5th Silver Bond Batch Set

The Government today announced the launch of the fifth batch of Silver Bond for subscription by Hong Kong residents aged 65 or above.

The target issuance size is $10 billion with a tenor of three years.

At a press conference this afternoon, Monetary Authority Senior Executive Director Edmond Lau said the target issuance size marks a substantial increase from $3 billion in the previous batch, to enable more citizens to participate.

“The Government may, in accordance with demand, exercise discretion to increase the issue size to a maximum of $15 billion.

“Moreover, we will adopt a more flexible approach towards the age eligibility of applicants than the previous Silver Bond issuances. Such that those who will turn 65 within the current financial year will be included as eligible applicants.”

Bond holders will be paid interest once every six months at a rate linked to Hong Kong’s inflation, subject to a minimum rate of 3.5%.

There will be no secondary market for the bond.

Bond holders can sell their bonds before maturity to the Government at par together with accrued but unpaid interest.

The subscription period will start at 9am on December 1 and end at 2pm on December 11.

Mr Lau noted that to prevent an over-concentration of bond holdings by a small number of investors, a maximum allocation quota of $1 million per investor will be imposed this time.

The bond will be issued on December 22.

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