Singapore’s OCBC Launches Tokenised Bonds for Corporate AIs

The Overseas-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) has announced the launch of the sale of bespoke tokenised bonds to corporate accredited investors (corporate AIs), which are corporations that have net assets exceeding S7.35 million.

By doing so, OCBC became the first bank in Singapore to do so. The tokenised bonds, which reference investment grade bonds, are structured based on the client’s desired tenor and yield. They are then minted and transferred to the client’s wallet created on OCBC’s asset tokenisation platform.

This is the second commercial use case using OCBC’s blockchain infrastructure which was developed in 2022. The first commercial use case was a partnership with LTA to pilot a blockchain-based conditional payment solution for construction projects in 2024.

The launch is in line with Singapore’s push to commercialise and scale usage of tokenised assets. Corporate bonds usually have a high minimum transaction size of around $183.843, which could contribute to concentration risk.

Tokenisation addresses this as it enables fractional ownership – a corporate AI client can subscribe to tokens at $735 denominations. This in turn facilitates the building of more diversified portfolios with a range of assets. Clients can similarly liquidate investments in $735 denominations to meet cash flow requirements.

OCBC’s asset tokenisation capability – which streamlines the entire lifecycle from creation and minting to ownership transfers and custody, and redemption through token burning – will be progressively extended beyond fixed income assets. This will enable OCBC to tokenise a range of assets for its clients, including structured products and funds.

Huge Potential

Kenneth Lai, Head of Global Markets at OCBC, said that as an industry, OCBC has made significant strides in understanding and recognising the vast potential of tokenised assets.

He added: “As we shift our focus towards commercialisation, we are proud to have developed bespoke tokenised bonds via our asset tokenisation platform. This innovation provides flexible and liquid investment alternatives, bringing tangible benefits to our customers. Leveraging our asset tokenisation capabilities, we will progressively expand our offerings to include other types of tokenised assets.”

OCBC completed its inaugural transaction for a mid-sized manufacturing client in Singapore in November 2024, minting a tokenised bond with a tenor of less than a year.

This met the needs of the client as they intended to pivot from fixed deposits and diversify their investment portfolio. Other corporate AIs that have favoured fixed deposits in a high-interest rate environment, may similarly view tokenised bonds as a viable alternative as interest rates fall.

The transaction was settled within the same business day from the debiting of the client’s bank account to the transferring of digital tokens from OCBC to the client’s wallet which is custodised with OCBC.

Traditional bond transactions usually take 5 days for settlement. This was the client’s first usage of tokenised assets.