OCBC is expanding its precious metals franchise with the launch of a physical gold trading and custody service, allowing institutional clients and customers of its private banking arm Bank of Singapore to buy, sell and store gold bars through a fully Singapore-based platform.

The service, which begins on June 10, marks the bank’s entry into the physical bullion market and comes amid rising global demand for gold as investors seek safe-haven assets against a backdrop of geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainty.

Under the new offering, clients will be able to transact in and custodize allocated gold bars held in a secure vault in Singapore. Two formats will be available – large bars weighing approximately 400 troy ounces ( 12.4kg ), the international standard for bullion settlement, and 1kg kilobars, which are widely used across Asian markets.

The move builds on OCBC’s existing precious metals business and forms part of the group’s broader strategy to strengthen its wealth management, banking and investment capabilities.

“Gold has long played a strategic role in wealth preservation, particularly for ultra-high-net-worth ( UHNW ) clients with long-term, intergenerational objectives. Amid market volatility and geopolitical uncertainty, these clients are thinking more deeply about who they transact with, and where their gold is stored,” says Bank of Singapore chief executive officer Jason Moo.

The physical gold offering adds to an expanding suite of gold-related products across the OCBC group. These include fractional gold and silver investments available through the OCBC app, the LionGlobal Singapore Physical Gold Fund, the LionGlobal Singapore Physical Gold ETF listed on the Singapore Exchange, and the recently launched OCBC-LionGlobal Physical Gold Fund Token, a tokenized physical gold fund designed for institutional and accredited investors.

Clients’ gold holdings rising

Kenneth Lai, OCBC’s head of global markets, says the latest launch represents a strategic expansion of the bank’s precious metals market-making capabilities and will serve as a foundation for a broader range of physical gold investment and risk-management solutions in the future.

According to the World Gold Council, global demand for gold bars in the first quarter of 2026 was 50% higher than a year earlier. Reflecting that trend, Bank of Singapore says its client holdings of physical gold have risen more than 40% since the end of 2025, with the majority of holdings belonging to UHNW clients.

The launch also enables Bank of Singapore clients who previously executed physical gold transactions through a US-based entity to conduct those activities through OCBC in Singapore.

The bank says clients have increasingly expressed a preference to hold bullion locally and transact with Singapore-based institutions amid heightened geopolitical risks.

Unlike unallocated gold products, where investors own a claim on a pool of gold, the new service provides clients with specifically identified bars bearing serial numbers and allocated directly to them.

Singapore's gold hub ambitions

OCBC says the initiative supports Singapore’s ambition to strengthen its position as a trusted global gold trading hub. The bank plans to explore extending physical gold services, as well as gold-linked investment and hedging solutions, to a wider range of client segments over time.

Earlier this year, Singapore announced its ambitions to become Asia’s leading gold trading hub through a joint initiative by the Monetary Authority of Singapore ( MAS ) and the Singapore Bullion Market Association ( SBMA ).

The strategy focuses on developing gold investment products, strengthening trading liquidity and price discovery, establishing internationally recognized vaulting, logistics and clearing infrastructure, and potentially providing vaulting services for foreign central banks and sovereign institutions.

Backed by major banks, the SGX and the World Gold Council, the initiative aims to attract more global bullion flows, deepen Singapore’s precious metals ecosystem, and enhance its competitiveness against regional rivals.