Singapore’s asset management industry assets grew 10% to S$5.41 trillion (US$4.33) last year driven partly by private markets, which saw a double-digit gain over the last five years, according to the city state’s central bank.
Private market assets grew at a compound annual rate of 24.6% to S$650 billion between 2018 and 2023, Chia Der Jun, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), said in a speech on July 18, when the bank published its annual report.
He said more than half the private market assets were directed towards supporting growth of businesses in the Asia Pacific region.
MAS also expects the private debt market to continue growing.
“This is driven by large global private credit managers expanding their Asia teams in Singapore, and new private credit managers establishing a presence here to tap investment opportunities in the region,” Chia said.
Meanwhile, the outstanding size of Singapore’s bond market increased 10.5% year-on-year to S$566 billion in 2023, with new issuance growing 21% to S$230 billion.
Chia said sustainable debt issuance grew 7% year-on-year to around S$38 billion. He said Singapore is the largest sustainable debt market in Southeast Asia, and that over S$130 billion of sustainable bonds and loans were issued over the last five years.