YEOH We have been quite consistent in telling investors that the Australian dollar is an increasingly important part of our funding mix.The Australian dollar behaves like a pan-Asian currency. It has different uses in different parts of the balance sheet, but the point is that it is present in a lot of bank balance sheets across Singapore and Hong Kong, which is very helpful. It is also a very accessible currency for Asian banks.

OUCHIYAMA We have found good opportunities to diversify our investor base in the Australian dollar market. We are proud to be the most active Japanese total loss-absorbing capacity (TLAC) issuer in Australian dollars.

HALES We have issued senior debt and covered bonds in Australian dollars and we do a significant amount of investor-relations work to support our access to this market.

When we originally entered the Australian dollar market it was with the intention of being an ongoing issuer. This has not changed: the Australian dollar is an important funding source for us as we seek to diversify our investor base.

GREEN We look at the domestic Australian market as a very strategic part of our overall funding mix. We’ve been very fortunate to be able to take a decent amount of funding from it over the past few years and Australian dollars have made a meaningful contribution to our overall funding plan.

ZILELI It is robust and continues to support our term-funding activities. There is a small evolution in its size and scale, but it is not transformative. For example, we have noticed a marginal increase in Asia-ex Japan participation in our Australian dollar transactions – albeit thus far it is only making a difference at the margin.

The domestic market is not without its capacity challenges so we are mindful of our frequency of access. The investor base is not as granular as we see in some offshore jurisdictions – for example in Europe, where we generally have three times the number of accounts in our orderbooks.

YEOH We do not have a fixed goal because it is subject to our borrowing requirement. But for capacity we can successfully issue A$750 million in senior, tier-two and covered bonds. It is therefore a function of which formats we need. Our spreads tend to be comparable to those of the Australian major banks, but in considerably smaller volume.

DBS has issued all of covered bonds, senior bonds and tier-two in Australian dollars and investor reception has been a pleasant surprise in each asset class. We were very careful and respectful of market conventions when we first came to the market and it has worked out very well.

Kangaroo senior is well received everywhere and obviously it is very popular with Australian investors. We have been able to place some with investors in Singapore and Hong Kong, though.

Covered bonds tend to go to a couple of balance sheets in Australia and a few asset managers. There is a larger portion placed into Hong Kong than there is for senior. This is because Australian banks prefer to hold senior over covered bonds because senior yields more.

OUCHIYAMA Involvement of Australian domestic investors is one of the key factors for us when we consider Australian dollar transactions. Without any participation from the Australian domestic investor base, it would be difficult for us to issue Australian dollar bonds.

GREEN We don’t have any preset views about onshore and offshore allocations. What we look for is as broad and diverse a range of investors as possible in any of our deals.

GREEN We have invested in the domestic programme on the basis that we want to be able to attract the domestic investor base. We use the Kangaroo programme for very strategic, benchmark transactions, but we have other programmes that are set up more for privately placed transactions whether they’re plain vanilla or structured in nature.

When it comes to private placements, documentation is down to investor choice. If an investor came to us with a private placement and they wanted it in Kangaroo format, we could do this as we have a fairly flexible funding programme.

HALES It’s a good question. As you say, TD has a Kangaroo programme for senior debt. Canadian regulations allow bail-in debt to be governed by foreign law as long as investors submit to the jurisdiction of Canada and the Canadian Deposit Insurance Corporation with respect to bail-in. This means bail-in-eligible debt governed by foreign law is still permitted under the Canadian regime.

As a result, we don’t expect the implementation of the bail-in regime in Canada to affect our ability to issue off a Kangaroo programme in Australia. This may not be the case for other issuers globally.

YEOH If you are looking for optimal pricing and volume you want to make sure the instrument ticks as many boxes as possible for investors. Some investors need eligibility for Australia’s committed-liquidity facility (CLF), and in this context being able to issue senior debt from an Australian branch is important.

EMTN senior issuance should be targeted at investor bases in Hong Kong and Singapore, where CLF eligibility is not as important. The investor base for Australian dollars is smaller in these jurisdictions, so it really depends on what the issuer is looking for.

Ultimately, the extra work for domestic documentation in Australia is not too excessive, so if you want access to the broadest investor base in Australian dollars you might as well do it.

HALES This goes back to the theme of investor diversification. When we issue off the Kangaroo programme we get domestic investor participation, which helps us achieve that goal.

Offshore investor participation will, of course, also help with investor diversification so there is no minimum amount of domestic investors we need to have in our Kangaroo deals. The way we think about it is that our aim is to have a diverse investor base and we have various platforms that help us achieve this.