Singapore
Banking sector profile — Asia-Pacific
Data as of September 2026 • TGB Intelligence Unit
Banking sector at a glance
Structure and performance
Singapore is a regional banking hub whose commercial banks held S$4,049.4bn of assets at end-July 2026, more than five times GDP. The system combines three local banking groups (DBS, OCBC and UOB), which dominate domestic retail and corporate banking, with a large population of foreign banks conducting wholesale, treasury, trade and private banking business across Asia. Of 131 banks licensed at end-March 2026, six were local. MAS designates seven domestic systemically important banks: the three local groups plus HSBC, Standard Chartered, Maybank and Citibank.
Funding is stable and deposit-led: non-bank deposits account for about 80% of banking-system funding and the loan-to-deposit ratio has held at around 69%, with resident deposits more than sufficient to fund resident loans. Banks act as intermediaries of cross-border finance, and credit to non-resident non-bank borrowers grew robustly into mid-2026, led by the Americas and Asia, while domestic lending expanded in manufacturing, wholesale trade and information and communications on the back of AI-related demand.
Asset quality is strong. The overall non-performing loan ratio fell to 0.9% in the second quarter of 2026, the special mention ratio was 2.2%, and total provisioning coverage rose to 146.7% of unsecured non-performing assets. The local groups remain highly profitable, although earnings have plateaued: DBS earned S$10.9bn in 2025 against S$11.3bn in 2024. MAS's 2026 stress test projected the systemically important banks' aggregate CET1 ratio to bottom at 10.9% in an adverse scenario, well above requirements.
The principal risks identified by MAS are a pullback in AI-related investment that could hit growth and corporate profitability, renewed trade tensions, and a further energy shock from the Middle East, alongside rising cyber risks from frontier AI. NPL ratios in retail trade and construction have edged up amid higher operating costs. The scale of cross-border lending, much of it to borrowers elsewhere in Asia and the Americas, ties the sector's performance closely to regional growth and global financial conditions.
Structural trends
The shifts shaping banking in Singapore.
Cross-border intermediation: credit to non-resident non-bank entities grew robustly to June 2026, led by the Americas and Asia, reinforcing Singapore banks' role in regional financing.
Provisioning build: total provisioning coverage rose to 146.7% in Q2 2026 even as the non-performing loan ratio fell to 0.9%.
Monetary tightening via the exchange rate: MAS raised the slope of the S$NEER policy band in April 2026 and again in July 2026 as imported inflation rose.
Digital money: MAS is trialling tokenised MAS Bills settled in wholesale central bank money in 2026 and consulted in September 2026 on legislation for regulated stablecoins.
Leading institutions
Largest banks in Singapore by total assets.
| # | Bank | Total assets (US$) | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DBS Group | US$699.0bn | Universal |
| 2 | OCBC | US$526.3bn | Universal |
| 3 | UOB | US$445.6bn | Universal |
Total assets, consolidated, 31 December 2025 (FY2025); local banking groups
Supervision and capital rules
MAS is an integrated central bank and financial regulator, supervising banks, insurers, capital markets and payment firms. Capital requirements are set under MAS Notice 637, which implements the Basel framework with minima above the Basel levels: 6.5% CET1, 8% Tier 1 and 10% total capital. Seven banks are designated domestic systemically important banks. The Singapore Deposit Insurance Corporation insures Singapore-dollar deposits at full banks and finance companies. Four digital bank licences were issued in 2020. In 2026 MAS tightened monetary policy twice through the S$NEER band, formed an industry taskforce with the Association of Banks in Singapore on AI-driven cyber risk, and consulted on amendments to the Payment Services Act to implement its stablecoin framework.
What changed in 2026
- In April 2026 MAS increased slightly the rate of appreciation of the S$NEER policy band as imported energy costs lifted inflation, and on 27 July 2026 raised it again very slightly.
- In July 2026 MAS and the Association of Banks in Singapore established the AI-Driven Cyber and Technology Risk Taskforce to address threats from frontier AI models.
- In September 2026 MAS consulted on amendments to the Payment Services Act to implement its regulatory framework for single-currency stablecoins.
- In September 2026 MAS's Financial Stability Review reported a 0.9% banking-system NPL ratio and found banks' capital sufficient to withstand an AI-led global downturn.
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