Intermediaries see shift to fixed income ahead of rate cuts, eye new markets for growth: BOS survey

[SINGAPORE] Fixed-income solutions are set to see the strongest growth in demand among clients of financial intermediaries, as investors lock in yields ahead of anticipated rate cuts, found a new survey by the Bank of Singapore (BOS).

A third of the 90 senior leaders and client-facing professionals at financial intermediaries across Singapore, Greater China and Dubai who were surveyed by BOS expect rising demand for fixed-income products.

Alternative investments (25 per cent) and exchange-traded funds (23 per cent) were cited as other areas of growth.

The latter two asset classes can also offer exposure to gold, said BOS, the private banking arm of OCBC, on Monday (Mar 2). Gold, traditionally viewed as a safe-haven asset, has rallied over the past year amid geopolitical shocks.

The survey was conducted between November 2025 and January.

“The more cautious investment posture comes against a backdrop of persistent uncertainty over the last few years,” BOS noted.

It found that 43 per cent of respondents were neutral on the global economy, while 20 per cent were either pessimistic or very pessimistic.

Geopolitical tension was cited by 44 per cent as the biggest macroeconomic risk for 2026, outweighing concerns about slowing global growth, at 19 per cent.

Dealing with challenges

Financial intermediaries are also adjusting their own strategies.

These firms – which include external asset managers and multi-family offices that manage money on behalf of wealthy clients – typically act as independent advisers or portfolio managers, allocating capital across different private banks, fund platforms and custodians on behalf of their end-clients.

The segment is “one of the fastest-growing segments” for BOS, it said, with assets under management for financial intermediary clients rising more than 30 per cent in 2025.

More than half of the survey respondents plan to expand into new markets and form strategic partnerships to attract increasingly global, digitally savvy and younger clients.

“This drive to expand geographically can help them better support clients as they are increasingly showing interest in financial hubs such as Dubai, and are more often interested in holding assets across multiple jurisdictions,” added BOS.

Improving customer experience and engagement was thus ranked the top priority by 63 per cent of respondents. This includes digitalising onboarding, enhancing portfolio reporting across asset classes, improving service turnaround times and providing advisers with more timely insights.

Some 46 per cent also aim to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence, digital transformation and automation to stay competitive.

Financial intermediaries face the dual challenge of helping clients reposition portfolios amid geopolitical and technological shifts, while building scale and diversification in their own businesses, said Lim Leong Guan, global head of financial intermediaries, family office and wealth advisory at BOS.

“It is heartening to see that they are taking concrete steps to meet those challenges,” he added.