Government Securities Regulations - Singapore Statutes Online

Government Securities Act

(CHAPTER 121A, Section 31)

Government Securities Regulations

Rg 1

G.N. No. S 184/1992

REVISED EDITION 2002

(31st January 2002)

[1st April 1992]

Citation

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Government Securities Regulations.

Definitions

2. In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires —

“allocation day” means the date specified in a public notice as the day of allocation of an issue of non-transferable Government securities;

[S 516/2015 wef 31/08/2015]

“application” means an application to purchase Government securities;

“approved” means approved by the Minister;

“auction day” means such date as specified in a public notice as the auction day of an issue of transferable Government securities;

[S 516/2015 wef 31/08/2015]

“bid yield” means the yield expressed in an application;

[S 116/2003 wef 10/03/2003]

“maturity date” means such date on which any Government security is redeemable at par;

“multiple pricing format” means the manner of allotting Government securities set out in regulation 7;

[S 116/2003 wef 10/03/2003]

“non-transferable Government securities” means book-entry Government securities that, under the terms of their issue, cannot be transferred or pledged except with the prior written approval of the Authority;

[S 516/2015 wef 31/08/2015]

“owner”, in relation to stock, means an owner of stock or the owners of stock in joint account;

[Deleted by S 825/2019 wef 17/12/2019]

“public notice” means a public notice issued by the Authority under section 30 of the Act;

“quantity ceiling format” means the manner of allotting Government securities set out in regulation 7B;

[S 516/2015 wef 31/08/2015]

“transferable Government securities” means Government securities that are not prohibited under the terms of their issue from being transferred or pledged;

[S 516/2015 wef 31/08/2015]

“uniform pricing format” means the manner of allotting Government securities set out in regulation 7A;

[S 116/2003 wef 10/03/2003]

“yield” means the rate of return on any Government security computed on the basis of the price of the Government security, the total interest payments and the period commencing from the date of issue of the Government security to the date of maturity of the Government security.

Applications

3.—(1) Any person who intends to purchase Government securities in pursuance of a public notice may apply to purchase such Government securities on a competitive basis or on a non-competitive basis in accordance with the terms of the issue of the Government securities.

[S 516/2015 wef 31/08/2015]

(2) An application for Government securities shall be made on what is commonly known as the Internet using the electronic application service provided by the Authority; and for this purpose, the Authority may enter into agreements with users of the service and issue a user guide setting out the terms and manner of use of the service.

[S 7/2002 wef 04/01/2002]

[S 516/2015 wef 31/08/2015]

(3) In the event of a malfunction or failure of the electronic application service, an application shall be made in written form and in accordance with the user guide.

[S 7/2002 wef 04/01/2002]

(4) A person who is unable to use the electronic application service to make an application for any reason other than a malfunction or failure of the electronic application service may make the application in the manner referred to in paragraph (3) if he pays the Authority an administrative fee of $10 (exclusive of goods and services tax chargeable under the Goods and Services Tax Act (Cap. 117A)) for each such application.

[S 7/2002 wef 04/01/2002]

[S 357/2007 wef 04/07/2007]

(5) This regulation is subject to regulation 4.

[S 7/2002 wef 04/01/2002]

(6) An application for transferable or non-transferable Government securities made in accordance with a public notice —

(a)	in the case of transferable Government securities, must not be less than the minimum nominal amount of $1,000 and must be made in multiples of $1,000; and
(b)	in the case of non-transferable Government securities, must not be for less than the minimum nominal amount of $500 and must be made in multiples of $500.

[S 516/2015 wef 31/08/2015]

(7) All applications made on a competitive basis in pursuance of a public notice shall be expressed as a bid yield not exceeding 2 decimal places.

Applications to be submitted through primary dealers

4.—(1) An application made in pursuance of a public notice by a person other than a primary dealer shall be submitted by the primary dealer on behalf of that person.

[S 7/2002 wef 04/01/2002]

(1A) An application by a primary dealer on its own behalf shall be kept distinct from an application made by the primary dealer on behalf of another person, and the applications shall be submitted separately to the Authority.

[S 7/2002 wef 04/01/2002]

(1B) Any application by a primary dealer on behalf of other persons must be kept distinct from each other and submitted separately to the Authority.

