In an effort to improve efficiency and accessibility of capital markets, DBS has launched FIX Marketplace, Asia’s first fully digital and automated fixed income execution platform, which allows issuers to directly connect with investors. Keppel Corporation Limited (Keppel Corporation) is the first corporate issuer to have its US$1 billion Euro-Commercial Paper Program digitalized for issuances under the FIX Marketplace, and has appointed DBS as the program’s sole arranger and dealer.
The FIX Marketplace seeks to make capital markets access more time and cost efficient, and to hasten the development of the breadth and depth of Asian bond markets, thereby creating more inclusive and accessible markets for issuers.
Clifford Lee, Global Head of Fixed Income, DBS, said: “The time is ripe for traditional ways of bond origination to make way for a more digital approach, to do what has been aspired for so long – by taking the first step towards the creation of an independent platform that allows bond issuers efficient and effective direct access to the market place and bond investors. The FIX Marketplace marks the first step in this ambitious journey to democratize the capital markets for better transparency and broader financial inclusion.
The next phase of development of the FIX Marketplace will enable issuers to issue self-led digital bonds which can be listed on the DBS Digital Exchange (DDEx) to provide corporates an alternate investor base to tap capital markets for their business and growth ambitions.
Launched in December 2020, DDEx is part of an integrated digital asset ecosystem which uses blockchain technology to provide clients with a secure and transparent platform to raise funds from the private market. As part of efforts to broaden the suite of products on the DDEx, DBS announced in May that it had priced a S$15 million digital bond, marking DDEx’s first Security Token Offering (STO) on the platform.
