5-year retail bond sales breach P 250B

The Bureau of the Treasury already sold more than P250 billion in five-year retail treasury bonds (RTBs) less than a week into its offering, National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon said on Tuesday.

De Leon said that out of the record-high P310.8 billion in three-year RTBs issued in February, P250 billion were “new money” or generated from new investors, while the rest were raised from swapping maturing IOUs.

From the ongoing RTB sale, the Treasury already “exceeded the new money” of the previous issuance, De Leon said.

But De Leon did not give figures on how much were actually snapped by small investors as of Tuesday, on top of the P192.7 billion auctioned during last Thursday’s launch.

In a statement during the weekend, the Department of Finance (DOF) said the earlier 23rd RTB issuance raised P60 billion from its switch offer.

Across the four bonds eligible for swap during the government’s 24th RTB sale, a total of P321 billion in debt paper were outstanding, the DOF had said.

This is the Duterte administration’s seventh RTB offering, aimed at borrowing money for budgetary support while providing a more secure investment in government securities for retail buyers.

The RTBs maturing in 2025 were being sold in multiples of P5,000 at a coupon of 2.625 percent until Aug. 7 over-the-counter through banks as well as online channels and a mobile app across 25 selling agents.

These selling agents are Asia United Bank, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., Banco De Oro Unibank Inc., Bank of Commerce, BDO Capital and Investment Corp., BDO Private Bank, BPI Capital Corp., China Banking Corp., Citibank NA, CTBC Bank (Philippines) Corp., Development Bank of the Philippines, East West Banking Corp., First Metro Investment Corp., ING Bank, Land Bank of the Philippines, Maybank Philippines Inc., Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., Philippine Bank of Communications, Philippine National Bank, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., Robinsons Bank Corp., Security Bank Corp., Standard Chartered Bank, The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd., and Union Bank of the Philippines, de Leon said in a memorandum last week. —Ben O. de Vera INQ