Broad-based growth across sectors, supported by lower rates and tighter spreads, drove the record volume.

Record Issuance in 2024

Singapore's corporate debt market recorded a record S$308 billion in new issuance in 2024, a 34% increase from the prior year, driven by favorable interest rate conditions and broad-based demand across sectors. The outstanding size of the corporate debt market expanded 9% to reach S$617 billion by end-2024, according to the Monetary Authority of Singapore's (MAS) annual report on corporate debt market development. Growth was supported by lower interest rates and tighter credit spreads, which encouraged issuers to tap the market for funding across a range of currencies and tenors.

The 34% year-on-year increase in issuance volumes marks a significant acceleration from prior years and underscores the depth and resilience of Singapore's debt capital markets. The growth was not confined to a single currency segment: in the SGD market, issuance was buoyed by accommodative domestic conditions, while in the non-SGD market, financial institutions led volumes as they sought to finance asset book expansion.

Broad-Based Growth Across Sectors

The 2024 surge was broad-based across financial institutions, corporates, and statutory boards, indicating that the market is drawing from a diverse issuer base rather than relying on any single sector for momentum. In the non-SGD market, financial institutions were the primary drivers of issuance volumes, reflecting their need to fund asset growth in a lower-rate environment. Foreign corporates with Singapore operations also contributed meaningfully—Pfizer, for example, tapped the Singapore bond market to finance regional expansion, highlighting the city-state's role as a funding hub for global businesses.

Data from MAS's 2024 report on 2023 issuance provides a detailed breakdown of the issuer composition:

%Source: Orionmano Industries

Financial institutions accounted for 54.2% of total issuance in 2023, followed by corporations (excluding property) at 41.8%, and special-purpose vehicles at 4.0%. This composition underscores the dominance of bank-led issuance activity, though the corporate segment remains substantial.

Digital Bond Market Development

Digital corporate bond issuance in Singapore reached approximately USD 2.5 billion by end-2024, representing a nascent but growing segment of the broader corporate debt market. Issuers in this space include a diverse range of participants—corporations, financial institutions, and special-purpose vehicles—indicating early but broadening adoption of distributed ledger technology for debt capital markets.

To accelerate mainstream adoption, MAS launched the Global-Asia Digital Bond Grant Scheme (G-ADBGS) in 2025, offering grants of up to SGD 450,000 per issuance. The scheme is designed to defray the costs associated with digital bond issuance and encourage repeat participation from both domestic and international issuers. While the digital bond segment remains small relative to the S$308 billion traditional issuance total, the grant scheme signals a policy commitment to building infrastructure that could reduce issuance costs and settlement times over the medium term.

Outlook and Financial Stability

Looking ahead, the corporate debt market is expected to remain supported by resilient fundamentals, though MAS stress tests highlight vulnerable segments that warrant vigilance amid potential global financial tightening. In its 2024/2025 Annual Report, MAS applied a more severe stress scenario—incorporating a sharp tightening in global financial conditions, heightened financial market volatility, a trade shock, and elevated policy uncertainty—to assess domestic financial system stability.

The key findings indicate that Singapore banks have strong capital buffers and healthy liquidity profiles and should weather a global recession and tightened financial conditions for an extended period. Corporates and households are generally resilient, with healthy debt-servicing capacities and good financial buffers. However, MAS noted that there are segments of businesses and households that are more vulnerable and should exercise vigilance.

On the sustainability front, momentum continues to strengthen. Sustainable finance activity in Singapore reached a new high in 2024, with green, social, sustainable, and sustainability-linked (GSSSL) loans originated from Singapore exceeding S$48 billion. Singapore remains ASEAN's largest market for GSSSL bonds and loans, positioning it well to support the region's transition to a low-carbon economy despite international headwinds in climate action.

The broader financial sector context is supportive: assets under management in Singapore grew 12.2% year-on-year to exceed S$6 trillion in 2024, and foreign exchange average daily traded volumes surpassed S$1.5 trillion. These factors collectively reinforce Singapore's status as a leading Asian financial hub and provide a strong foundation for the corporate debt market to sustain its growth trajectory, provided global financial conditions remain stable.