The latest offerings in investments, such as funds and structured products, and other notable developments.

Standard Chartered, Union Bank of the Philippines
Standard Chartered and Union Bank of the Philippines have completed a “proof-of-concept” process to issue a retail bond that uses distributed ledger technology, otherwise known as blockchain.

The 3- and 5.25-year dual tranche issuance totalling PHP9billion ($186 million) by UnionBank was “mirrored” on the platform co-created by UnionBank and SC Ventures, the innovation and ventures arm of Standard Chartered. 

Orders for the bond issuance were “tokenised” via the platform, although not directly allocated to investors to comply with retail bond guidelines.

“The marriage of a digital order taking platform and backend infrastructure driven by tokens is the future of retail bonds. We are keen to see the day when investors can buy and sell bonds, even on the secondary markets at a click of a button on their phones,” UnionBank executive vice president and chief finance officer Jose Emmanuel Hilado, said. “This proof of concept begins the journey of the democratisation of bonds as an investment destination which supports the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.”

The Online Bond Reservation portal of UnionBank, where the bonds were made available, is also the Philippines’ first digitally-enabled platform allowing clients to view and place order reservations for corporate bond offerings at any time or place, UnionBank said.