Clifford Chance, Linklaters and Ashurst have advised on HSBC’s HKD1 billion digital bond offering.
HSBC has plans to issue USD20 billion in medium-term notes, with HKD1 billion of these notes being issued recently. The digital bond maturing in 2025 carries an annual interest rate of 3.6%.
Clifford Chance advised HSBC on Hong Kong and English law, with partners Mark Chan and Matteo Sbraga leading the team, and they were assisted by partners Rocky Mui and Terry Yang with regulatory matters.
Linklaters partner Gloria Cheung acted as the underwriters’ counsel, including HSBC, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, Bank of Communications, China Construction Bank and ICBC.
HSBC Orion, launched by HSBC, provides technology services for the bond’s clearing and settlement system, which is operated by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA). Ashurst advised HSBC on Hong Kong and English law on this matter, and the firm’s team was led by Hong Kong managing partner Ben Hammond, Hong Kong-based partners Jini Lee and Joshua Cole, as well as London-based Etay Katz.
China Information Technology Development issued Hong Kong’s first non-government digital bond last year. Prior to the issuance, only the SAR government has issued digital bonds, with the first in February 2023 and the second in February 2024.
The city has plans to encourage more financial institutions to adopt tokenisation technology in the capital markets, which has been earmarked in the latest Policy Address where the HKMA will launch a Digital Bond Grant Scheme to promote the development of the digital securities market.
