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Standard Chartered Bank and UnionBank of the Philippines said Monday they have completed a proof-of-concept issuance of a 9 billion Philippines peso (US$187 million) tokenized retail bond on a blockchain-backed platform.
Singapore-based SC Ventures – Standard Chartered’s fintech investment unit – was responsible for building the bond tokenization platform in collaboration with UnionBank.
In total there were three- and 5.25-year dual-tranche issuances totaling $187 million by UnionBank that were mirrored in tokenized form on the platform, according to the announcement.
The project aims to provide retail investors with a platform to gain direct access to bonds.
“The bond infrastructure around the world has been designed primarily for institutional investors and involves a number of intermediaries to buy and subsequently trade bonds, making it less accessible to retail investors,” said Aaron Gwak, Standard Chartered Bank’s head of capital markets, ASEAN.
This is not the first time the two banks have partnered on a bond issuance. Earlier this year, Standard Chartered and UnionBank teamed up to launch Bonds.PH, a platform for retail treasury bonds, in collaboration with the Philippine’s Bureau of the Treasury and PDAX, a digital assets exchange.
UnionBank has also issued its own stablecoin, PHX, according to a 2019 report from Filipino media outlet PhilStar Global. With the issuance, the bank also reportedly conducted the first blockchain-based transaction by a Filipino bank.
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