SINGAPORE will launch an over-the-counter gold clearing system before year-end and establish a central bank vault service, as the city-state pushes to position itself as a leading precious metals hub in Asia, reported the Financial Times on Monday.
Deputy prime minister Gan Kim Yong announced the plans at the Asia-Pacific Precious Metals Conference on Monday, confirming that JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank and DBS would participate in the clearing mechanism, with interbank trading to follow in 2026. Other participants include Singapore lenders OCBC and UOB, and a joint venture between China’s ICBC and South Africa’s Standard Bank, the newspaper added.
“We are not seeking to replace established centres of gold trading and liquidity,” Gan said. “Instead, Singapore can serve as a trusted node in the global gold ecosystem — connecting regional demand with global liquidity and supporting market activity during Asian hours.”
Singapore is competing directly with Hong Kong, which is separately developing its own gold clearing infrastructure, as Asian players seek to challenge the traditional dominance of London, New York and Switzerland in bullion storage, refining and trading.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore, which Gan chairs, will also establish vaults for other central banks to store gold reserves, and is removing a 5% cap on tax incentives for physical gold investments by family offices and eligible funds.
The ambitions reflect a broader shift in gold market gravity toward Asia, driven by geopolitical uncertainty and surging investor appetite for the metal.
Speaking alongside Gan, London Bullion Market Association chief executive Ruth Crowell said the LBMA was considering moving its daily morning gold auction earlier from its current 10.30am London time slot to accommodate Asian price discovery.
