Treasury offering anew affordable retail bonds to small investors

The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) will auction off next week at least P30 billion in retail treasury bonds (RTBs) aimed at small investors.

“These RTBs will have a three-year tenor and will be offered to the general investing public for minimum denominations of P5,000 between March 28 and April 6,” the Treasury said in a statement. The auction and pricing for the RTBs will be on March 28, while the issue date will be on April 11.

“We want more Filipinos to get into the habit of investing, and become more financially aware of how their money could work harder for them,” National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon said.

“Retail treasury bonds offer an opportunity for the investing public to access affordable and higher-yielding instruments compared to regular time deposits. Moreover, the RTBs’ low-risk nature and three-year tenor makes this investment product more attractive to any Filipino who would want to get into the habit of investing,” she added.

For this RTB offering, the Treasury tapped First Metro Investment Corp. and state-run Land Bank of the Philippines as joint lead issue managers.

The joint issue managers, meanwhile, will be BDO Capital and Investment Corp., BPI Capital Corp., state-run Development Bank of the Philippines, China Bank Capital Corp. and SB Capital Corp.

The Treasury will hold road shows to promote RTBs to prospective investors in Baguio, Batangas, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Legaspi as well as in Metro Manila and Pampanga.

Last September, the Treasury issued P100 billion in 10-year RTBs to small investors, more than triple the P30-billion minimum offering, at a fixed interest rate of 3.5 percent.

This 18th RTB sale of the Philippine government is the first issuance under the Duterte administration, aimed at augmenting funds for its 10-point socioeconomic agenda, which includes building massive infrastructure projects to replace aging ones.