DBS China has been granted a principal underwriting licence for non-financial corporate bonds by China’s National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors (NAFMII).
According to the bank, this is the most comprehensive licence granted by NAFMII. With it, DBS is now the only Singapore-headquartered bank licensed to lead underwrite all corporate bonds in the China Interbank Bond Market. This includes helping to manage the group of banks and broker-dealers involved in a bond issuance.
Based on information from Chinese financial data provider Wind Information, panda bond issuances in the China Interbank Bond Market registered a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 26% over the past five years, from RMB 54.5 billion ($10.1 billion) in 2020 to RMB173.3 billion in 2025.
DBS China took part in RMB65.8 million of panda bond issuances in the China Interbank Bond Market in 2025, accounting for a market share of 38%.
"China's bond market is entering a new stage of high-quality development. Its market size remains the second largest globally and institutional access continues to deepen. This licence is a recognition of our long-term commitment to the Chinese financial market and enables DBS to be a crucial lever for serving cross-border capital flows,” says Ginger Cheng, CEO of DBS Bank (China).
“Foreign issuers are increasingly exploring Panda bonds as they recognise the ample liquidity of China’s bond market and the need to diversify capital market access,” adds Clifford Lee, global head of investment banking at DBS.
