Singapore bank DBS secures China bond underwriting license

DBS Group, Singapore's biggest bank by assets, said on Wednesday its China unit ​has been granted a principal underwriting licence for ‌non-financial corporate bonds in China's interbank bond market.

The licence from China's National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors, ​or NAFMII, allows DBS to lead-manage all ​onshore corporate bond deals, including coordinating syndicates, ⁠it said in a statement.

DBS, which is ​also the largest bank in Southeast Asia, said DBS ​China was one of the most active foreign banks for panda bonds in 2025, commanding a 38 percent market share ​after having participated in 65.8 billion yuan of issuance.

Panda bonds are yuan-denominated bonds sold in China's ‌onshore ⁠market by non-Chinese issuers.

• DBS said it is the first and only Singapore-headquartered bank licensed to lead-underwrite all corporate bonds issued in the China interbank ​bond market.
• Panda bond ​issuance in ⁠China's interbank bond market rose at a 26 percent compound annual growth rate ​over the last five years to ​173.3 ⁠billion yuan in 2025 from 54.5 billion yuan in 2020, DBS said, citing Wind Information data.
• DBS said ⁠it ​became the first Singapore bank ​to be appointed a renminbi clearing bank in 2025.

Reuters