mostly been from the oil and gas sector, and reflects the protracted weakness in the sector arising from a slump in energy prices. rising defaults over the late part of the credit cycle and difficulties in particular sectors are to be expected, but mas ’ stress test suggests that most corporates in singapore remain fairly resilient, and banks ’ exposures to weaker issuers are likely to be manageable. the key here again is to ensure that one has a diversified portfolio. following the recent restructurings and defaults, we have also received feedback calling for a review of the regulations and market practices around the singapore bond market. some ideas include enhancing sales practices, recourse for investors when a bond defaults, and the need for credit ratings. we are considering these feedback and will respond soon. conclusion 27 to sum up, asia ’ s capital markets have enjoyed a very good run, owing to a confluence of macroeconomic fundamentals and policy liberalisation. asifma has supported that journey over the past ten years by improving transparency through market surveys, advocating innovative solutions through white papers and roadmaps, and building consensus on best practices through events like these and collaboration with other industry bodies. 28 the economic opportunities in asia are immense, and despite the cyclical slowdown, the region ’ s financing needs will continue to grow. asia needs to continue strengthening its capital markets, especially its bond markets. singapore will support asia ’ s bond market by introducing a new asian bond grant scheme, encouraging rated issuances, and supporting secondary market liquidity. please enjoy the rest of the conference. thank you. 1 imf world economic outlook, october 2014 2 imf world economic outlook, october 2016 3 dealogic data 4 “ learning to live with less liquidity ”, morgan stanley and oliver wyman, 13 march 2016 5 “ infrastructure for a seamless asia ”, asian development bank, 2009 6 " the asean investment report 2015 infrastructure investment and connectivity ”, the asean secretariat and unctad, november 2015 7 world federation of exchanges 2015 and 2006 data 8 “ ey global ipo trends ”, ernst & young, 2006 – 2015 and “ ipo watch, asia ”, pricewaterhousecoopers, 2007 – 9 world federation of exchanges 2015 and 2006 data 10 dealogic data 11 “ asean, prc and india ”, asian development bank, 2014 12 “ united overseas bank ( uob ) publishes the first global covered bond label harmonised transparency 6 / 7 bis central bankers

##hows. singapore already offers an excellent ecosystem of financial institutions, professional services like legal and accounting, credit rating agencies, and market infrastructure for asian companies to issue, market, list and trade their bonds. to make it more attractive for asian issuers to raise international capital in singapore and benefit from the ecosystem here, we will introduce an asian bond grant scheme next year. the scheme aims to broaden the base of issuers in our bond market, which will add to the breadth and diversity of debt instruments for the 4 / 7 bis central bankers'speeches investing community. qualifying asian issuances will be able to offset up to 50 % of one - time issuance costs such as international legal fees, arranger fees and credit rating fees. we have consulted with local market participants on various aspects of the scheme to ensure a smooth implementation. i am glad to say that the industry has been supportive of this initiative, and together we are confident that this will enhance singapore ’ s value proposition. encouraging rated issuances 20 even as we draw asian issuers to singapore, we want to encourage these issuers to be rated. credit ratings improve general market transparency by providing independent and comparable assessments of the credit worthiness of issuers. together with business and financial information provided in the offering documents or company announcements, credit ratings can assist investors to better understand the issuer ’ s business and financial health. issuers that are rated, in comparison, also gain access to a broader investor base, as many institutional mandates invest only in rated bonds. to encourage rated issuances, rated issuers will be eligible for a larger grant quantum under the asian bond grant. 21 ratings can also benefit bond issuers. in the singapore dollar bond market, we have been encouraging frequent bond issuers to obtain credit ratings. the housing and development board ( hdb ) is an example of a frequent domestic issuer that recently obtained a rating and benefited from tighter issuance spreads. about 40 % of outstanding singapore dollar bonds are rated 15, and we would like to see this share go up. to give this another boost, we are considering ways to nurture a healthy and sustainable credit rating culture in our bond market. for instance, under the asian bond grant scheme, for singapore dollar bonds, only rated issuances would be eligible. another possibility we are considering is to help existing issuers offset the costs in obtaining a credit rating. even as we encourage more rated issuances, i must caution against basing investment decisions