[S 7/2002 wef 04/01/2002]

(2) The primary dealer shall submit all applications received under paragraph (1) to the Authority not later than 12 noon of the auction day or allocation day.

[S 516/2015 wef 31/08/2015]

Cancellation of auction or allocation

4A. The Authority may, at any time after the issue of a public notice, cancel the auction or allocation specified in the public notice, in which event the Authority shall as soon as possible inform the public of the cancellation.

[S 427/2011 wef 01/08/2011]

[S 516/2015 wef 31/08/2015]

Variation in amount of Government securities to be allotted

4B.—(1) Where the Authority has issued a public notice, it may at any time during the period commencing on the date of issue of the public notice and ending on 12 noon of the auction day or allocation day specified in the public notice, vary the amount of Government securities to be made available for allotment as specified in the public notice, in which event the Authority shall as soon as possible inform the public of the variation.

[S 516/2015 wef 31/08/2015]

(2) For the avoidance of doubt, the variation shall not affect the validity of any application to purchase Government securities made pursuant to the public notice before the variation.

[S 427/2011 wef 01/08/2011]

Correction or resubmission of application

4C. If the Authority considers it necessary to do so, the Authority may, at any time after the issue of a public notice, without assigning any reason —

(a)	accept or refuse any request to correct or resubmit any application made pursuant to the public notice; or
(b)	require any application made pursuant to the public notice to be corrected or resubmitted.

[S 784/2013 wef 01/01/2014]

Authority to refuse applications after 12 noon

5. The Authority shall refuse to accept any application made in pursuance of a public notice that is received after 12 noon of the auction day or allocation day or such extended time as the Authority may in any case allow.

[S 7/2002 wef 04/01/2002]

[S 516/2015 wef 31/08/2015]

Manner of allotment of Government securities

6.—(1) The Authority may allot Government securities under a multiple pricing format or a uniform pricing format or a quantity ceiling format as may be specified in the public notice for the issue of the Government securities.

[S 516/2015 wef 31/08/2015]

(2) In respect of any issue of transferable Government securities —

(a)

each primary dealer applying on a non-competitive basis to purchase securities on its own behalf shall not be allotted more than 1% of the issue;

[S 427/2011 wef 01/08/2011]

(b)

each person, other than a primary dealer, applying on a non-competitive basis to purchase securities shall not be allotted more than —

(i)	$1 million in the case of securities having a maturity of one year or less; or
(ii)	$2 million in the case of securities having a maturity of more than one year; [S 427/2011 wef 01/08/2011]

(c)

not more than 40% of the issue shall be allocated by the Authority to applications made on a non-competitive basis; and

(d)

notwithstanding any other provision in these Regulations —

(i)	each primary dealer shall not be allotted more than 30% of the issue; and
(ii)	each person, other than a primary dealer, shall not be allotted more than 15% of the issue. [S 116/2003 wef 10/03/2003]

[S 516/2015 wef 31/08/2015]

Allotment under multiple pricing format

7.—(1) Subject to these Regulations, Government securities that are to be allotted under a multiple pricing format shall be allotted in accordance with paragraphs (2) to (8).

(2) Government securities shall be allotted to applications made on a non-competitive basis in priority to all applications made on a competitive basis.

(3) Where there are insufficient Government securities allocated in respect of the issue to allot such securities in full in accordance with paragraph (2) to the applications made on a non-competitive basis, the amount of Government securities available for allotment shall be allotted to the applications rateably in proportion to the amounts applied for by the respective applicants.

(4) The balance of Government securities of the issue remaining after allotment under paragraph (2) or (3), as the case may be, shall be allotted to applications made on a competitive basis in ascending order commencing from the application expressing the lowest bid yield to the application expressing the highest bid yield.

(5) Subject to paragraph (6), where there are insufficient Government securities remaining in respect of the issue to allot such securities in full in accordance with paragraph (4), to any application made on a competitive basis, the amount of Government securities available for allotment shall be allotted to the application.

(6) Where 2 or more applications made on a competitive basis express the same bid yield, and there are insufficient Government securities remaining in respect of the issue to allot such securities in full in accordance with paragraph (4), to the applications, the amount of Government securities available for allotment shall be allotted to the applications rateably in proportion to the amounts applied for by the respective applicants.

