An investor can either hold a security until maturity or sell prior to maturity at the current market rate. Investors can also buy bonds already issued.

SGS are traded over-the-counter on the secondary market, where banks transact SGS among themselves either by telephone or electronically.

With a SGS trading account at a Primary or Secondary Dealer, an investor can purchase or sell SGS. Primary Dealers are committed to buy and sell SGS under all market conditions.

Because SGS are scripless, ownership is marked as a book entry in an investor's dealer account. Retail investors must complete and submit transaction forms to the dealer each time they buy or sell. Dealers provide investors regular statements of SGS holdings and transactions.

Business Hours

Normal business hours for regular trades (settlement T+1) are: 9:00am to 4:30pm local time Mondays to Fridays.

Normal business hours for cash trades (same day settlement) are as follows: 9:00am to 3:30pm local time Mondays to Fridays.

All trades are settled via the MAS Electronic Payment System (MEPS) on a delivery versus payment (DVP) basis. Fundsupermart.com , a Secondary Dealer in the SGS market, provides online distribution of SGS to retail investors.

Procedures for retail SGS trading differ from bank to bank (dealer to dealer). Investors can obtain details from any SGS Primary Dealer.

Transferring Securities

Transfer of securities are done via the MAS Electronic Payment System (MEPS). Because SGS are scripless, transfers of SGS are marked as book entries in dealers’ custody accounts with MAS.

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

Reopenings are the offering of new securities with the same terms and conditions as an existing issue. They are used to increase the size of an outstanding issue. A reopened bond has the same maturity date, security identifier, and coupon rate as the original security. The only difference is that they have a different issue date and usually, a different purchase price based on current market yields.

Procedures for purchasing reopened issues are the same as purchasing a new issue.

The MAS advance issuance calendar specifies whether an issue is new or a reopening. At SGS auctions, existing issues may be re-designated as benchmark issues.