Overview
ICMA’s rapidly growing Asia-Pacific membership includes around 100 institutions from various jurisdictions, including Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Mongolia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, and Taiwan. ICMA has served members in the region since the 1970s and established its representative office in Hong Kong in 2013. Our work in the region is guided by the ICMA Asia-Pacific Regional Committee.
In Asia-Pacific, ICMA is regarded as the market-leading association in the cross-border debt capital markets, a key partner to policymakers and banks, and an authority on understanding of international regulation development. ICMA works closely with its members and also central banks, regulators, trade bodies and government authorities to support robust development of capital markets in the region.
Connect with us at an ICMA event near you.
ICMA facilitates two debt primary market committees specifically for the region, the ICMA Asia Pacific Bond Syndicate Forum (ABSF) and the ICMA Asia Pacific Legal & Documentation Forum (ALDF), which shape cross-border primary market practices in the region and provide Asia-Pacific perspectives on international regulation and practice.
Consultation responses
11 December 2023: ICMA response to HK SFC Consultation Paper on the Proposed Guidelines for Market Soundings
23 September 2022: ICMA response to NDRC Consultation on the Administrative Measures for the Review and Registration of Medium- and Long-Term Foreign Debt of Enterprises (in Chinese)
15 February 2022: ICMA response to Monetary Authority of Singapore Consultation Paper P020-2021 - Introduction of Due Diligence Requirements for Corporate Finance Advisers
7 May 2021: ICMA response to HK SFC consultation paper on the proposed code of conduct on bookbuilding and placing activities in the equity capital market and debt capital market*
*ICMA industry templates related to the HK SFC bookbuilding code can be found here under the heading “HK SFC Licensed/Registered Persons Code, Paragraph 21: Bookbuilding and placing activities” (ICMA member login required).
7 February 2020: ICMA response to HKEX consultation: Review of Chapter 37 - Debt issues to professional investors only
Publications:
The Asian International Bond Markets: Issuance Trends and Dynamics (previously titled 'The Asian International Bond Markets: Development and Trends') - ICMA supported by Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA).
- March 2026 (sixth edition)* English version | Chinese version
- March 2025 (fifth edition) English version | Chinese version
- March 2024 (fourth edition) English version | Chinese version
- March 2023 (third edition) English version | Chinese version
- March 2022 (second edition) English version | Chinese version
- March 2021 (first edition) English version
*Summarised data on international bond issuances in Asia used in the 2026 report is available here.
31 March 2026: White Paper on Cross-Border RMB Bonds: Market Evolution and Future Outlook – ICMA and Bank of China
English version | Chinese version
24 September 2021: Panda Bonds: Raising Finance in China's Bond Market - ICMA and NAFMII
English version | Chinese version
5 December 2018: International practices of bond trustee arrangements - ICMA-NAFMII Working Group, 9th UK-China Economic and Finance Dialogue
19 October 2017: The Panda Bond Market and Perspectives of Foreign Issuers - ICMA-NAFMII Working Group, 8th UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue
English version | Chinese version
21 September 2015: Practices and procedures in the Chinese and international primary debt capital markets - ICMA-NAFMII Working Group, 6th UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue
English version | Bilingual version
Webinars & podcasts:
29 May 2026: 58th ICMA AGM & Conference recording: Unlocking capital – Advancing bond markets globally
20 April 2026: ICMA Podcast: Beyond borders: The long-term shift in China’s global lending
13 March 2025: ICMA Webinar: The Asian International Bond Markets: Issuance Trends & Dynamics Report
View more ICMA webinars and podcasts here.
ICMA’s work in secondary market focuses on research and facilitating internationalisation of domestic markets. ICMA publishes research reports, sends regular market updates to secondary market contacts, and advises central banks and securities regulators on bond market development, infrastructure, and liquidity.
