Regional : Enhance AsianBondsOnline as the Primary Bond Information Platform in ASEAN+3
The knowledge and support technical assistance (TA) will facilitate demand for local currency-denominated (LCY) bonds in members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) plus the People's Republic of China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea (collectively known as ASEAN+3). The TA aims to strengthen information dissemination and raise awareness among bond investors to promote demand for LCY bonds as part of the Asian Bond Markets Initiative (ABMI). The TA will undertake its activities under ABMI Task Force 2, following the guidance of the ABMI road map, which was endorsed by ASEAN+3 governments in May 2019.
Project Details
-
Project Officer
Tian, Shu
Economic Research and Development Impact Department
Request for information -
Country/Economy
Regional -
Sector
- Finance
| Project Name | Enhance AsianBondsOnline as the Primary Bond Information Platform in ASEAN+3 | ||||
| Project Number | 50405-002 | ||||
| Country / Economy | Regional Brunei Darussalam Cambodia Indonesia Korea, Republic of Lao People's Democratic Republic Malaysia Myanmar Philippines China, People's Republic of Singapore Thailand Viet Nam |
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| Project Status | Active | ||||
| Project Type / Modality of Assistance | Technical Assistance |
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| Source of Funding / Amount |
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| Operational Priorities | OP3: Tackling climate change, building climate and disaster resilience, and enhancing environmental sustainability OP6: Strengthening governance and institutional capacity OP7: Fostering regional cooperation and integration |
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| Sector / Subsector | Finance / Money and capital markets |
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| Gender | No gender elements | ||||
| Description | The knowledge and support technical assistance (TA) will facilitate demand for local currency-denominated (LCY) bonds in members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) plus the People's Republic of China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea (collectively known as ASEAN+3). The TA aims to strengthen information dissemination and raise awareness among bond investors to promote demand for LCY bonds as part of the Asian Bond Markets Initiative (ABMI). The TA will undertake its activities under ABMI Task Force 2, following the guidance of the ABMI road map, which was endorsed by ASEAN+3 governments in May 2019. The TA will upgrade the bond market data portal, the AsianBondsOnline (ABO) website, into a comprehensive regional bond market information platform that disseminates a wide range of information-including market data, knowledge products, policy and regulatory changes, and recent market practices-from all ABMI task forces in an integrated and systematic way to facilitate communication with regional and global investors and issuers. As the primary information platform for ASEAN+3 bond markets, the enhanced ABO portal will better serve stakeholders within and outside ASEAN+3 member economies. | ||||
| Project Rationale and Linkage to Country/Regional Strategy | A key lesson from the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis was the need to develop LCY bond markets as an integral part of deeper, more liquid, and more balanced financial systems across the region. The crisis catalyzed the ASEAN+3 financial cooperation process, including ABMI and the Chiang Mai Initiative and its subsequent multilateralization. Since its launch in December 2002, ABMI has (i) helped develop regional LCY bond markets to mitigate the double mismatch (currency and maturity) problem at the heart of the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis, and (ii) promoted regional financial development and stability. As of December 2019, LCY bonds outstanding in regional markets reached $16.0 trillion, a more than 14-fold increase since 2002. The aggregate size of the region's LCY bond markets is now approaching that of euro-denominated bond markets. In addition, sukuk (Islamic bond) markets and green bond financing are developing rapidly in the region. Despite the rapid growth of emerging East Asian LCY bond markets, the region still lacks a well-diversified investor base, which limits the demand for LCY bonds and constrains financing for the region's large infrastructure investment needs. A strong investor profile can enhance market liquidity, pricing efficiency, and resilience to external shocks. Within the region, some bond markets have limited foreign participation, while other markets lack a well-diversified domestic investor base. Many factors contribute to the lack of investor diversification, including weak institutional factors, inconsistent legal and regulatory practices, less-developed market infrastructures, relatively small investor bases, different levels of finance sector development, inconsistent credit rating practices, high transaction costs, and lack of market depth. | ||||
