MAS Weighs Insurance Policies as 13O/13U Asset Class

The Monetary Authority of Singapore is reviewing whether to add insurance policies and digital payment tokens to the list of Designated Investments eligible under the Section 13O and 13U family office tax schemes, Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong said last week. Speaking at the Wealth Management Institute's Global-Asia Family Office Summit on 5 October, Gan said single family offices in Singapore had asked for greater flexibility in managing their portfolios, including in these two asset types.

"MAS is considering this feedback in its regular review of the tax policy framework, to keep pace with families' evolving investment and wealth planning needs," said Gan, who also chairs MAS.

Gan gave no draft notice, consultation date or implementation timeline. He said MAS "will announce the updated designated investment list and implementation date in due course," according to a report by The Edge Singapore carried on Yahoo Finance. Asset classes currently on the Designated Investments list include shares, debt securities, funds, derivatives, forex, commodities, overseas real estate, cash deposits and private equity, the Business Times report noted; a separate report by The Edge Singapore also listed tokenised assets. (Re)in Asia carried a similar account of MAS's review.

Any change would sit on top of earlier conditions on local hiring and local investment, which MAS has recalibrated more than once, most recently referenced in an EDB item this month on adjustments to family office tax incentives.

Who the review affects

The review affects two groups: family offices under 13O/13U, and the insurers and private banks that serve them. The first group covers single family offices structured under 13O, aimed at Singapore-incorporated fund vehicles, or 13U, the enhanced tier for larger funds with more staff, where the fund's assets must sit within the Designated Investments list to qualify for the tax exemption on specified income. If insurance policies are formally added to that list, MAS has not said how such a policy would be treated relative to a family office fund's other designated investments.

Second, insurers and private banks that market insurance wrappers to Singapore family offices will be watching the outcome of the review. A Citywire report last week on private banking account growth also noted that MAS plans to expand family office tax perks.

What is settled, and what is not

For a family office that already holds, or is weighing, a PPLI policy as part of its structure, the practical question has been whether the policy's underlying assets count within the fund's Designated Investments for 13O/13U purposes. MAS has not said when it will publish the updated list or what conditions, if any, will attach to insurance policies and digital payment tokens once added.

PPLI vs 13O fund or 13U: how a Singapore family should choose sets out the underlying trade-offs between holding assets through a fund structure versus a policy, a comparison that becomes sharper, not simpler, if policies formally join the Designated Investments list.

Utmost, which last week hired a senior underwriter for its high-net-worth business, is one of the insurers active in Singapore's wealth market as the review proceeds.

Updated on 14 October 2026: this article was revised and re-checked against its sources.

Sources

MAS considers adding insurance policies to investment list for single-family offices ((Re)in Asia, 6 Oct 2026)
Digital payment tokens, insurance policies could become tax-exempted for Singapore family offices (The Business Times, 5 Oct 2026)
MAS may include insurance policies, digital payment tokens as Designated Investment assets for single family offices (Yahoo Finance Singapore, 5 Oct 2026)
Half of new PB accounts opened in a month; MAS to expand family office tax perks (Citywire, 6 Oct 2026)
Singapore adjusts tax incentives for family offices, which must also do more to boost local hires (Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), 7 Oct 2026)
Utmost hires HNW underwriting head in wealth push (Citywire, 6 Oct 2026)