SINGAPORE: Singapore will develop measures to strengthen the country’s gold ecosystem, deputy chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) Chee Hong Tat said on Friday (Mar 27) amid growing interest among investors to vault and trade gold here.
In particular, the measures will focus on areas such as improving Singapore’s physical infrastructure for storing and transporting gold, and providing gold storage services to foreign central banks and sovereign entities.
The other focus areas are broadening the range of gold-related capital market products, and setting up a clearing and settlement system to ensure the secure transfer of assets such as large bar and kilobar gold.
Large bars are around 12.4kg gold bars, the preferred standard in the London market for institutional trading and settlement, while the 1kg kilobar is the preferred standard in Asian markets.
Mr Chee, who is also National Development Minister, said developing the gold market will add a new pillar to what Singapore is already offering in wealth and asset management.
“If you look at the ecosystem as a whole … the larger financial services industry ecosystem, this vertical of gold trading actually fits in quite well,” he said.
If done well, Singapore can establish itself as a gold trading hub, attract more assets and create more good jobs, he said.
