SINGAPORE – Retail investors in Singapore have a new way to gain exposure to gold with the launch of the Republic’s first physical gold fund that is insured and securely vaulted here.
The LionGlobal Singapore Physical Gold Fund was launched on Nov 25 by Lion Global Investors, an asset manager wholly owned by OCBC Bank.
The fund will be distributed through OCBC, MariBank Singapore, iFast, Great Eastern, POEMS and Singlife Group, with Standard Chartered Bank Singapore serving as custodian.
Mr Teo Joo Wah, chief executive of Lion Global Investors, said there are plans to list the fund on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) by the first quarter of 2026.
There is currently just one listed gold exchange traded fund (ETF) on SGX, the SPDR Gold Shares ETF. The ETF is managed by State Street Global Advisors and is available in the US and Singapore-dollar versions.
The LionGlobal Singapore Physical Gold Fund is not currently eligible for the CPF Investment Scheme (CPFIS), which allows members to invest a portion of their CPF savings in funds approved by the CPF Board.
Mr Teo noted that the passive fund hopes to get CPFIS approval earlier than the usual three-year timeline for active funds.
Asked why the asset manager is launching the fund now, Mr Teo said there were some regulatory issues that it had to iron out.
“We are not rushing in because gold prices have gone up. We had actually planned to launch this fund since the beginning of the year,” he added.
Gold prices have surged over the past three years from around US$2,000 per ounce to a record high of US$4,380 (S$5,690) per ounce in mid-October. It now hovers around US$4,100 per ounce.
Lion Global Investors said the fund will track the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) Gold Price AM, the morning benchmark for gold set at 10.30am London time, or 6.30pm in Singapore. The LBMA is the global authority that sets standards for refined gold.
The fund is backed one-to-one by investment-grade gold bars with a minimum fineness of 99.5 per cent, which meets the standards of the LBMA.
Mr Francois Verlaine, regional head of financing and securities services for ASEAN & South Asia at Standard Chartered, said that the majority of its gold holdings are in allocated physical gold bars, each traceable by a unique serial number.
Up to 5 per cent is held in unallocated gold credit, so investors can easily redeem or subscribe for more units, he added.
The gold is stored at Le Freeport in Singapore, a high-security facility with round-the-clock surveillance, and is insured for its full value against loss, theft and damage while in custody and in transit.
Investors can purchase the fund in either Singapore or US dollars, depending on the fund share class. The minimum initial investment is S$1,000 or US$1,000.
Like other unlisted funds from Lion Global, an investor can increase or decrease exposure to this gold fund for as little as S$100 or US$100, Mr Teo said.
Access to the fund will be introduced in stages. OCBC, iFast and Singlife’s investment platform dollarDEX will begin offering subscriptions from Dec 1.
Singlife’s GROW platform is running an initial subscription window from Nov 18 to Nov 28, while MariBank will add the fund to its app at a later date yet to be announced. Great Eastern expects to offer it in 2026.
Mr Teo said the new fund represents a “bold step forward” in making physical gold investment more accessible, secure and relevant for investors.
“By leveraging multiple avenues from digital banking to insurance platforms, the fund ensures accessibility for a broader investor base, from institutional clients to everyday savers seeking inflation hedges and long-term wealth preservation,” he added.
Singlife chief investment officer Allen Kuo said the insurer will offer advisers and customers access to the asset class through its wealth platforms, GROW and dollarDEX. Policyholders will also have access to an investment-linked policy fund by the first quarter of 2026.
“In addition, we will allocate a portion of our participating fund assets to this fund, leveraging its potential to deliver better risk-adjusted returns for our policyholders,” he said.
MariBank will further broaden access by making gold investment available from as low as S$1. Chief executive officer Natalia Goh said MariBank’s gold product, Mari Invest Gold, offers retail investors a simple way to hold gold as a hedge against uncertainty.
The digital bank will be launching a different share class of the fund and will release more details in due course, noted Ms Huo Haiyan, its head of retail business.
Mr Lee Meng Choe, executive director at GEN Financial Advisory, who attended a preview of the fund, said that gold used to be a “doomsday asset”, but is now becoming a key plank of a sensible investor’s strategy.
“Gold plays the role of portfolio insurance and similar to insurance, we buy because of need,” he added.
Mr Lee said he typically advises clients to allocate 5 to 10 per cent of their net worth (less hard assets like property) in gold.