Corporate bonds are traded over-the-counter on the secondary market, where financial institutions transact corporate securities among themselves either by telephone or electronically.

By opening a trading account with a dealer, an investor can purchase or sell corporate bonds. All corporate bonds are scripless. Ownership is thus marked as a book entry in an investor's dealer account at the Central Depository (Pte) Ltd. (CDP). Retail investors must fill out and then submit transaction forms to the dealer each time they buy or sell. Dealers provide investors regular statements of corporate bond holdings and transactions.

Generally, corporate bond trades are settled T+3 through the CDP. The seller encodes transactions to the Debt Securities Clearing Settlement System (DCSS) for matching securities. Cash settlement is made through the Monetary Authority of Singapore Electronic Payment System (MEPS) with specific reference to the bond trade. This triggers the release of the securities from the seller’s account to the buyer’s account. For foreign issuers, trades may be settled via Euro clear or CEDEL, which have links with the CDP.

Investors receive regular statements of bond holdings and transactions from their appointed dealers. Payment of interest and security redemption is credited to the current or savings accounts held by the investors with dealers.