OCBC, the second largest financial services group in Singapore, has said it is the first bank in the country to launch the sale of bespoke tokenised bonds to corporate accredited investors with assets exceeding S$10 million.

The tokenised bonds, which reference investment grade bonds, are structured based on desired tenor and yield.

The bonds are then minted and transferred to the client’s wallet created on the bank's asset tokenisation platform.

The organisation completed its inaugural transaction for a mid-sized manufacturing client in Singapore in November 2024, minting a tokenised bond with a tenor of less than a year.

The move marks the second commercial use case using OCBC’s blockchain infrastructure, which was developed in 2022.

The first commercial use case was a partnership with LTA to pilot a blockchain-based conditional payment solution for construction projects in 2024.

The bank said its latest tokenisation project is in line with Singapore’s push to "commercialise and scale" tokenised assets.

“As an industry, we have made significant strides in understanding and recognising the vast potential of tokenised assets," said Kenneth Lai, head of global markets, OCBC. "As we shift our focus towards commercialisation, we are proud to have developed bespoke tokenised bonds via our asset tokenisation platform."

He added that the bank plans to "progressively expand" its offerings to include other types of tokenised assets.

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