Regulatory responses:
15 May 2026: ICMA response to the HKEX consultation on accelerated settlement for Hong Kong cash market
16 December 2021: ICMA-ASIFMA joint response to SEBI Consultation Paper for Market Making in Corporate Bonds
Publications:
25 July 2024: Korean Treasury Bonds - An International perspective
24 September 2021: Investing in China's Interbank Bond Market: A Handbook, ICMA and NAFMII
14 January 2021: The Internationalization of the China Corporate Bond Market - ICMA
30 August 2018: The Asia-Pacific Cross-Border Corporate Bond Secondary Market - A report on the state and evolution of the market – ICMA
China repo markets
ICMA welcomes the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) recognition of the GMRA for onshore repo transactions involving China Interbank Bond Market (CIBM) bonds and opening-up measures to broaden offshore investor access in the onshore repo market. ICMA remains committed to supporting the use of the GMRA in cross-border repo transactions and to working constructively with Chinese regulators to strengthen legal certainty around close-out netting enforceability in China.
To facilitate this important momentum, ICMA has set up the China Repo Committee under the auspices of the ICMA Global Repo and Collateral Forum (GRCF) to inform our membership and the wider market of the latest developments in China’s repo markets.developments relating to China’s repo market.
Publications:
ICMA Guides to Asia-Pacific Repo Markets (ICMA member login required):
- Australia (open access)
- China
- Indonesia
- India
- Japan (View Japanese version)
- Philippines
- South Korea
- Vietnam
Asia-Pacific repo market surveys:
- 26 January 2024: 5th ICMA & ASIFMA survey - June 2023
- 5 December 2022: 4th ICMA & ASIFMA survey - June 2022
26 March 2024: Use of RMB-denominated Bonds as Collateral for Global Repo Transactions - A CCDC-ICMA Joint White Paper
English version | Chinese version
13 November 2020: ICMA SFTR checklist for non-European firms
ICMA continues to engage with and advise regulators, authorities and infrastructures in the region. ICMA is Secretariat for the Hong Kong Code of Conduct for ESG Ratings and Data Providers sponsored by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). ICMA also hosts the similar Singapore Code of Conduct for ESG Rating and Data Product Providers on its website, and the Interoperable Mapping Reference (IMR) tool to navigate between the global ICMA Code and the two regional codes..
ICMA is active in several working groups and advisory committees on sustainable finance in the region:
- Asia GX Consortium (organised by the Japan Financial Services Agency, ASEAN Capital Markets Forum, and the Asian Development Bank)
- ASEAN Industry Advisory Panel on Transition Finance
- Japan GX Acceleration Global Advisory Council
- Singapore Sustainable Finance Association: Transition Finance and Taxonomies working groups
Asia-Pacific based members are represented on ICMA’s international committees, working groups and task forces, including the Principles Membership and Advisory Council, to ensure that global developments reflect the concerns of increasingly important Asia-Pacific markets.
ICMA’s publications and database of sustainable bonds also fully consider the market developments in Asia Pacific.
The principles and guidelines for green, social, sustainability, sustainability-linked and transition bonds have been translated into several Asian languages.
Regulatory responses:
19 August 2022: ICMA response to SEBI Consultation Paper on Green and Blue Bonds as a mode of Sustainable Finance
23 June 2022: ICMA response to the second Singapore Green Finance Industry Taskforce (GFIT) taxonomy consultation
4 January 2022: ICMA response to the IPSF Common Ground Taxonomy Consultation
16 November 2021: ICMA response to the SEBI consultation paper on introducing disclosure norms for ESG Mutual Fund schemes
27 September 2021: ICMA response to SGX Consultation Paper on Climate and Diversity
11 March 2021: ICMA response to Singapore Green Finance Industry Taskforce (GFIT) taxonomy consultation
15 January 2021: ICMA's response to the SFC Consultation Paper on the Management and Disclosure of Climate-related Risks by Fund Managers
Publications:
March 2026: The evolving landscape of ESG ratings and data products
October 2025: Understanding the opportunity from carbon markets for sustainable finance and the wider market
October 2024: Hong Kong Code of Conduct for ESG Ratings and Data Products Providers
January 2023: White paper on ESG practices in China
English version | Chinese version
May 2021: Overview and Recommendations for Sustainable Finance Taxonomies
November 2020: Closing the SDG Financing Gap in ASEAN - A Sustainable Finance Guide for Corporates, by UN Global Compact Network Singapore (GCNS) and Ernst and Young (EY), in contribution with ICMA, Arabesque and DBS
May 2020: Chinese translation of ICMA publication: Sustainable Finance: High-level definitions
February 2020: Sustainable finance: Compendium of international policy initiatives & best market practice
March 2017: The practice and prospects for green bond market development at home and abroad - ICMA-NAFMII Working Group, 8th UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue (ICMA member login required)
English version | Chinese version
Webinars:
6 November 2025: 11th Annual Conference of the Principles: Asian and global market developments
6 November 2025: 11th Annual Conference of the Principles: Asian and global regulatory developments
22 November 2024: 8th Annual ICMA & JSDA Sustainable Bond Conference: Enabling Sustainable Society / Economy-Wide Transition Through Sustainable Bonds
View more ICMA webinars and podcasts here.
