13th August 2021 – DBS and Keppel Corporation Limited (Keppel Corporation) continue to push the frontiers on digitalising debt capital markets with the inaugural issuance on DBS FIX Marketplace. Keppel Corporation self-executed their maiden three-month commercial paper issue on the platform yesterday, representing the first tranche of its digital USD 1 billion Digital Euro-Commercial Paper Program established in June 2021. The transaction was fully automated from end to end with Keppel Corporation digitally connected to investors, and investors directly subscribing to the commercial paper on the platform.
The SGD 50 million commercial paper1 issue saw strong reception and was quickly snapped up within a few hours of launch. Investors comprised a diversified base including insurance companies, asset managers, corporates and private banks, with some orders carried out on FIX Marketplace. The commercial paper offers investors 0.55% per annum interest over three months and will be used by Keppel Corporation for general corporate and working capital purposes.
Clifford Lee, Global Head of Fixed Income, DBS, said: “The robust take-up of Keppel’s digital commercial paper issuance demonstrates the success of FIX Marketplace and marks the possible beginnings of a commercial paper market in Asia. With FIX Marketplace, we aim to empower issuers to directly engage the market and investors on our platform, thereby making the process more efficient in terms of time and cost. This brings us another step further along the way to digitalise the bond issuance process, while driving greater transparency and issuance volumes to deepen the market further. We congratulate Keppel Corporation on their first successful commercial paper issuance and are grateful for the participation of investors like iFAST and Phillip Securities as we collectively forge ahead on this exciting journey.”
Lynn Koh, Director of Group Treasury, Keppel Corporation, said: “The issuance of our first 3-month commercial paper pursuant to Keppel’s USD 1 billion Digital Euro-Commercial Paper Programme on the FIX Market Place is in line with Keppel’s resilient funding strategy that harnesses innovative, digital solutions to expand funding avenues for the Group. We look forward to further our collaboration with DBS and various industry partners through the FIX Marketplace, as well as other initiatives that will contribute towards building more vibrant capital markets for both providers and seekers of funds.”
Wong Tze Hong, Director of Bondsupermart, a subsidiary of iFAST Corporation Ltd, said: “The automated subscription process is simple and intuitive. The first-come, first-served allocation gives much-needed transparency to bond markets. We look forward to FIX Marketplace bringing out more commercial papers, so investors have more choices beyond fixed deposits. We will also be looking to include commercial papers in our Bond Express initiatives and allow our Accredited Investors to transact in smaller lot sizes.”
Digitalising capital markets with FIX Marketplace
FIX Marketplace is an important building block for DBS in its journey to digitalise Asia’s capital markets. At an appropriate time, the FIX Marketplace platform can be further built upon to expand digital bond offerings through the DBS Digital Exchange (DDEx).
For more information, please visit https://www.dbs.com.sg/corporate/solutions/digital/fixmarket or read the media release here.
Footnote
- Commercial papers are short-term securities issued by corporates with a maturity under 365 days.
