OCBC unveils local physical gold service for institutional clients

The bank will offer 12.4kg gold bars alongside 1kg kilobars. 

OCBC will allow eligible clients to buy, sell, and custodise physical gold through a Singapore-based vault from 10 June 2026.

The service will be available to institutional clients, as well as high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth customers of Bank of Singapore, the group’s private banking subsidiary.

Bank of Singapore clients who previously transacted in physical gold through a US-based entity will now be able to do so through OCBC in Singapore.

OCBC will offer large gold bars of about 400 troy ounces, or 12.4kg, and kilobars weighing 1kg.

These gold bars will be serial-numbered and allocated to clients, giving them ownership of specific units instead of a share in a pooled reserve.

The financial group said clients have shown increasing demand to hold bullion locally and transact with Singapore-based entities amid geopolitical tensions and macroeconomic uncertainty.

Citing World Gold Council data, OCBC said demand for gold bars in the first quarter of 2026 was 50% higher than a year earlier.

Bank of Singapore client holdings of physical gold have also grown by more than 40% since the end of 2025, with most of these holdings belonging to ultra-high-net-worth clients, it added.

Apart from physical gold, the bank’s Singapore clients can also invest in fractional gold or silver through its app.

It also offers exposure to physical gold through Lion Global Investors, its asset management arm, including the LionGlobal Singapore Physical Gold Fund and the LionGlobal Singapore Physical Gold ETF, which listed on the SGX in March.