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Banks, reserves and the foreign exchange market

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  • Banks in the Association of Banks in Singapore (17 March 2026): 3 local banks, 21 foreign full banks, 10 qualifying full banks, 93 wholesale banks and 4 digital banks, plus 20 merchant banks as affiliates – Chapter E.I1
  • Commercial banks (end of March 1998): 154, of which 12 local, 22 foreign full, 13 restricted and 107 offshore banks – Chapter D.IV2
  • Deposit insurance cover (from 1 April 2024): S$100,000 per depositor and bank, against S$20,000 at the launch in 2006 – Chapter D.IV3
  • Total assets of OCBC (end of 2025): S$675.69 billion – Chapter B.III4
  • Official reserve assets (end of September 2026): US$433.4 billion, of which foreign currency reserves US$418.9 billion – Chapters C.V and D.I5
  • Average daily foreign exchange turnover (April 2025): US$1.485 trillion, up from US$929 billion in April 2022 – Chapters C.IV and K.III6
  • Global market share and rank in foreign exchange (April 2025): 11.8 per cent, third after the United Kingdom and the United States – Chapters C.IV, K.III and K.VI7
  • Average daily turnover in OTC interest rate derivatives (April 2025): US$208 billion, up 33 per cent – Chapter K.III8
  • Size of the Asian Dollar Market: US$30.5 million (1968), US$389.8 million (1970), US$6.3 billion (1973) and US$85.9 billion (1981) – Chapter C.IV9
  • Number of Asian Currency Units: 1 (1968), 16 (1970), 46 (1973), 101 (1979) and 108 (March 1980) – Chapter C.IV10
  • Share of Asian Currency Units in financial sector assets (1993): 66.2 per cent – Chapter C.IV11
  • Growth of the financial sector (2025): 4.3 per cent, after 6.8 per cent in 2024 and an average of 4.6 per cent a year in 2021–2025 – Chapter K.VI12

Notes

  1. Association of Banks in Singapore, “Membership” (abs.org.sg), as cited in Chapter E.I. ↩
  2. MAS, Annual Report 1998/99, Table 3, p. 62, as cited in Chapter D.IV. ↩
  3. MAS and Singapore Deposit Insurance Corporation, joint media release “Launch of Deposit Insurance Scheme in Singapore”, 28 March 2006, and Allen & Gledhill, client update on the increase of the maximum coverage, as cited in Chapter D.IV. ↩
  4. OCBC, Annual Report 2025, “Financial highlights”, as cited in Chapter B.III. ↩
  5. MAS, “International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity” (mas.gov.sg, last updated 30 October 2026, preliminary figures), as cited in Chapter C.V. ↩
  6. MAS, “Singapore Strengthens Position as Third Largest Global FX Centre”, media release, 1 October 2025 (mas.gov.sg): FX average daily turnover “rose to US$1.485 trillion in April 2025”. The figure for April 2022 comes from the corresponding MAS release of 2022. ↩
  7. MAS, media release of 1 October 2025, cited above: share of global FX volume 11.8 per cent, up from 9.5 per cent in April 2022; third largest FX centre globally. ↩
  8. MAS, media release of 1 October 2025, cited above. ↩
  9. Bernauer, “The Asian Dollar Market”, Table 1, reproducing MAS figures, as cited in Chapter C.IV. ↩
  10. Bernauer, “The Asian Dollar Market”, p. 50, Table 1, as cited in Chapter C.IV. ↩
  11. Ngiam, “Singapore as a Financial Center”, pp. 362–363 and Table 13.1, as cited in Chapter C.IV. ↩
  12. Tan Nai Lun, “Singapore AUM up 10.1% at S$6.7t as MAS eyes competitiveness push”, The Business Times, 29 July 2026, reporting the MAS Annual Report 2025/2026, as cited in Chapter K.VI. ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of October 2026.

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