Malayan Banking CEO Says Wealthy Asians Are Turning to Gold, Digital Assets and Malaysia

According to CNBC, the Singapore CEO of Malayan Banking Bhd said Asia's ultra-rich are increasingly willing to move into new asset classes, with gold shifting from Dubai to Singapore and wealthy Chinese showing more interest in Malaysia. Alvin Lee said ultra-high-net-worth individuals are looking at financial instruments, real estate and precious metals, and added that younger wealthy investors are increasingly open to digital assets and cryptocurrencies. He said Singapore remains attractive to offshore wealth and that money leaving Singapore for Dubai is returning amid the Middle East conflict, while physical gold is being shipped from Dubai to Singapore in historically large quantities. Lee also said Chinese buyers are becoming more open to Malaysia because valuations look more attractive than Singapore, and noted that Kuala Lumpur, Malacca and Penang are benefiting from that demand.