MAS annual report confirms record growth, with outstanding debt rising 9% to S$617 billion.

Record Issuance in 2024

Total corporate debt issuance in Singapore reached S$308 billion in 2024, a record high that represents a 34% increase year-on-year, according to the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) annual Singapore Corporate Debt Market Development 2025 report. MAS Managing Director Chia Der Jiun confirmed at the MAS Annual Report media conference that issuance exceeded S$300 billion and rose more than 30% from the prior year. The outstanding size of Singapore’s corporate debt market expanded in tandem, increasing 9% to S$617 billion at end-2024.

The growth cements Singapore’s position as a key regional debt capital hub. MAS bills and government bonds remain the dominant segments of the broader local-currency bond market, which reached S$849.6 billion at end-December 2024 according to Asian Development Bank data, but corporate bond issuance saw the fastest expansion among all local-currency bond segments in the fourth quarter with 30.4% quarter-on-quarter growth.

Broad-Based Growth Across Issuer Types and Currencies

Within the Singapore-dollar (SGD) market, growth was broad-based across financial institutions, corporates, and statutory boards, supported by lower interest rates and tighter credit spreads. In the non-SGD market, financial institutions led issuance volumes, fueled by the need to finance asset book growth. Foreign issuers with a presence in Singapore also tapped the market to fund business expansion and global operations.

A breakdown of issuer types shows financial institutions accounted for 54.2% of total corporate debt issuance in 2024. Corporations (excluding property) comprised 41.8%, while special purpose vehicles (corporation, reinsurance, and financial institution SPVs) made up 4.0%.

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  "type": "pie",
  "title": "Issuer-Type Share of Singapore Corporate Debt Issuance",
  "subtitle": "2024 data from MAS Corporate Debt Market Development report",
  "x_label": "",
  "y_label": "",
  "y_unit": "%",
  "series": [
    {
      "name": "",
      "data": [
        {
          "x": "Financial Institutions",
          "y": 54.2
        },
        {
          "x": "Corporations (excl. property)",
          "y": 41.8
        },
        {
          "x": "SPV (Corporation, Reinsurance, FI)",
          "y": 4.0
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "source": "MAS, Singapore Corporate Debt Market Development 2024 (July 2024), issuer-type breakdown."
}

Sustainable Finance Leadership

Singapore has consolidated its role as ASEAN’s largest market for green, social, sustainable, and sustainability-linked (GSSSL) bonds and loans. Chia Der Jiun noted that sustainable loans originated from Singapore in 2024 reached a new high of over S$48 billion. “Singapore, and MAS, take a long term view of staying the course on sustainability, despite the current uncertainties and headwinds internationally in climate action,” he stated.

MAS remains committed to supporting the region’s low-carbon transition. The regulator has placed increasing emphasis on stress testing to assess domestic financial system stability, applying scenarios that include sharp tightening in global financial conditions, heightened market volatility, trade shocks, and elevated policy uncertainty. Key findings indicate that Singapore banks maintain strong capital buffers and healthy liquidity profiles, while most corporates and households remain resilient with healthy debt servicing capacities.

The sustainable finance momentum extends to innovative structures. In 2024, CapitaLand Investment issued the first sustainability-linked panda bond by a Singapore company, raising RMB 1 billion from onshore Chinese investors and garnering strong institutional demand.

Digital Bond Market Gains Traction

Singapore’s digital corporate bond market, while still early-stage relative to traditional bond markets, has gained measurable traction. As of end-2024, digital corporate bond issuance totaled approximately USD 2.5 billion, coming from a diverse range of issuers including corporations, financial institutions, and SPVs.

To accelerate mainstream adoption, MAS launched the Global-Asia Digital Bond Grant Scheme (G-ADBGS) in 2025, offering up to SGD 450,000 per issuer. The scheme is designed to promote digital bond issuances in Singapore and facilitate the technology’s potential to enhance efficiency and lower costs in the debt capital markets.

Outlook

Singapore’s corporate debt market is well-positioned for further growth, driven by deepening sustainable finance ecosystems and expanding digital bond infrastructure. The ADB reported that Singapore’s local-currency corporate bond issuance reached S$124 billion in outstanding size at end-December 2024, recovering from a contraction in Q3 2024.

However, global financial conditions and trade uncertainties remain key risks. MAS’s own stress-testing scenarios incorporate a sharp tightening in global financial conditions alongside heightened financial market volatility and a trade shock. The regulator has identified segments of businesses and households that are more vulnerable and should exercise vigilance, even as the system overall shows resilience.

The broader asset management context reinforces Singapore’s position: assets under management exceeded S$6 trillion for the first time in 2024, growing 12.2% year-on-year, providing a deep investor base to absorb continued debt issuance. FX average daily traded volumes surpassed S$1.5 trillion in 2024, further underscoring the city-state’s role as a comprehensive financial center that supports its debt capital market ambitions.