Surging Demand Unlocks New Private Market Opportunities from Singapore Banks in 2026

When Jasmine Lim, a Singapore-based entrepreneur, decided to diversify her portfolio beyond traditional stocks and bonds last year, she never imagined the wealth of options that would greet her at her private banker’s office. “Ten years ago, private equity was something only institutional investors talked about,” she recalls. “Now, my bank is practically rolling out the red carpet for private credit, infrastructure funds, and venture capital opportunities I never knew existed.”

Lim’s experience mirrors a seismic shift sweeping through Singapore’s financial landscape. As traditional markets grapple with volatility and uncertainty, the city-state’s banks are aggressively expanding their private market offerings—and investors are responding with unprecedented appetite.

Why Demand is Soaring in Singapore’s Private Markets

The numbers tell a compelling story. According to the recently released Hamilton Lane 2026 Global Private Wealth Survey, a staggering 86% of private wealth professionals globally plan to increase allocations to private markets this year—up from approximately 56% in prior surveys. In Singapore, this trend is turbocharged by the region’s position as Asia’s premier wealth management hub and a magnet for ultra-high-net-worth individuals seeking stability amid geopolitical headwinds.

Portfolio optimization has emerged as the primary motivator behind this surge, the Hamilton Lane survey reveals. Currently, 97% of wealth professionals allocate between 1-20% of their books to private markets, with allocations evenly distributed across asset classes: private equity (19%), private real estate (18%), private credit (16%), venture capital and growth (16%), and private infrastructure (15%).

“The survey results point to the increasingly important role private markets play within wealth management portfolios, due to the portfolio optimization and diversification benefits these investments can provide,” James Martin, Head of Global Client Solutions at Hamilton Lane, noted in the survey’s release. The firm, which manages approximately $958 billion in assets globally, has witnessed advisors becoming more sophisticated in assessing risk-reward tradeoffs.

What makes Singapore’s private markets particularly attractive is the convergence of several factors: political stability, a robust legal framework, supportive regulation from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), and proximity to high-growth Southeast Asian economies. As traditional net interest margins compress due to falling interest rates—with banks like UOB guiding for margins of 1.75%-1.80% in 2026, down from 1.85%-1.90% in 2025—wealth management and alternative investment products have become critical engines for fee income growth.

Singapore Banks Double Down on Private Market Expansion

The response from Singapore’s banking titans has been swift and strategic. DBS Private Bank, Bank of Singapore, UOB Private Wealth, and international players like Julius Baer are all racing to capture a larger slice of the private markets pie.

DBS Private Bank recently deepened its partnership with Hamilton Lane, launching Private Assets Tailored by Hamilton Lane (PATH)—a bespoke solution that enables qualified investors to curate diversified portfolios of private market funds spanning private equity investment Singapore 2026, credit, infrastructure, and real estate. The collaboration brings together DBS’s wealth management leadership in Asia and Hamilton Lane’s three-decade expertise in private markets, offering institutional-grade access to individual clients.

“We’ve seen a nearly five-fold increase in our clients’ assets under management in private assets over the past five years,” said Shee Tse Koon, Group Head of Consumer Banking and Wealth Management at DBS Bank, highlighting the structural nature of this demand shift.

Bank of Singapore, OCBC’s private banking arm, has been equally aggressive. CEO Jason Moo reported that the bank’s assets under management surged more than 15% with revenue climbing nearly 20% in recent quarters. The bank’s Hong Kong branch has already exceeded its 2024-2026 AUM growth targets more than a year ahead of schedule. At the APB Summit 2025, Moo underscored the evolution of alternative allocations: “We talked about alternatives being 5% of the portfolio ten years ago. Now private markets is not just private equity and credit. The question is what about digital assets? What about stable coin? What about crypto?”

UOB Private Wealth, under the leadership of Chew Mun Yew since late 2021, has set an ambitious target to double AUM to approximately $150 billion by 2026. The bank’s wealth management assets grew 8% year-on-year through mid-2025, with relationship managers expanding toward the 420-450 target by 2026. The bank is positioning itself as a leader in the wealth continuum model, focusing on high-net-worth wealth management while building dedicated teams for regional HNWIs and UHNWIs across ASEAN and Greater China.

Meanwhile, Julius Baer—already a significant force in Singapore’s private banking landscape—has reported impressive momentum, with nearly 20% growth in recurring revenue and over 15% increase in client assets as of late 2024. The Swiss pure-play has been leveraging partnerships, including ventures with Nomura and SCB Julius Baer, to capture wealth across Thailand and Japan while doubling down on growth markets in India, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

Key Asset Classes and Allocations for 2026

Among the private market strategies gaining traction, venture capital and growth opportunities are emerging as the clear frontrunner for 2026. Nearly half (47%) of respondents in the Hamilton Lane survey plan to increase allocations to this strategy—the highest of any category—followed closely by private infrastructure at 46%.

Private equity investment Singapore 2026 remains a cornerstone for wealth portfolios, serving as a common entry point for investors new to alternatives. The appeal is straightforward: access to high-growth private companies long before they go public, with the potential for outsized returns that public markets struggle to match in an era of muted valuations.

Singapore banks private credit opportunities have exploded in popularity, driven by what market watchers call “bank disintermediation”—the trend of borrowers seeking financing outside traditional banking channels. Private credit fills the gap left by banks tightening lending criteria amid economic uncertainties. In Singapore’s February 2025 Budget, the government announced a SGD 1 billion commitment to private credit, signaling strong policy support. Even Temasek, Singapore’s state investment company, established a wholly-owned private credit entity in late 2024 with an initial SGD 1 billion portfolio.

