Average daily turnover exceeded S$1.5 trillion, driven by broad-based growth in banking, insurance, and asset management sectors.

2024 FX Volume Milestone

Singapore's foreign exchange market recorded an average daily traded volume exceeding S$1.5 trillion in 2024, a record high that reinforces the city-state's position as Asia's premier FX hub. The milestone was announced by Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) Managing Director Chia Der Jiun during the MAS Annual Report media conference for 2024/2025. The figure reflects both the resilience and deepening liquidity of Singapore's FX market amid ongoing global economic uncertainties and shifting trade patterns.

Singapore continues to grow as a leading FX hub in Asia, with the latest data building on a multi-year trend of rising volumes. The S$1.5 trillion daily average marks a significant escalation from prior years and underscores the concentration of global FX trading activity in the city-state. As regional trade finance, corporate treasury operations, and cross-border investment flows increase, Singapore's FX market has become a critical infrastructure for price discovery and risk management across Asian time zones.

Broader Financial Sector Growth

The FX volume record is part of a broader expansion across Singapore's financial services sector, which grew by 6.8% in 2024, according to MAS data cited by Hubbis. This growth significantly outperformed the previous year and was broad-based across banking, insurance, asset management, and capital markets.

Assets under management (AUM) in Singapore surpassed S$6 trillion for the first time, rising 12.2% year-on-year, driven by both traditional and alternative asset classes, including private equity, venture capital, hedge funds, and real estate. The corporate debt market also posted strong gains, with total issuance exceeding S$300 billion in 2024—an increase of more than 30% from the prior year.

The insurance industry expanded as well, with total assets growing 3.6% year-on-year to S$456.4 billion. Employment in the financial sector remained robust: the average annual net jobs created from 2021 to 2024 was 4,400, with more than 90% of these positions going to local hires, according to MAS's Industry Transformation Map (ITM) 2025 tracking.

Wealth management remains a core pillar of Singapore's financial centre strategy. MAS has continued to emphasise sound anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) practices following recent enforcement actions against nine financial institutions, positioning Singapore as a trusted hub that welcomes legitimate wealth while tightening oversight of suspicious flows.

Global FX Hub Position and Market Composition

Singapore is now the third largest FX centre globally after the United Kingdom and the United States, and the largest in Asia Pacific. The MAS reported that Singapore's share of global FX trading volume rose to 11.8% in April 2025, up from 9.5% in April 2022—a substantial gain in just three years. Absolute volumes in April 2025 reached US$1.485 trillion in average daily turnover, a 60% increase from April 2022 levels.

All of the top five global banks house their regional FX sales and trading teams in Singapore, contributing to a deep and liquid market for both G10 currencies and Asian emerging market currencies. Non-derivatives account for approximately 90% of Singapore's daily FX turnover, according to the Singapore Foreign Exchange Market Committee's semi-annual survey. The most actively traded currency pairs include USD/JPY, which recorded a monthly turnover of US$5.7 trillion in April 2025 (with 61.3% of this volume from FX swaps), followed by EUR/USD and USD/CAD.

Share of global FX volume (%)Source: Orionmano Industries

Outlook and Risks

Despite reaching new heights, MAS has cautioned that financial sector growth is unlikely to match the highs of recent years due to prevailing global uncertainties. The central bank's stress testing framework has become more rigorous: for 2024/2025, MAS applied a severe scenario incorporating a sharp tightening in global financial conditions, heightened financial market volatility, a trade shock, and persistent elevated levels of policy uncertainty.

Key findings from MAS stress tests indicate that Singapore's banks have strong capital buffers and healthy liquidity profiles, and should be able to weather a global recession and tightened financial conditions for an extended period. Corporates and households are generally resilient, with healthy debt servicing capacities and good financial buffers. However, MAS identified segments of businesses and households that are more vulnerable and should exercise vigilance.

Looking ahead, tariffs and other trade-restrictive practices, combined with geopolitical fragmentation, are expected to bring about deeper structural changes to trade, investment flows, and supply chains. MAS Managing Director Chia Der Jiun noted that "fundamental shifts and changes to the global economy will begin to take shape in the months and years ahead," and advised that businesses will need to strengthen connectivity, diversify revenue streams, and build more resilient business models. While Singapore's FX market has reached historic volumes, MAS's cautious tone and intensified stress testing underscore the need for vigilance amid tariff disruptions and shifting geopolitical alignments.