DBS Launches Two Singapore Dollar Bond Indices

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Indices to Introduce Tracking of Bonds Issued by Statutory Boards and Government-Linked Companies

SINGAPORE, JUNE 28, 2002 - DBS Bank today launched two Singapore dollar bond indices that will track the performance of Singapore Government and quasi-government bonds.

The DBS indices and their sub-category indices will capture, for the first time, the performance of government statutory board and government-linked company (GLC) bond issues in Singapore.

The DBS Singapore Government Bond Index will monitor the total-return performance of Singapore Government Securities. It comprises three sub-indices that will measure the performance of the short and long maturities of Singapore government bonds, and on-the-run issues.

The DBS Singapore Quasi-Government Bond Index, made up of two sub-indices, will measure the performance of debt instruments issued by GLCs and government statutory boards.

Launched at a briefing to key fund managers today, the DBS bond indices were developed by the Economic-Market Research team at DBS' Treasury and Markets, with Associate Professor Tan Kok Hui from Nanyang Technological University as a consultant. By selection, the two indices will cover the most actively traded issues currently in the Singapore bond market.

"We found that there was strong investor demand for performance benchmarking in these categories of the Singapore bond market," said Dr Fong Cheng Hong, Managing Director and Head of Economic-Market Research at DBS, further noting that DBS has actively supported the development of the Singapore debt market.

From July 1, the market capitalisation-weighted indices will be posted and updated daily on Bloomberg. Both indices will be maintained in-house by the DBS Economic-Market Research team.

The DBS bond indices have three key features:

• Well-defined Sets of Bonds - All the main and sub-indices are defined by a set of inclusion rules, thereby ensuring their transparency and objectivity.
• Adjustment for Liquidity - All actively traded issues are given higher market capitalisation weightings. This is to ensure accessibility of the constituent bonds, thereby limiting the impact of illiquidity on index replicability.
• Pricing Source - Daily prices are obtained from independent market sources where possible. Our market sources are the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the Singapore Investment Bank Association and DBS dealer prices.

DBS Bank is the leading bank in Singapore, with dominant positions in consumer banking, treasury and markets, securities brokerage, Singapore dollar loans, deposits, and equity and debt fund raising. Through its Dao Heng Bank and DBS Kwong On Bank operations, DBS Bank is the fourth largest banking group in Hong Kong. Beyond the anchor markets of Singapore and Hong Kong, DBS Bank serves corporate, institutional and retail customers through its operations in Thailand, The Philippines, and Indonesia. The Bank's credit ratings are amongst the highest in the Asia Pacific region. More information about DBS Group Holdings and DBS Bank can be obtained through our company website www.dbs.com/dbsgroup/

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