Infrastructure investing has captivated wealth allocators seeking exposure to megatrends like energy transition, digital infrastructure, and sustainable development. With Southeast Asia’s energy demand projected to increase by over 60% by 2050, the pipeline for infrastructure financing remains robust. Singapore’s Enhanced Financing Scheme for Green projects (EFS-Green) provides additional tailwinds, offering 70% risk-sharing to spur lending for renewable energy and emissions-reduction technologies.

Real estate private markets continue to attract investors seeking tangible assets and inflation hedges, while venture capital and growth strategies resonate strongly with new, highly-engaged investors who want exposure to innovative, high-growth companies not available in public markets.

Best Private Market Funds Singapore: Access and Education Remain Key

Despite the enthusiasm, access and education remain critical gatekeepers. The Hamilton Lane survey found that 81% of wealth professionals believe client education significantly boosts interest in private markets, particularly around product-level knowledge gaps. This presents both a challenge and an opportunity for Singapore banks.

The best private market funds Singapore banks offer typically require minimum investment thresholds of $1 million or more, reflecting the accredited investor framework. However, vehicles like DBS’s PATH and similar evergreen fund structures are democratizing access by allowing smaller ticket sizes, greater liquidity, and built-in diversification across multiple underlying funds.

Transparency has also improved dramatically. Modern platforms provide detailed performance metrics, regular valuations, and clear explanations of fee structures—addressing long-standing criticisms of the private markets as opaque “black boxes.” This evolution aligns with MAS’s regulatory philosophy: emphasizing transparency and investor protection while maintaining a relatively simplified regime that attracts fund managers to Singapore.

“Across our own client base and in the survey results, we see investors and their wealth advisors becoming more sophisticated around assessing risk/reward tradeoffs and recognizing the strong link between education and interest in the asset class,” Hamilton Lane’s James Martin observed.

Private Infrastructure Investments Asia: The Next Frontier

Private infrastructure investments Asia represent perhaps the most compelling long-term opportunity within the private markets spectrum. The region’s infrastructure deficit is well-documented, with the Asian Development Bank estimating that developing Asia needs to invest $1.7 trillion annually through 2030 to maintain growth momentum and tackle climate change.

Singapore banks are positioning themselves as conduits for this capital, offering clients exposure to projects ranging from renewable energy installations in Vietnam and solar farms in India to data centers supporting Asia’s digital economy and transport infrastructure across ASEAN. These investments typically offer stable, long-term cash flows with inflation protection—attributes particularly attractive in the current environment of elevated inflation and interest rate uncertainty.

The Hamilton Lane survey’s finding that 46% of respondents plan to increase infrastructure allocations in 2026 suggests this asset class is transitioning from niche to mainstream within private wealth portfolios.

Navigating the Risks: Liquidity, Valuations, and Market Cycles

Of course, the private markets bonanza isn’t without risks that prudent investors must weigh. Liquidity remains the elephant in the room—private market investments typically lock up capital for years, with limited secondary market options. While evergreen structures offer periodic redemption windows, these often come with gates and queues during times of stress.

Valuation transparency has improved but still lags public markets, with many funds marking portfolios quarterly based on models rather than observable market prices. This smoothing effect can mask volatility, creating an illusion of stability that evaporates during down cycles. Investors who experienced the 2022-2023 private equity reset—when many funds reported their first quarterly declines in years—understand that “alternative” doesn’t mean “immune to cycles.”

Fee structures in private markets also warrant scrutiny. The traditional “2 and 20” model (2% management fee plus 20% performance fee) can significantly erode returns, particularly when multiple fee layers stack in fund-of-funds structures. Sophisticated investors increasingly negotiate terms or seek lower-cost access vehicles.

Regulatory risk looms as well, particularly for cross-border strategies. While Singapore maintains a fund-manager-friendly regime, evolving regulations in underlying investment jurisdictions—from China’s tighter capital controls to India’s complex tax landscape—can impact returns. The ongoing U.S.-China geopolitical tensions add another layer of uncertainty for private market strategies with exposure to both economies.

Finally, the surge in private market allocations raises concentration concerns. As more capital chases deals, valuations in sought-after sectors like venture capital and growth equity have reached frothy levels in some cases. A mean reversion could disappoint investors who entered at peak valuations, particularly if public market multiples continue compressing.

Looking Ahead: Singapore Cements Its Private Markets Hub Status

Despite these caveats, the trajectory seems clear: private markets are here to stay as a permanent portfolio component for Singapore’s wealthy investors, not a fleeting fad. The structural drivers—pursuit of uncorrelated returns, dissatisfaction with low public market yields, and desire for exposure to innovation—show no signs of abating.

Singapore’s banks are betting big on this secular shift, investing heavily in talent, technology platforms, and partnerships to deliver sophisticated private market solutions. The city-state’s strategic advantages—tax efficiency, political stability, sophisticated legal infrastructure, and gateway access to Asia’s growth—position it uniquely to capture an outsized share of the region’s private wealth allocations.

For savvy investors, the key lies in approaching private markets Singapore with eyes wide open: understanding the illiquidity trade-offs, conducting thorough due diligence, working with advisors who prioritize alignment of interests, and maintaining appropriate portfolio diversification. Those who navigate these waters wisely stand to benefit from a rare confluence of factors—soaring demand, expanded access, and Singapore’s unassailable position as Asia’s wealth management capital.

As venture capital, infrastructure, private credit, and other alternatives cement their place in mainstream portfolios, one thing is certain: the private markets revolution in Singapore is not coming—it has arrived. And the banks that master this new paradigm will define the next chapter of Asia’s wealth management story.