(7) The yield for each successful application made on a non-competitive basis shall be that equal to the weighted average of the bid yields in the successful applications made on a competitive basis.

(8) The yield for each successful application made on a competitive basis shall be the bid yield in the application.

[S 116/2003 wef 10/03/2003]

Allotment under uniform pricing format

7A.—(1) Subject to these Regulations, Government securities that are to be allotted under a uniform pricing format shall be allotted in accordance with paragraphs (2) to (7).

(2) Government securities shall be allotted to applications made on a non-competitive basis in priority to all applications made on a competitive basis.

(7) The yield for each successful application, whether made on a competitive or non-competitive basis, shall be that equal to the highest bid yield in any successful application made on a competitive basis.

[S 116/2003 wef 10/03/2003]

Allotment under quantity ceiling format

7B.—(1) Government securities that are to be allocated under a quantity ceiling format must be allocated in accordance with paragraphs (2), (3) and (4).

(2) Where the proposed value of an issue is equal to or greater than the total value of all applications for that issue —

(a)	all applicants must be allocated the full number of Government securities that they have applied for; and
(b)	the total value of the Government securities to be issued must be equal to the total value of all applications for the issue.

(3) Where the proposed value of an issue is less than the total value of all applications for that issue, and the proposed value is insufficient to fulfil the first $500 in value of each applicant’s application, equal proportions must be randomly allocated among all outstanding applications.

(4) Where the proposed value of an issue is less than the total value of all applications for that issue, and the proposed value is sufficient to fulfil the first $500 in value of each applicant’s application, equal proportions must be allocated among the first $500 in value of each application, and where the balance of the proposed value —

(a)

is insufficient to fulfil the next $500 in value of each applicant’s outstanding applications, equal proportions must be randomly allocated among all outstanding applications; or

(b)

is sufficient to fulfil the next $500 in value of each outstanding application (called the relevant value), equal proportions must be allocated among the relevant value of each outstanding application and so on, until the balance of the proposed value is insufficient to fulfil all outstanding applications, in which case equal proportions must be randomly allocated among all outstanding applications.

(5) In this regulation —

“applicant” means a person who applies to purchase Government securities;

“application”, in relation to an issue, means an applicant’s application to purchase Government securities for that issue or where the applicant has made more than one application, the applicant’s consolidated applications to purchase Government securities for that issue;

“equal proportions” means Government securities in equal proportions of $500 in value;

“issue” means an issue of Government securities;

“proposed value”, in relation to an issue, means the proposed maximum value of the Government securities to be issued, as announced by the Authority on the Internet or in a local English language daily newspaper;

“randomly allocated”, in relation to an issue, means the random allocation of Government securities among all outstanding applications until all Government securities for that issue have been allocated.

[S 516/2015 wef 31/08/2015]

Inadequate applications

8. No allotment of any Government security shall be made on any application made in pursuance of a public notice for an amount of Government security which is less than the minimum nominal amount specified in regulation 3.

Full or partial allotments

9. [Deleted by S 116/2003 wef 10/03/2003]

Interest

10.—(1) Subject to regulation 20, the interest rate of Government securities allotted under regulations 6 to 7B shall be determined in accordance with paragraph (2) or (3).

[S 516/2015 wef 31/08/2015]

(2) The interest rate of Government securities in an issue of Government securities shall be as stated in the public notice for that issue or announced by the Authority on the Internet or in a local English language daily newspaper at least 14 days before the date of the auction or allocation, as the case may be.

[S 516/2015 wef 31/08/2015]

(3) Where no interest rate is stated in the public notice for the issue of the Government securities, the interest rate of Government securities —

(a)

shall be equal to —

(i)	the weighted average of the bid yields expressed in all applications made on a competitive basis that were successful, rounded down to the nearest 0.125%, where the Government securities are allotted under a multiple pricing format; or
(ii)	the highest bid yield expressed in any application made on a competitive basis that is successful, rounded down to the nearest 0.125%, where the Government securities are allotted under a uniform pricing format; or

(b)

shall be 0.125%,

whichever is the higher.

