ya true very safe also no use if coupons so low.

Yes, you have a few options - I can elaborate on the options of buying through a banker (as that's what I do), I don't have any bonds through DIY options like FSM so I can't comment on those, nor do I have any participation in bond funds.

You'll need to open a bank account in Singapore and demonstrate that you are an ACCREDITED INVESTOR.

The criteria (for DBS anyway, but it's quite uniform amongst the banks in Singapore) to be an accredited investor are as below:

Minimum income of S$300,000 in the last 12 months (or its equivalent in a foreign currency); or

Net personal assets exceeding S$2 million, of which the net value of your primary place of residence can only contribute up to S$1 million; or

Net financial assets exceeding S$1 million (or its equivalent in a foreign currency); or

Hold a joint account with an Accredited Investor, in respect of dealings through that joint account.

Once you've successfully opened a bank account, you'll need to be assigned a relationship manager. For DBS, unless you're with private banking, you'll be assigned a RM that takes care of a group of investors. In my case, I have a personal private banker so the bond options I get are usually not available to those that are taken care of by the common pool RM. These are usually IPO bonds of good companies.

For UOB, you're assigned a personal RM even if you're just a UOB Privilege (AUM $250,000 or $300,000) or Privilege Reserve (AUM $1,500,000) account holder, but I followed my Privilege Reserve RM over when he got promoted to private banking (AUM $3,000,000 and above) - and it's the same case: if you're UOB Privilege, you won't get access to certain bonds, and certainly not the IPO bonds of good companies. For that, you'll need to be at least Privilege Reserve or Private Banking.

Finally, Maybank (these are the 3 banks that I bank privately, so I can comment a bit). I was assigned an RM when I was merely Maybank Privilege, and initially, just like with UOB or DBS, I was only ever offered bonds on the secondary market. However, as my portfolio grew and my AUM expanded with Maybank, my status was upgraded to Private Banking and the IPO offerings came fast and furious.

I believe it should be quite the same with all the other banks in Singapore: they'll reserve the juicy ones for their "best" clients.

Moving on, to the bonds themselves: private banks offer the option of buying bonds at IPO price, and usually offer a rebate of between 0.25 to 0.5 basis points as an incentive, so I've bought a few IPO bonds at par prices. However, they will charge an account keeping fee (can be quite hefty if not waived - and waiver depends on AUM value), and take a commission out of every coupon payable (not a lot). There are also ancillary charges pertaining to keeping the bonds in trust for you and lodging them with the CDP.

Finally, the cost of entry of a bond in Singapore is like that of Malaysia's: you'll need SGD250,000 minimum to buy a bond. I believe Malaysia requires at least RM250,000 as well.

Some Australian bonds (bought through the Singapore banks) allowed entry as low as AUD200,000 in the past, but because the AUD has trended downward, it's now also AUD250,000 per bond per purchase.

Hope that helps.

I fail the first criteria 😁

Moving on. What's the typical returns for these types of bonds?

Yes. I forgot about the rating part. Thanks for reminding.

This reads like it's a sovereign bond. Honestly, these are bonds that you can hold on to, unless you have absolutely no faith in Malaysia - the only thing you worry about is if the country defaults. The yield won't be the most attractive, but it's as safe as it gets.

Please feel free to correct if I'm mistaken.

Yield is too low.