HSBC, Marketnode complete digital bond issuance with Singtel

HSBC Singapore and Marketnode, the joint venture between the Singapore Exchange (SGX) and Temasek, have completed a digital bond issuance on Marketnode's digital asset issuance, depository and servicing platform.

In a press statement on Tuesday, HSBC said that the bond issuance was done in conjunction with a S$1 billion perpetual securities issue by Singtel Group Treasury, guaranteed by Singtel.

The transaction represents the largest issuance on the platform to date, with the widest investor base of 123 accounts, HSBC said.

The bank also noted that the digital bond issuance was conducted alongside the traditional bond issuance process as part of SGX's ongoing pilot to assess the use of digital assets in streamlining processes within the Asian bond market.

Arthur Lang, group chief financial officer at Singtel, said: "This pilot digital issuance shows the potential to make the issuance process faster and more transparent for our investors and for us as an issuer."

This is the first transaction since Marketnode was announced as a joint venture in January 2021, and is the seventh issuance on its platform since August 2020 when SGX completed Asia's first public syndicated digital bond, HSBC said.

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Gavin Powell, head of global markets at HSBC Singapore, said the bond issuance is a tangible step towards transforming capital markets infrastructure.

"The transaction demonstrates how digital assets can now be applied on a scalable and sustained level, across different bond structures and to service a wide range of investors," he added.

In September last year, SGX had successfully completed its first digital bond issuance on its digital asset issuance, depository and servicing platform, successfully replicating a S$400 million 5½-year public bond issue and a follow-on S$100 million tap of the same issue by Olam International.

A digital bond issuance is achieved by creating an electronic platform that connects various parties in bond issuances, and uses self-executing smart contracts to automate processes such as issuance flows and coupon payments.