As the Bureau of the Treasury made available the five-year retail treasury bonds (RTB) it recently offered on more online channels as well as via a mobile app, Filipinos living or working abroad were able to invest in these government securities.
In a statement, the Treasury said overseas Filipinos in 24 countries invested a total of P1.95 million in the RTBs sold at 2.625 percent in multiples of P5,000.
These small investors abroad mostly snapped up the RTBs through the Bonds PH app developed by UnionBank of the Philippines and Philippine Digital Asset Exchange (PDAX).
Filipinos in Singapore bought a combined P710,000 in RTBs during the July 16 to Aug. 7 offer period.
In the United States, Filipinos there invested P350,000; in Qatar, P275,000; in Australia, P100,000; in France, P55,000, and in the United Arab Emirates, P50,000.
The other countries where Filipinos bought RTBs included the Bahamas, Bahrain, Cuba, Denmark, Guam, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom and Vietnam as well as Hong Kong and Greenland.
“Small investors accounted for about 80 percent of the almost 3,000 transactions made through the Bonds PH app that were for amounts of P10,000 and below. Their pooled investments will contribute to government efforts to raise funds for its COVID-19 response and economic recovery plan,” National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon said.
“The Bonds PH mobile app was downloaded 25,000 times via the Apple App Store and Google Play with users located in 85 countries,” De Leon added.
“Many small investors preferred the Bonds PH app because of the simple verification process and easy cash-in method via Instapay, PESONet, GCash or Paymaya,” De Leon said.
Including domestic investments worth P46.3 million, P48.2 million were raised from the Bonds PH app.
In all, a record P516.3 billion were sold during the government’s 24th RTB issuance and the Duterte administration’s seventh offering dubbed as “progreso bonds.” —Ben O. de Vera