Investors will soon have one more option to trade physical gold. From June 10, institutional clients of OCBC and high net-worth and ultra-high-net worth clients of its private banking subsidiary, Bank of Singapore, will be able to buy, sell and custodise the precious gold with OCBC in a secure, Singapore based vault.
The development builds on OCBC’s paper gold offerings with OCBC believing that entry into the physical gold business will strengthen the bank’s capabilities in the precious metal amid a surge in global demand. Gold bars in particular, have seen demand soared 50% y-o-y and 20% q-o-q in the first quarter of 2026, according to the World Gold Council.
Reflecting this global trend, Bank of Singapore client holdings for physical gold have similarly grown more than 40% since the end of 2025. A vast majority of these physical gold holdings belong to ultra-high-net-worth clients, a key growth segment for Bank of Singapore.
The new capability also enables Bank of Singapore clients — who previously transacted in physical gold with a US-based entity — to now do so through a Singapore-based entity (OCBC). This fills a growing demand not only to hold bullion locally but also to transact with Singapore-based entities.
Jason Moo, CEO of Bank of Singapore, says that his clients are thinking more deeply about who they transact with, and where their gold is stored in a world marked by market volatility and geopolitical uncertainty. “Gold has long played a strategic role in wealth preservation, particularly for ultra-high-net-worth clients with long-term, intergenerational objectives,” he adds. “By leveraging OCBC Group’s strengths, we will be able to deliver a secure, trusted and differentiated physical gold offering that addresses our clients’ risk concerns.”
Two sizes of the gold bars – large bars (approximately 400 troy ounces or 12.4kg) and kilobars (1kg) – will be made available. Large bars are the global standard for international trade settlement. Kilobars are the preferred standard in Asian markets and is accepted for delivery in Commodity Exchange gold futures contracts in the United States. These gold bars are identifiable by serial numbers and allocated to clients. This gives extra certainty versus an unallocated gold offering where clients have a stake in a pooled reserve, but do not own a specific bar.
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OCBC adds that it hopes to support Singapore in strengthening its position as a trusted gold trading centre. It will do this by continuing to explore extending physical gold, as well as other physical gold linked investment and hedging solutions, to additional segments across the bank.
OCBC head of global markets Kenneth Lai says: “Our Singapore-based physical gold trading and custodian capabilities represent a strategic expansion of our market-making capabilities in precious metals. While we have started with institutional and private banking clients, over time we are looking to expand to other client segments and offer them a comprehensive range of physical gold investment and hedging solutions.”
In recent months, OCBC has ramped up its gold offerings. In December 2025, OCBC’s asset management arm, Lion Global Investors launched the LionGlobal Singapore Physical Gold Fund. The fund was also made available as an ETF on SGX in March 2026.
In April 2026, the OCBC-LionGlobal Physical Gold Fund Token or GOLDX, Southeast Asia’s first tokenised physical gold fund available on a public blockchain, was launched for institutional investors – including banks, hedge funds and asset managers – as well as corporate accredited investors.
