Singapore, 1 September 2015…The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced today that $1.2 billion of the first Singapore Savings Bond will be available for application starting from 1 September through 25 September 2015. The bond will be issued on 1 October 2015. The public notice found on the Savings Bonds website contains the full terms of issue for this Savings Bond, including the schedule of interest rates.

Interest rates and returns of the first Savings Bond issue

2   Savings Bonds interest rates are calculated using the market-determined interest rates of Singapore Government Securities (SGS). The schedule of interest rates for the first Savings Bond (shown below) is calculated from the average SGS interest rates over the month of August 2015. The average return per year shown in the table provides investors a reference to compare against other savings and investment products. As the yearly interest steps up over time, the average return also increases the longer the Savings Bond is held. More information on the interest rates of this Savings Bond issue can be found in Annex 1.

Schedule of interest ratesInterest will be paid twice a year (on 1 April and 1 October). The first interest payment will take place on 1 April 2016.

*From issue date   **At the end of each year, on a compounded basis

Applying for the first Savings Bond issue

3   Applications for this bond will open at 6.00pm on 1 September 2015 and close at 9.00pm on 25 September 2015. Individuals may apply through DBS/POSB, OCBC and UOB ATMs or through DBS/POSB’s Internet Banking portalExcept for 1 September 2015, these application channels will be open between 7.00am and 9.00pm from Mondays to Saturdays, excluding Public Holidays.. Bank staff will assist investors who have difficulties submitting applications at the ATMs located in bank branches. A $2 transaction fee will be charged for each application. This fee will not be refunded for unsuccessful or partially-successful applications.

4   Investors must have an Individual Central Depository (CDP) Securities account with Direct Crediting Service (DCS) activated. Investors should also have their CDP account numbers at the point of applicationInvestors may contact the CDP hotline at 6535-7511 to check if they have an Individual CDP Securities account and if so, their account details. The CDP hotline operating hours are: Mondays to Fridays (8.30am to 5.00pm), Saturdays (9.00am to 12.30pm), excluding Public Holidays.. Investors without CDP accounts, and who wish to apply for the first Savings Bond issue, are advised to open their CDP accounts early as the account opening process takes at least two weeks. They may do so by mailing to CDP the account-application form, which they can download from the CDP website or request through the CDP hotline, or by applying in person at CDP’s service counter or through a securities broker.

5   Investors should also note that Savings Bonds are not allocated on a first-come-first-served basis. Instead, Savings Bonds are allotted after all applications have been collected, in a way that distributes the available bonds as evenly as possible to maximise the number of successful applicants.  This means that if a Savings Bond is over-subscribed, investors who applied for larger amounts may not get the full amount they applied for. MAS will announce the allotment results after 3.00pm on 28 September 2015.

6   The full application amount will be deducted at the time of application (i.e. in September 2015), and interest will only be earned on the allotted amount after the Savings Bond is issued (i.e. from 1 October 2015). The application amount in excess of the allotted amount will be refunded to investors by the end of 29 September 2015. Investors who are not allotted their full application amount may wish to apply for the next issue.

7   A new Savings Bond will be issued every month for at least the next five years, so there is no need to rush for the first issue. Depending on demand, up to $4 billion of Savings Bonds could be issued in 2015.

Website and hotline

8   For more information, please visit the Savings Bonds website at www.sgs.gov.sg/savingsbonds or call the Savings Bonds hotline at 6221-3682The Savings Bonds hotline operating hours are: Mondays to Fridays (8.30am to 5.30pm), excluding Public Holidays.. More information on the opening of CDP account and the activation of DCS is available at the CDP website (www.sgx.com/cdp ) or through the CDP hotline at 6535-7511.

*** 

Annex 1 – Interest rates of the 1 October 2015 Savings Bond issue

1   Savings Bonds offer investors a return that depends on how long they hold the bonds for. Investors receive less interest at the start, but the interest “steps up” or increases over time so the longer their investment period, the higher their average return.

2   The interest rates of each Savings Bond issue are based on the average Singapore Government Securities (SGS) yields the month before applications for that issue open, and may be adjusted to maintain the “step-up” feature if market conditions do not allow for it. For example, the average return per year for holding a Savings Bond for 5 years should generally match the yield of a 5-year SGS and the average return per year for holding a Savings Bond for 10 years should generally match the yield of a 10-year SGS.  There may be two exceptions to this: 

a. The first exception is due to very small rounding differences of up to +/- 0.03% that may arise in the computation of average returns for Savings Bonds.

b. The second exception may arise from time to time if the shape of the SGS yield curve does not allow the interest rates to step-up.  In such instances, the design of the Savings Bond prioritises the “step-up” feature of the interest rates over the matching to SGS yields for a given year. This is because the objective of the Savings Bond programme is to encourage and facilitate long-term savings and investment. An adjustment is made so that the interest payments do not step down in any year. This adjustment does not affect the return on the Savings Bond if it is held for the full 10 years.

3   In this 1 October 2015 issue, an adjustment has been made to the interest rates to ensure that there is no “step-down”. The interest rate in year 5 has been adjusted downward slightly and redistributed to the later yearsThis adjustment takes compounding into account, i.e. the amount of interest paid in later years will be higher to reflect the fact that it is paid further in the future.. For investors who hold the Savings Bond for the full 10 years, the average return per year will match that of the 10-year SGS in August 2015.

4   A full technical explanation on how Savings Bonds interest rates are determined is available at http://www.sgs.gov.sg/savingsbonds/Determine-rates.aspx.