Singapore set out plans
on Friday to turn the city-state into a gold trading hub for the
whole of Asia, with regulators and industry players working
together to strengthen the market’s trading, clearing and
storage infrastructure.
Singapore is one of a number of Asian financial centres now
racing to capture more flows of bullion and boost their gold
trading business, with Hong Kong also pushing to expand its gold
market links with Shanghai.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Singapore
Bullion Market Association said they had identified four areas
that they will focus on, including the broadening of
gold-related capital market products and setting up a trusted
clearing and settlement system.
The other two areas are strengthening vaulting and logistics
standards and studying vaulting services for foreign central
banks and sovereign entities.
“We are not placing bets on whether the prices in the short
term will go up or go down,” Chee Hong Tat, Singapore’s minister
for national development and MAS deputy chairman, told reporters
on Friday.
“What we are doing is to create the ecosystem for gold
trading activity based out of Singapore.”
Chee said the plan was based on industry feedback and was
aimed at bringing more gold and high-value activity into
Singapore and creating jobs.
MAS and SBMA set up the working group in January. Its
members include DBS, ICBC Standard Bank,
JPMorgan, UBS, UOB, SGX and
the World Gold Council.
In February, OCBC said it was exploring physical gold
custody for institutional and wealthy clients.
Demand for gold has remained firm in an uncertain global
environment, even after a sharp fall in prices in recent weeks
triggered by a stronger dollar, a jump in oil prices and
concerns that interest rates could stay higher for longer as a
result of the war in the Middle East.