Alongside physical gold formats, respondents in the DBS report ranked exchange-traded funds (27 per cent), derivatives (27 per cent) and tokenised gold (18 per cent) as the investment channels with the strongest expected growth over the next 12 months, the white paper reveals.

Launched at DBS’ fifth annual Metals & Mining Forum yesterday, the report gathers insights from central banks, asset managers and banks across geographies including Asia, the Middle East and Europe. It examines how changes in gold demand, market infrastructure and investment channels are reshaping the global gold ecosystem, and the corresponding implications for investors and financial institutions.

One in four central bank respondents were actively evaluating Asian hubs as potential storage locations for official gold reserves, underscoring the importance of market liquidity, regulatory clarity and trusted infrastructure in translating interest into adoption.

About 50 per cent identified legal stability and political neutrality as the most important consideration when selecting a new gold storage location. Among financial institutions, market liquidity, regulatory clarity, clearing and custody infrastructure, and cost efficiency ranked ahead of time zone alignment and geographical proximity.

These findings underscore Singapore’s potential to build on its strengths as an international financial and wealth management centre, supported by its reputation for regulatory certainty, political stability and trusted financial infrastructure, the bank said. In addition, emerging Asian gold hubs can complement established markets such as London and New York. This in turn serves to benefit a growing pool of regional investors by enhancing access and deepening liquidity, while also enabling greater price discovery and more timely transactions during Asian trading hours.

"Trusted infrastructure, modern clearing and settlement, and financial product innovation are transforming access to gold,” Li Zhen, head of Foreign Exchange and Precious Metals, Global Financial Markets, DBS, said.

“Asia has long been the leading global demand source of physical gold, yet much of the gold trading infrastructure is concentrated in Western financial centres,” Taimur Baig, chief economist at DBS Bank, added. “As Asia’s role in the gold market grows and new investment channels emerge, the development of trusted market infrastructure will be critical. Singapore is well placed to support this evolution, building on its strengths in regulation, institutions and financial market infrastructure.”

DBS is continuing to expand its gold offerings, and talks about Singapore’s ambition to strengthen its role as a regional gold hub. In June 2026, DBS announced the introduction of DBS Physical Gold Tokens, digital tokens which are backed by real gold stored securely in the bank's Singapore vaults. The offering uses DBS’ end-to-end capabilities spanning physical vaulting, tokenisation, digital custody and distribution.