Speaking at the FIA Asia 2025 conference in Singapore on Thursday, Michael Syn, president at SGX Group, highlighted the challenges and opportunities for the exchange and Asia against the backdrop of market friction and wider adoption of digital assets.

Reflecting on the past year, post-Liberation Day in the US have brought multiple changes and friction in the functioning of global markets. For one, the law of one price is being challenged, such as differences in gold prices between London and New York. The price of climate adaptation has also been influenced by the US’ position on climate change. While deregulation moves in the US have been positively received by investors, what concerns the world the most, according to Syn, is the fiscal pressure on the US Federal Reserve.

Fiscal dominance in the US and the drive for low interest rates has resulted in equity risk premium being decoupled from the currency risk premium. This has been the proximate driver of flows to the rest of the world, resulting in incredible performance of stock markets.

As India and China liberalise and loosen capital controls, Singapore benefits as more business activity flows so it’s not a zero-sum game, with opportunities particularly for China A shares.

On SGX’s partnership with Nasdaq on dual listings, Syn noted that US corporate capital remains high.

“While there is attraction to the US, many companies have a nexus outside of the US,” he said. “We’ve made a frictionless a bridge as we can make it, enabling new companies to list on both exchanges.”

Looking at the investor interest in crypto, Syn highlighted the SGX’s recently launched perpetual crypto futures.

“The missing tooling and instrumentation in Asia is the perpetual so this product fills a gap,” said Syn.

Once investors get used to the ecosystem, other products such as gold and palladium can also be introduced.

A panel of exchange executives at FIA Asia shared insights on how they are innovating as they grapple with the need to maximise data potential while improving liquidity amid moves toward 24/7 trading.

Singapore’s financial regulator emphasises the importance of innovation, supervision and partnership as financial markets adapt to technology developments.