The Monetary Authority of Singapore will introduce gold vaulting services for foreign central banks and sovereign entities by October 2026, MAS chairman and Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong told the 9th Asia-Pacific Precious Metals Conference on 15 June 2026. The speech places the service alongside more than 2,000 tonnes of commercial vault capacity in Singapore, and commits MAS to extending gold accounts to a select group of Singapore-based bullion banks so that they can provide gold-related services and liquidity to official holders; the banks are not named. The same speech committed MAS to removing the 5% cap on physical investment precious metals under the tax incentive schemes for funds, and MAS managing director Chia Der Jiun stated in his remarks at the MAS Annual Report 2025/2026 media conference on 28 July 2026 that the removal takes effect from 1 August 2026.
From 1 August 2026 the 5% cap no longer applies to physical investment precious metals held by a fund vehicle under the schemes, including one managed by a family office. IRAS defines investment precious metals for the GST exemption as gold of at least 99.5% purity, refined by a refiner on the current or former LBMA Good Delivery list and bearing that refiner’s mark. Whether a bar meets the term is read off two fields recorded against its serial number: refiner and fineness. LBMA sets 995.0 as the minimum fineness of a Good Delivery large bar, the same figure as the IRAS purity floor, so a large bar at the Good Delivery minimum meets it exactly. IRAS accepts refiners on the former Good Delivery list as well as the current one, so the refiner criterion holds after a later suspension. On placement, the speech assigns Singapore’s commercial capacity to bullion banks, institutional holders and high-net-worth investors, and the MAS service to foreign central banks and sovereign entities; a corporate treasury, fund or family office places metal in Singapore under a storage contract with a commercial vault provider.
The speech fixes the October date and the eligible holders; account terms for the MAS service and the selection of bullion banks rest with MAS. Conditions of the fund tax incentive schemes are set by MAS, and the investment precious metals definition is administered by IRAS.