Singapore’s bond market goes digital

In what could prove to be a game-changer for bond issuance in Asia, Singapore Exchange SGX has completed the first digital bond issuance in the region cutting settlement from the traditional five days, to two days.

Last week, 1 September, it replicated a S$400 million $292.4 million 4% 5.5-year public bond issue and a follow-on S$100 million tap of the same issue by food and agri-business conglomerate Olam International.

The driver to go digital was efficiency.

“We chose fixed income, which is an asset that isn't very digitalised, to begin with,” said Peter Shen, head of digital services for fixed income, currencies and...