DBS Gets Licence to Underwrite Non-Financial Corporate Bonds in China

By P.R. Venkat

DBS Group has received regulatory approval to underwrite debt financing instruments for non-financial companies in the China Interbank Bond market, making it the first Southeast Asian-headquartered bank to receive the licence.

The approval from China’s National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors will let non-financial enterprises outside China tap DBS’s expertise to raise funds from the world’s second-largest bond market, the Singapore-based bank said Wednesday.
Last year, DBS was the joint lead underwriter for 3.1 billion Singapore dollars (US$2.3 billion) worth of Panda bonds issued in the China Interbank Bond market, accounting for over 10% of S$26.2 billion Panda bonds issued in 2023.
Panda bonds are a common term for yuan-denominated debt issued in China’s onshore market by non-Chinese companies, governments, and organizations.
“DBS has supported several multilateral development banks, foreign governments, and European financial institutions to issue Panda bonds, some of which were inaugural issuances,” said the bank’s global head of fixed income, Clifford Lee.
Write to P.R. Venkat at venkat.pr@wsj.com