1. Good afternoon to all of you, we are very glad to be hosting the ICMA Asia-Pacific Primary Market Seminar and Forum today at the SGX Centre. It is great to see the community together in-person, after a two-year absence.

2. ICMA has been a great partner to SGX in advocating the development of the debt capital market, and it is great that we have this opportunity today to gather everyone here.  

3. For over 50 years, ICMA and its members have worked together to promote the development of international capital and securities markets, pioneering the rules, principles and recommendations which have laid the foundations for its successful operation.

4. This forum marks an important opportunity for debt capital market professionals across origination, syndicate, legal, compliance and operations to gather and discuss key themes and latest developments in Asia and beyond.

5. Today, more than 40% of APAC G3 currency bonds are listed on SGX, giving us the largest market share in this segment. Our bond market is also the most international in Asia, with 85% of SGX-listed bonds originating from foreign issuers.

6. From our perspective, we see three major themes in the global debt market, namely, (1) sustainability, (2) digitalization, (3) Asia’s continued growth momentum.

Sustainability

7. On sustainability, Asian issuers have proactively participated and drive development in transition and sustainable finance, in line with the growing awareness around the importance of addressing climate change and global interest on ESG.

8. According to data from ICMA, APAC’s share of global GSSS bonds issuance grew to 30% in 2022. This trend is reflected in bond listings on SGX, which now hosts more than 50% of APAC G3 currency GSSS bonds, making us the leading venue for such bond listings.

9. In 2022 alone, 18% of all bond listings on SGX were GSSS bonds, compared to 15% in 2021 and 7% in 2020.The sustainable bond market is one of the fastest-evolving and growing segment, with investors increasingly placing more emphasis on investing with purpose.

10. Given our position in the GSSS bond market, we have a unique opportunity to work with regional partners and all of you at this forum to work together to create a sustainability and sustainable finance hub and have thus taken active steps to enhance this ecosystem. 

11. In December last year, after months of engagement with the industry, we launched the Sustainable Fixed Income initiative, providing regulatory backing for SGX-listed bonds that meet established standards for GSSS fixed income securities. To-date, more than 80 bonds are recognised under this initiative, giving them enhanced visibility among investors that are interested in sustainable fixed income.  

12. Limited data availability and aggregation is one of the biggest challenges in the sustainability space. To solve this pain point, through Marketnode, our joint venture with Temasek, we have also launched Greennode and Greennode China, a comprehensive database of Asian issuers frameworks, allocation and impact data, as part of its issuer services platform called Marketnode Gateway. 

Digitalisation

13. Beyond sustainability, if we look more broadly at the financial markets, digitalisation is making waves, with its transformative ability to ease access to information, trade and settle securities, manage risks, and automate workflows, amongst other key outcomes.

14. Last year, the Monetary Authority of Singapore launched the Financial Services Industry Transformation Map 2025, laying out the strategies to further develop Singapore as a leading international financial centre in Asia, connecting global markets.

15. Part of the strategy is to improve end-to-end efficiency in primary bond issuances, listing and settlement processes, and strengthen Singapore’s proposition as a bond issuance and listing venue of choice. And this is exactly what we has kept us busy over the past few years, as we lay out an end-to-end fixed income platform – from issuance, settlement, to depository.

16. And we do this by harnessing next-generation technology to catalyse the efficiency of capital markets and advance Asia’s capital markets infrastructure through a mix of direct investments, joint ventures, and in-house innovation.

17. To share with you some examples of how we are bringing digitalisation to fruition -- last year, SGX CDP launched its DLT-enabled direct-to-depository solution, enabling commercial paper issuers to lower their settlement time by 60% from 5 to 2 days, with the full elimination of paper trail. This is an important step in the Group’s vision to build a fully digitalized fixed income market infrastructure in Singapore.

18. We continue to look at ways to enhance our fixed income digital offerings. Today, Marketnode has also announced its partnership with NowCM to collaborate on the digitalization of APAC primary debt markets through a joint offering via Marketnode Gateway – a issuer services platform that will support both bond issuances on SGX and beyond.

19. With this new digital service, issuers that are looking to list bonds on SGX can look forward to a more streamlined, automated process when dealing with the regulator, lawyers and listing agents, doing away with several manual processes and improve efficiency for bond issuers.

Momentum in Asia

20. Asia remains home to some of the fastest-growing economies in the world, with Asian bond markets continuing to experience strong recovery after the volatility last year.  

21. In an OMFIF survey made earlier this year with reserves managers, APAC was highlighted as the favoured destination for further investment, with one third planning to increase allocations and exposure to the region. Whilst this figure was lower than the year ago, Asia still holds the highest proportion in terms of allocation.

22. To this end, we see ourselves playing an active role in the internationalisation of the Chinese bond markets, which is the second largest in the world.

23. In 2022, SGX signed an agreement with China Central Depository & Clearing (CCDC) to jointly support the listing of Shanghai free trade zone bonds by Chinese issuers and have since successfully welcomed several “Pearl Bonds” to the bourse.

24. Together with Covalent Capital, a Singapore-based Fintech, we are looking to launch a platform to give global investors access to primary bond market auctions in China where they are able to subscribe and receive allocation seamlessly.

25. We are also honoured to be the only foreign exchange to currently have a comprehensive strategic partnership with CCDC. These mark just two examples of several on-going initiatives that we have established to raise awareness, enhance connectivity, and increase cross-border capital market flows.

One trusted ecosystem for a growing debt market

26. In closing, as we think about the steps to empower Asia’s capital markets, manifest a sustainable future, and continue to extract value from digital solutions, it is clear to me that continued, industry-wide collaboration and engagement like what we have today, is more important than ever.

27. Thank you for all you support for the various initiatives, and we look forward to the robust discussions this afternoon.