Bank of Singapore has refreshed its Chief Investment Office Global Advisory Council,a body that helps to craft the bank's annual "Supertrends" report.

As investors face heightened market uncertainty, Bank of Singapore has released its 2026 Supertrends report, highlighting North Asia's rise into advanced manufacturing to support AI developments as a significant return driver.

The private banking arm of OCBC has also added to its Chief Investment Office Global Advisory Council, welcoming two new members from KKR and PIMCO: John Studzinski, vice chairman and managing director at PIMCO and Lauren Goodwin, managing director and chief investment strategist at KKR. The council, which brings experts together from think tanks and asset managers, is designed to augment the bank’s advisory to ultra high net worth families and high net worth individuals on critical contemporary issues.

The Council also helps to shape the bank’s annual Supertrends 2026: Cycles, Halos and Moonshots, a report which explores how capital, risk and opportunity are being reshaped by five structural shifts (listed below). Rather than making decisions as a result of short-term market noise, it aims to encourage investors to take a broader view of the trends affecting global investment and that open up long-term wealth opportunities.

Jean Chia, global chief investment officer at the Bank of Singapore, referred to North Asia's rise into advanced manufacturing to support artificial intelligence developments, which will be a significant driver of returns. “More specifically, China has emerged from a period of economic recalibration into a renaissance phase marked by a cultural revival of all things Chinese and economic prosperity from value added products and services amid a digital economy,” she said.

“This is complemented by a strengthening of the Chinese renminbi. With rising life expectancy and lower birth rates, the longevity economy is estimated to grow to $4 trillion including financial services, AI infrastructure, robotics, nutrition, healthcare and leisure,” she added.

The way that China has to some extent pivoted from an earlier reliance on real estate to a more high-tech manufacturing theme was also highlighted here in a report from Edmond de Rothschild, the European private bank. 

The Bank of Singapore report explores in detail below how capital, risk and opportunity are being reshaped by five structural shifts.

1. Navigating chokepoints
Mansoor Mohi-uddin, chief macro strategist at the Bank of Singapore said today’s world order is more volatile than the old US-led order that prevailed from the 1990s to the 2010s. Global powers are all jostling for position, resulting in rising tensions and outright conflicts.

“Countries are using chokepoints more frequently to control energy supplies, semiconductor chips and critical minerals. The shocks of the 2020 pandemic, 2022 Russia invasion of Ukraine, 2023 Gaza war, 2025 US tariffs and 2026 US-Iran war are forcing governments to spend more on defence, supply chains and healthcare while also trying to manage climate change, ageing societies and unpopular immigration,” Mohi-uddin said.

“Investors should expect the new world order to lead to rising budget deficits, political pressure on central banks, persistent inflation, higher long-term government bond yields, stockpiling of commodities and strong demand for safe havens including gold, the Swiss franc and Singapore dollar, albeit the recent hawkish US Federal Reserve rhetoric and higher real rate environment argue for a more cautious stance on gold in the near term,” Mohi-uddin continued. “The dollar could be modestly stronger over the next 12 months, however it is likely on a multi-year downtrend for the rest of the decade.”

2. A whole portfolio approach (WPA)
Owi Ruivivar, chief portfolio strategist at the Bank of Singapore, underlined that piecemeal-built portfolios are being tested. “Traditional asset class diversification can mask deep concentration in a small number of shared return drivers – growth, credit, and liquidity – that move together precisely when resilience matters most,” Ruivivar said. “The WPA looks through labels to underlying drivers. By mapping every holding to its true risk premia and factor exposures, the WPA builds portfolios that are genuinely diversified to deliver across economic environments.”

3. China's renaissance
Low Pei Han, head of equity strategy and Louisa Fok, senior equity strategist at BoS, said China has been through a period of economic recalibration in recent years. As several cyclical headwinds begin to fade and new structural drivers gain traction, China appears to be entering a renaissance. “One of the most consistent – and growing – pillars of China's resilience has been the strength of its external sector. China is now also a global leader in advanced manufacturing, encompassing areas such as electric vehicles (EV), batteries, solar equipment, industrial machinery, robotics etc,” they said.

These sectors and more will be increasingly powered by technology and AI. They think that AI benefits in China will be diffused rather than concentrated, resulting in a broad productivity uplift and whole-of supply-chain competitiveness. “Cultural revival is also reshaping consumer horizons and boosting tourism. The `Guochao' movement is characterised by a surge in pride and incorporation of traditional Chinese aesthetics into modern products, signifying a shift towards domestic brands and boosting consumer industries,” Han and Fok continued. “Perhaps the most under-appreciated aspect of China's renaissance is the CNY. By several measures, the currency appears significantly undervalued relative to fundamentals.”

4. AI – anything, everywhere, all at once
Joseph Ng, senior investment strategist, and Yap Kim Leng, equity strategist at the bank, expect AI to sustain structural double digit earnings growth – well above most other sectors. “Recent data from OpenRouter shows compute demand rising nearly fourfold in just four months in 2026, signalling a clear acceleration in real-world enterprise adoption. Even with this rapid uptake, penetration remains relatively early: generative AI adoption is estimated at only ~50 per cent, compared with over 90 per cent for previous transformative technologies such as the internet,” they said. “This suggests a long growth runway and reinforces our view of AI as a durable, multi-year secular theme. Against such a backdrop, upward revisions in hyperscaler CAPEX to new highs in the recent reporting season would seem justified.”

They said that AI trade is broadening to AI inference beneficiaries beyond graphics processing units (GPU), supported by explosive compute growth and agentic AI developments, allowing investors to participate in AI growth in a diversified manner across sub-segments and names.

“Adjacent sectors supporting the data centre buildout, from power to cooling solutions and critical minerals, will also benefit from resource constraints and regulatory developments,” they said. While they are positive on the secular AI trend, they caution investors against near-term risks such as increased reliance on debt, access to power and water, slower-than-expected monetisation across the stack and potential obsolescence.

5. The longevity economy
Eli Lee, chief investment strategist, and Yap Kim Leng, equity strategist, discussed the ageing global population – a result of increased longevity and declining fertility. “By 2030, one in seven people worldwide will be aged 65 or older, compared with roughly one in 11 in 2015. Across Asia, populations are ageing at a pace the world has never seen before. Countries like Japan, South Korea and China have progressed from ageing to aged societies in just a few decades – a shift that took Europe half a century, they said. “By 2050, more than one in five Asians will be 65 or older. In China alone, the number of people aged 65 and above will account for more than 20 per cent of the national population by 2035. Japan is already the world’s oldest nation, and South Korea is ageing among the fastest globally.”

Lee and Yeng think that today’s ageing trend will create significant opportunities, driving transformation in the global economy, particularly as supportive policies, healthcare advancements, and wealth accumulation enable longer, active and more dignified living. “Market studies have valued the longevity economy at $3 trillion in 2025, making it comparable to the top 10 nominal GDPs in the world. It is projected to grow by ~6-7 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR), reaching $5.4 trillion by 2034. For countries that have already entered an aged-society stage, this demographic shift brings profound implications for the healthcare, robotics and AI, consumer and financial services sector,” they said.