| Impact | Investor awareness of regional bond markets enhanced |
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| Project Outcome | |
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| Description of Outcome | 1. access to information on regional bond market improved; and 2. knowledge of regional bond market development promoted. |
| Progress Toward Outcome | 1.a ABO continues to upgrade the website structure and information on ASEAN+3 bond markets. Since 2020, ABO has improved visualization of the website with new charts and information contents. 1.b To better facilitate demand for regional sustainable bonds, the "Green Bond" webpage and online data portal were launched in 2020. 1.c To foster better support users on macroeconomic performance and financial conditions, ABO launched a "Tracking Asia" page in July 2021 to provide stakeholders with additional information on macroeconomic developments in the region, in collaboration with ADB's research department. 1.d In September 2021, ABO revamped its homepage to provide easier access to ABMI publications and sustainable bond market information. In June 2022, further enhancements on the ABO database were made with the inclusion of more granular information on AMBIF bond issues on the website. 1.e ABO added new sustainable bond market data and new indicators: i) GSS bonds issuance and outstanding ii) Sustainability-linked and transition bonds issuance and outstanding iii)Bond level information of all sustainable bonds in ASEAN markets 1.f To improve user experience, an updated data portal layout was launched in August 2022. 2.a Since 2020, ABO improved knowledge products visualization by launching infographic newsletters such as the Weekly Debt Highlights and the Monthly Debt Roundup, for better user experience. 2.b A sustainable bond market development section was added in the Asia Bond Monitor (ABM) in 2021, and quarterly infographic newsletter "The ASEAN+3 Sustainable Bonds Highlights" were released in 2021. |
| Implementation Progress | |
| Description of Project Outputs | Dissemination of information on ASEAN+3 bond markets strengthened. Knowledge sharing about ASEAN+3 bond market increased |
| Status of Implementation Progress (Outputs, Activities, and Issues) | With the efforts to enhance information and knowledge dissemination, the ABO website registered a total of 108,032 data sessions in 2022 [up by 11.2% from 2021], 311,246 pageviews [up by 4.9% from 2021], and 28,308 downloads serving 74,003 users [up by 18.2% from 2021]. With improved information presentation and new data features, demand for knowledge products increased. Between April to December 2022, pageviews for the sustainable bond highlights rose more than double while downloads also up by 15.2% compared with the same period in 2021, indicating the growing interest in sustainable bonds and ESG investing in the region. Pageviews for the quarterly Asia Bond Monitor climbed 14.2%, with downloads nearly doubling during the review period. ABO will continue to deliver and improve relevant information based on feedback from users. The following webpage were successfully launched: a) "Green Bond" webpage launched on 25 November 2020. b) ABMF homepage launched on 25 June 2021. c) ABO launched a "Tracking Asia" page in July 2021. ABO added sustainable bond market data: 1. Green bonds issuance and outstanding 2. Social bonds issuance and outstanding 3. Sustainability Bonds issuance and outstanding 4. Sustainability-linked Bonds issuance and outstanding 5. Transition bonds issuance and outstanding 6. Bond level information of sustainable bonds in ASEAN. As of May 2023, the TA published ten issues of Asia Bond Monitor, 33 Monthly Debt Roundup, and over 140 issues of Weekly Debt Highlights. Since most of the TA implementation happened during the pandemic period, the TA has undertaken blended online-offline knowledge sharing workshops and information dissemination activities. The TA team conducted dissemination activities via online webinars and mass media interviews to reach out to the global investment communities and stakeholders: a) One virtual capacity building workshop with Cambodia stakeholders on sustainable bond market development in November 2021. More than 90% of the participants reported the capacity building workshop in Cambodia (November 2021) to be very useful and relevant to their work. b) A hybrid capacity building workshop on "Role of Financial Institutions in Supporting Sustainable Development" in Ha Noi, Viet Nam (October 2022). c) A hybrid capacity building workshop on "Scaling Up Green Finance in Indonesia" in collaboration with the Financial Services Authority (OJK), Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX), and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Jakarta, Indonesia (November 2022). More than 95% of the participants reported the capacity building workshop in Cambodia (November 2021) to be very useful and relevant to their work and about 90% agrees that the workshop materials and discussions are clear and helpful. |
