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Singapore is building a gold vault for the world’s central banks
Singapore opens its vault to gold from abroad
Singapore wants to become an important storage hub for bullion. Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the city-state’s central bank and financial regulator, has announced the opening of a national bullion vault for foreign official institutions. The new facility will be able to hold up to 500 tons of gold and can be expanded if needed.
This is a response to the growing importance of gold in state reserves. For several years now, central banks have been buying bullion in record amounts, treating it as a hedge against inflation, heavy debt in the world’s biggest economies and sanctions risk. Singapore wants to offer a neutral haven for some of those assets.
Authorities in the city-state say interest emerged even before the program was officially launched. Gan Kim Yong, Singapore’s deputy prime minister and chairman of MAS, said the goal is not to replace other gold storage centers. Rather, the aim is to make reserves more resilient and give central banks an additional option.
Singapore is also building a broader ecosystem around bullion trading. Together with major banks, it is launching a new over-the-counter settlement platform, or OTC, introducing futures contracts on physical bars and expanding tax incentives for institutional capital. The city-state wants to fill the gap between trading sessions in New York and London.
So far, global gold trading has relied mainly on two hubs: London and New York. Their underground vaults together hold more than 11,5 thousand tons of bullion. Singapore is meant to be a smaller but more flexible alternative, especially for countries looking for a neutral location outside the West.
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