The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is offering insurers a S$30 million grant and proposing lighter capital charges on infrastructure and securitised assets in a bid to steer the industry's long-term money into infrastructure and structured credit. Insurers and other interested parties have until Dec. 18 to respond to the capital proposals.

For investors in Asia, the package matters because insurance balance sheets are among the few pools of capital whose liabilities run as long as a toll road concession or a power purchase agreement. If the rules pass as proposed, Singapore-regulated insurers would need to hold less capital against qualifying deals, which lowers the cost of owning them and could add a steady buyer for the region's infrastructure debt and senior securitisation tranches.

Chee Hong Tat, Minister for National Development and deputy chairman of MAS, announced the measures on Nov. 2 at the Singapore International Reinsurance Conference, according to the central bank's media release.

What MAS is changing for insurers

The package has four parts, according to MAS.

The first is money. MAS will set aside S$30 million under its Financial Sector Development Fund for an Infrastructure Capability Development Grant, which took effect on Nov. 2. The grant is meant to help insurers build infrastructure investment capabilities in Singapore. It can support dedicated investment teams, staff training and professional services. MAS said interested insurers can approach it for details, and it did not publish a cap per firm.

The second, and the larger change for balance sheets, is a consultation on what MAS calls a more risk-sensitive insurance capital framework. It proposes lower capital charges for three groups of assets:

• rated infrastructure debt that meets set credit quality and other requirements;
• qualifying infrastructure equity and debt with risk-reducing features, such as long-term contracted revenues, limited demand risk, or support from a counterparty with strong credit;
• senior, investment-grade securitisation tranches that meet criteria on simplicity, transparency and comparability, or conditions such as diversification of the underlying portfolio and liquidity safeguards.

The media release did not give the size of the proposed reductions. Those sit in the consultation paper, and they will decide how much the changes are worth to insurers.

Third, MAS said it will recognise more external credit assessment institutions with expertise in infrastructure and securitisation. Applicants must meet the criteria in Appendix 4I of MAS Notice 133. A wider list of recognised raters could bring more deals inside the rated-debt category.

Fourth, MAS said it is working with the industry on standardised disclosure templates, clearer guidance on assessments, and declarations from fund managers. The aim is to make it easier for an insurer to show that an investment qualifies for the lower charge, a practical hurdle when exposure comes through a fund rather than a direct loan.

Why Singapore wants insurers in infrastructure

The case MAS makes is about matching. Infrastructure and other long-term assets, including those reached through securitisation, can match insurers' long-dated liabilities, Caproasia reported, citing the announcement. MAS said it wants a more differentiated approach that reflects the underlying risks of these assets while keeping prudential standards sound and protecting policyholders.

The stated goals go beyond the insurance industry. The measures are meant to strengthen Singapore's infrastructure financing system and mobilise private capital for Asia's infrastructure needs, according to Caproasia's account.

The package is the latest output of the Growth Capital Workgroup, which MAS and the Ministry of Energy, Trade and Industry convened in February 2026. That group's wider brief is the financing needs of companies in Singapore and the region. Capital rules for insurers are one of the levers a regulator controls directly, unlike tax incentives, which need budget decisions.

Regulators elsewhere in Asia are working on the same problem from the supply side. Hong Kong's mortgage corporation, for example, has issued infrastructure loan-backed securities. Singapore's proposal works on the demand side, by making it cheaper in capital terms for insurers to hold such paper.

What to watch before Dec. 18

The open question is calibration. Lower charges on senior securitisation tranches and contracted infrastructure revenue only change behaviour if the cut is large enough to beat the yield insurers already earn on government and corporate bonds after capital costs. MAS has set conditions, such as investment-grade status, seniority and risk-reducing contract features, that keep the relief focused on the safer slices of the market.

Insurers' responses will also test whether the conditions are workable in practice. The criteria on simplicity, transparency and comparability for securitisations, and the requirement to show limited demand risk for infrastructure, depend on consistent deal data. That is one reason the disclosure templates and fund-manager declarations MAS is building with the industry may matter as much as the headline capital numbers.

The consultation closes on Dec. 18, 2026. MAS has not said when the final rules would take effect. The S$30 million grant is already open to applications.