| Geographical Location | Brunei Darussalam - Nation-wide; Cambodia - Nation-wide; China - Nation-wide; Indonesia - Nation-wide; Korea, Republic of - Nation-wide; Lao People's Democratic Republic - Nation-wide; Malaysia - Nation-wide; Myanmar - Nation-wide; Philippines - Nation-wide; Singapore - Nation-wide; Thailand - Nation-wide; Viet Nam - Nation-wide |
| Summary of Environmental and Social Aspects | |
|---|---|
| Environmental Aspects | |
| Involuntary Resettlement | |
| Indigenous Peoples | |
| Stakeholder Communication, Participation, and Consultation | |
| During Project Design | Under the guidance of the ABMI Roadmap, which was endorsed by ASEAN+3 governments in May 2019. |
| During Project Implementation | |
| Business Opportunities | |
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| Consulting Services | A total of 375 person-months of consulting services, including 10 resource persons, will be required to implement the TA as follows: (i) 35 person-months for 11 international individual consultants; and (ii) 337 person-months to 11 national individual consultants; and (iii) 3 person-months for about 10 resource persons (with maximum 10 working days per engagement) |
| Procurement | The TA will use direct procurement for database services for bond market statistics including bond yields, interest rates, and credit spreads for all markets, key financial market condition indicators and government and corporate bonds where official data is not available. ADB will use the shopping method to procure non-consulting services in organizing trainings, workshops, and knowledge disseminations events. |
| Responsible ADB Officer | Tian, Shu |
| Responsible ADB Department | Economic Research and Development Impact Department |
| Responsible ADB Division | Macroeconomics Research Division (ERMR) |
| Executing Agencies |
Asian Development Bank |
| Timetable | |
|---|---|
| Concept Clearance | 04 Oct 2019 |
| Fact Finding | - |
| MRM | - |
| Approval | 11 Mar 2020 |
| Last Review Mission | - |
| Last PDS Update | 14 Jun 2023 |
TA 9957-REG
| Milestones | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Approval | Signing Date | Effectivity Date | Closing | ||
| Original | Revised | Actual | |||
| 11 Mar 2020 | - | 11 Mar 2020 | 30 Jun 2023 | 30 Jun 2024 | - |
| Financing Plan/TA Utilization | Cumulative Disbursements | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ADB | Cofinancing | Counterpart | Total | Date | Amount | |||
| Gov | Beneficiaries | Project Sponsor | Others | |||||
| 0.00 | 2,000,000.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 2,000,000.00 | 14 Jun 2023 | 1,181,559.91 |
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| Title | Document Type | Document Date |
|---|---|---|
| Enhance AsianBondsOnline as the Primary Bond Information Platform in ASEAN+3 : Technical Assistance Report | Technical Assistance Reports | Mar 2020 |
Safeguard Documents See also: Safeguards
Safeguard documents provided at the time of project/facility approval may also be found in the list of linked documents provided with the Report and Recommendation of the President.
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Evaluation Documents See also: Independent Evaluation
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Related Publications
| Title | Document Type | Document Date |
|---|---|---|
| Asia Bond Monitor – September 2023 | Reports | Sep 2023 |
| Asia Bond Monitor – March 2023 | Reports | Mar 2023 |
| Asia’s Progress Toward Greater Sustainable Finance Market Efficiency and Integrity | Reports | Jan 2023 |
| Asia Bond Monitor – November 2022 | Reports | Nov 2022 |
| Collective Investment Scheme Transactions in ASEAN+3: Benchmark Product and Market Infrastructure Design | Reports | Sep 2022 |
| Asia Bond Monitor – September 2022 | Reports | Sep 2022 |
| Asia Bond Monitor – June 2022 | Reports | Jun 2022 |
| Asia Bond Monitor – March 2022 | Reports | Mar 2022 |
| Asia Bond Monitor – November 2021 | Reports | Nov 2021 |
| Asia Bond Monitor – September 2021 | Reports | Sep 2021 |
| Asia Bond Monitor – March 2021 | Reports | Mar 2021 |
The Access to Information Policy (AIP) establishes the disclosure requirements for documents and information ADB produces or requires to be produced in its operations to facilitate stakeholder participation in ADB's decision-making. For more information, refer to the Safeguard Policy Statement, Operations Manual F1, and Operations Manual L3.
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