Standard Chartered is looking into issuing covered bonds out of its Singapore subsidiary, showing the potential for issuance in the country to expand beyond that of the big three Singaporean banks, with growth across other parts of Asia also anticipated.

The UK-headquartered international banking group, which has a large footprint across Asia, has advertised for a project manager, Singapore subsidiary covered bonds, on LinkedIn and elsewhere.

“As part of its broader business initiative within the Singapore subsidiary, the Bank is looking into issuing a covered bond,” it said.

The bank in Singapore, Standard Chartered Bank (Singapore), could not be reached for further comment before The CBR’s deadline.

Mortgages originated by Standard Chartered’s South Korean subsidiary have previously been the collateral for covered bond issuance of Korean Housing Finance Corporation.

Singapore’s three largest banks have established covered bond programmes, with DBS having opened the market in July 2015 in US dollars and UOB having debuted in euros in February 2016. OCBC is readying a debut, after having in November announced a $10bn (Eu9.4bn, SGD14bn) programme.

Standard Chartered is one of five banks involved in the Association of Banks in Singapore’s standing committee on covered bonds, along with the aforementioned three and Maybank.

Malayan Banking Berhad, Maybank Singapore’s parent, has already made provisions for potential covered bond issuance under future Malaysian legislation or otherwise by having in a $15bn MTN programme dated April 2016 incorporated language allowing it to subordinate senior unsecured bondholders with respect to cover pool collateral.

The anticipated expansion of covered bonds in Asia has meanwhile been reflected in other job ads, with one institution including covered bonds among products to be focused on by a Hong Kong DCM hire to cover financial institutions and other clients in China.

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