The Asian bond market will grow strongly while all key players will need to work together to accelerate its development, Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said on Tuesday.

In a keynote speech at the Asian bond markets summit here, MAS Managing Director Heng Swee Keat said it need transparency and financial reporting, as well as legal and rating standards to beef up the Asian bond market.

He added that corporate will need to explore expanding their funding options, financial intermediaries will have to innovate to meet funding requirements, while credit rating agencies can work on enhancing rating standards.

He also introduced the efforts that Singapore is making in these areas.

First, Singapore offers a different set of value propositions other than sheer size to attract international issuers and investors.

He noted that the strongest attribute for the Singapore bond market is the government's prudent fiscal position and the strong Singapore dollar, both of which make bonds attractive long-term assets.

Second, Singapore tries to offer different types of debt instruments to cater to different types of issuers.

Finally, the Asian markets can and must work together. Asian bond market may be small but is growing and noteworthy, he added.

In the last 15 years, intra-Asian trade increased 5 fold, he said, adding these economic linkages can provide synergy for the bond markets.

Source: Xinhua