Morgan Stanley issues first panda bond in China's interbank market

Morgan Stanley has successfully issued 2 billion yuan (about 279.85 million U.S. dollars) in panda bonds in China's interbank bond market, marking the first such issuance by a U.S.-headquartered company, the National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors announced Monday.

The five-year bonds carry a coupon rate of 1.98 percent and attracted robust demand from domestic investors. This milestone diversifies the panda bond issuer pool and advances high-quality development of China's bond market, the association said.

Panda bonds -- yuan-denominated debt securities issued by overseas entities in China -- serve as a vital financing channel for international institutions.

The bond issuance in China's interbank market has reached 111.2 billion yuan since the start of 2025, with foreign governments, multilateral institutions and multinational corporations accounting for 50 percent of the total volume, up 27 percentage points from 2024. Recent issuers include the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Hungarian government.

The association said it will continue broadening the range of overseas issuers under the guidance of the People's Bank of China to bolster institutional opening-up and high-quality development of the bond market. ■