[S 648/2012 wef 02/01/2013]

Notification of successful application

11.—(1) The Authority shall notify every successful applicant who is a primary dealer.

(2) Where a successful applicant is not a primary dealer, the Authority shall give to the primary dealer which had submitted the application made by the successful applicant a notification specifying the particulars of allotment of Government securities to the successful applicant.

(3) The primary dealer on receipt of a notice under paragraph (2) shall forthwith inform the successful applicant of the particulars specified in the notice.

Payment

12.—(1) Payment for allotted Government securities shall be made by way of a pre-authorised funds transfer to the Authority from the account of the applicant’s settlement bank specified in the application, in accordance with the terms of authorisation provided to the Authority by the settlement bank.

(2) Payment shall be made on such date as may be specified in the public notice relating to the issue of the Government securities.

[S 7/2002 wef 04/01/2002]

Interest payments

13.—(1) The interest payments on any issue of Government securities shall be made half-yearly on such dates as are specified in the public notice relating to that issue.

(2) Interest on any issue of Government securities shall cease and determine on such approved maturity date as may be specified in the public notice relating to that issue.

Interest payments for stock

14.—(1) Unless otherwise requested, interest on stock shall be paid by interest statements accompanied by a cheque made payable to the owner thereof and forwarded by post to the owner at the address given to the Authority by that owner.

(2) Unless otherwise requested, interest shall be paid to the owner.

(3) Upon a request in accordance with the Second Schedule being made by the owner of stock or, in the case of a joint account, by all the owners, interest may be paid into any bank account, in which case the interest statement shall be accompanied by a credit advice relating to such payment and forwarded to the person whose bank account the interest was paid into.

(4) The owner to whom an interest statement is to be forwarded shall forthwith notify the Authority of any change in the address given to the Authority by that person and request that interest statements be forwarded to the new address.

(5) Where any request referred to in paragraph (3) or (4) reaches the Authority less than 14 days before the next interest is due, the Authority may decline to act thereon until after the payment of that interest.

(6) Any owner who does not receive his interest statement on the dates specified in the public notice for the payment of interest shall forthwith notify the Authority.

Interest payments for bearer bonds

15.—(1) Interest coupons shall be attached to all bearer bonds.

(2) Any holder of a bearer bond may, on such dates for the payment of interest as are specified in the public notice relating to the issue of the bearer bond, present to the Authority or at any financial institution in Singapore appointed by the Authority for the purposes of this regulation such interest coupons for purposes of encashment.

Interest payments for book-entry Government securities

16.—(1) Interest on any book-entry Government security shall be credited into the appropriate account for book-entry Government securities maintained by the Authority for the owner of such security or for the depositary institution which holds the book-entry Government security for the account of the owner.

(2) Where interest on any book-entry Government security is credited into an account of book-entry Government securities maintained by the Authority for a depositary institution which holds the book-entry Government security for the account of the owner thereof, the depositary institution shall forthwith credit such interest into the appropriate account of the owner of the book-entry Government security maintained at that institution.

Redemption

17. The maturity date of any Government security shall be such approved maturity date as is specified in the public notice relating to the issue of such Government security.

Conditions of holding Government securities

18. No person or beneficial owner who is exempt from paying income tax in respect of interest on any Government securities, other than those Government securities where the interest is exempt from income tax, may hold such Government securities without the written permission of the Authority.

Transfers

19.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2), stock shall be transferable by way of an instrument of transfer signed by the owner thereof and the transferee which is registered with the Authority.

(2) No stock of less than the minimum nominal amount of $1,000 may be transferred under paragraph (1).

(3) Transferable book-entry Government securities maintained in any account with the Authority may be transferred to another account maintained by the Authority through such means (including a computer-based communications system) as the Authority may prescribe from time to time.

[S 516/2015 wef 31/08/2015]

Re-opened issues

20. After the allotment of Government securities in any issue of Government securities, the Authority may subsequently issue Government securities in excess of the amount as stated in the original public notice of the issue on the same terms and conditions as to redemption and interest as the issue.

Private placements

21.—(1) These Regulations shall not apply to any issue of Government securities which is not offered to the public for purchase by way of a public notice.

(2) The manner, terms and conditions which the Government securities referred to in paragraph (1) may be issued shall be as determined by the Minister.

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