dividend yield | around 3.5% to 3.7% | around 3.3% to 3.6% |
| Distribution months | January and July | February and August |
| Board lot size | 1 unit | 1 unit |
| Listed since | 24 February 2009 | 11 April 2002 |
| Accumulating class | Yes (SGD Acc, ticker GAB) | No |
The distributing class of G3B pays twice a year, usually in January and July. The most recent payout was S$0.0932 per unit with an ex-date of 2 January 2026 and a payment date of 15 January 2026. On a unit price hovering around S$5.40 in June 2026 (the fund's published NAV was S$5.4019 on 23 June 2026), the trailing yield works out to roughly 3.5% to 3.7%, depending on the price you paid and the year you count.
Singapore does not tax dividends paid to individuals, so the full distribution lands in your account with no withholding to claim back. That is a genuine advantage over many US-listed funds, where a 30% dividend withholding tax bites foreign holders. The dividend glossary entry covers the ex-date and record-date timing you need to actually qualify for a payout.
Amova listed an accumulating share class of the same fund, the SGD (Acc) Class under ticker GAB, on 17 September 2025. Instead of paying you cash twice a year, it rolls the dividends back into the fund automatically, so the price reflects reinvested income and your unit count stays the same. It tracks the same 30 stocks at the same 0.24% running cost.
GAB is small and new, with AUM around S$23 million in mid-2026 versus over S$1.5 billion for the distributing class, so spreads can be wider and trading less liquid for now. The appeal is for long-term compounders who do not want the dividend as income and would otherwise pay a brokerage commission to manually reinvest each January and July. If you want to see how reinvested dividends snowball over 10 or 20 years, run it through our compound interest calculator. For the income-versus-growth trade-off in general, our beginner's guide to investing in Singapore frames the choice.
Because it is a passive fund, the job is to mirror the index, not beat it. Over the year to early 2026 the fund returned around 33% to 34%, close behind the Straits Times Index itself, with the small gap being the expense ratio plus tracking friction. Its 3-year annualised tracking error was about 0.15% as of 30 April 2026, meaning it hugs the benchmark tightly.
Singapore blue chips ran hard into 2026, so those return figures flatter the recent picture. Treat one-year numbers with caution: a 33% year is not a base case, it is a strong year. The honest expectation for a single-country, bank-heavy index over the long run is a mid-single-digit price return plus a roughly 3% to 4% dividend, not a repeat of 33%. To compare passive index buying against picking your own stocks, our active vs passive investing comparison lays out the evidence.
You buy G3B (or GAB) the same way you buy any SGX-listed share: through a brokerage. The board lot is now 1 unit, so with a unit near S$5.40 the floor to get started is a few dollars, not the old 100-unit board lot. The decision that matters is whether the units sit in your own CDP account (direct legal ownership, dividends paid straight to you) or in a broker's custody (cheaper, broker-held). The CDP glossary entry explains the trade-off.
Both STI ETFs are approved under the CPF Investment Scheme, so you can buy G3B with CPF Ordinary Account money above the first S$20,000, within the 35% stock-and-ETF limit. You can also use Supplementary Retirement Scheme cash, which carries a tax deduction of up to S$15,300 a year for citizens and PRs. A monthly regular savings plan from providers like FSMOne, POEMS or OCBC's Blue Chip Investment Plan buys units automatically from as little as S$50 to S$100 a month, fractional units included. For the full step-by-step on brokers, fees and lot sizes, see our guide to buying the STI ETF.
Both funds hold the same 30 stocks, so returns are near-identical and you will not go wrong with either. G3B wins on headline cost (0.24% vs about 0.28%) and is the only one with an accumulating class. ES3 wins on size and liquidity: at around S$3.4 billion versus S$1.5 billion it is the larger, more heavily traded fund, which usually means tighter buy-and-sell spreads, especially on bigger orders.
For a buy-and-hold investor putting in regular sums, the 0.04% fee edge and the accumulating option tilt it toward G3B. For an active trader moving large amounts in and out, ES3's deeper liquidity can save more on spreads than the fee gap costs. The dividend timing differs too: G3B pays January and July, ES3 pays February and August, which only matters if you want payouts spread across the year by holding both. The honest verdict for most long-term buyers is to pick on cost and stop fussing over a 0.04% difference.
The biggest downside has nothing to do with which STI ETF you choose. It is that both are one country, one currency, and three banks make up roughly half the index. CPF itself classifies the fund as higher-risk, narrowly focused on Singapore. That concentration paid off well into 2026, but it is not the globally diversified core most planners suggest building first.
A common 2026 setup is to hold the STI ETF for Singapore-dollar dividends and home-market exposure, paired with a low-cost global or S&P 500 fund for the growth core. If you are weighing this against a robo-advisor doing the diversification for you, our robo-advisor vs DIY ETF comparison sets out the costs and effort on each side.
Yes. Nikko Asset Management rebranded to Amova Asset Management Asia in 2025, so the fund formerly called the Nikko AM Singapore STI ETF is now the Amova Singapore STI ETF. The SGX ticker (G3B), the ISIN (SG1X52941694), the 30 underlying stocks and your existing units are unchanged. Only the manager's name and branding changed.
The total expense ratio is capped at 0.25% a year, with the audited figure running around 0.24%. Amova also cut the underlying management fee to 0.09% a year from 1 October 2025. That makes G3B cheaper than the SPDR STI ETF (ES3), which charges around 0.28% a year, though the dollar difference on a typical holding is modest.
The distributing class pays twice a year, usually in January and July. The most recent payout was S$0.0932 per unit, with an ex-date of 2 January 2026, giving a trailing yield of roughly 3.5% to 3.7% on a price near S$5.40. There is also an accumulating class (GAB) that reinvests dividends instead of paying them out.
Yes. The fund is approved under the CPF Investment Scheme, so you can use CPF Ordinary Account savings above the first S$20,000, within the 35% stock-and-ETF limit. You can also invest Supplementary Retirement Scheme cash, which carries an income tax deduction of up to S$15,300 a year for citizens and PRs.
This is general financial information for Singapore, not personal financial advice. Figures change — verify current rates against the official sources above before acting. See our full disclaimer.