ICMA leads the fixed income workstream of Project Guardian convened by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to develop comprehensive risk management and regulatory frameworks that enhances the liquidity and efficiency of financial markets through asset tokenisation. Deliverables include the Guardian Fixed Income Framework (GFIF), and recent addendums on Delivery versus Payment (DvP) settlement and lessons learned from custody arrangements for DLT-based debt securities.
The Hong Kong SAR Government incorporated ICMA’s Bond Data Taxonomy (BDT) for its second (~USD0.7 billion) and third (~USD1.2 billion) digital green bond issuances in 2024 and 2025 respectively, marking a first use case by a sovereign, supranational and agency (SSA) issuer and also a first for a green bond. In March 2026, ICMA held a joint webinar with the HKMA to discuss the mechanics of the third issuance (replay available here).
Webinars & podcasts:
16 February 2026: ICMA-HKMA Webinar: Hong Kong SAR Government’s second digital green bond issuance incorporating ICMA’s Bond Data Taxonomy
3 December 2025: ICMA Podcast: Digital bonds: Hype, hope or the future of capital markets?
11 July 2024: ICMA-HKMA Webinar: Hong Kong SAR Government’s digital green bond issuance incorporating ICMA’s Bond Data Taxonomy
16 June 2023: ICMA Podcast: Electronic trading in Asia-Pacific bond markets
View more ICMA webinars and podcasts here.
Partnerships and collaborations
Across the region, ICMA has established partnerships and collaborates with other trade associations to share technical and regulatory expertise on national and international markets and cooperate on market development initiatives. Please refer to the list of international affiliations.
ICMA participates in the yearly UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD). In 2025, ICMA was mentioned in the policy outcomes to promote bond issuance and trading activities between the two, strengthen adoption of the GMRA in onshore China, and capacity building through the ICMA Corporate Financial Consultant (CFC) programme.
Education and training
In support of its mission to assist in capital market development in emerging and frontier markets and to help forge resilient bond markets globally, ICMA has over many years worked with governments and multilateral development institutions around the world to support technical assistance and capacity building programmes focused on developing skills and expertise in the international bond markets. Read more about it here.
ICMA also offers regular professional development training courses in primary markets, trading, repo and collateral, sustainable finance, and FinTech and digitalisation. ICMA members receive substantial discount for enrolment in these courses, as well as bespoke in-house training for bulk participation. All ICMA courses are recognised by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) as an approved Continuous Professional Training (CPT) course provider.
The ICMA Scholarship programme supports junior, early-career market professionals who are unable to pursue a financial qualification due to their economic circumstances as part of ICMA's mission to raise standards and support inclusion in the financial market. The programme is available for individuals aged between 19-30 from Asia Pacific, Africa, and Latin America. Check out the latest application procedures here.
Externally, ICMA collaborates with the National University of Singapore Asian Institute of Digital Finance (NUS-AIDF) to run the AI Governance Executive Programme in Global Capital Markets. Check out the course website here.
Contacts
ICMA Legal & Regulatory Helpdesk in Hong Kong
(Members only)
+852 2531 6590
ICMA representative office in Hong Kong
Phone: +852 2531 6592
Email: apac@icmagroup.org
Address
Hong Kong Representative Office
Unit 3603, Tower 2, Lippo Centre
89 Queensway Admiralty
Hong Kong
Google map
Scan the QR code below to follow ICMA’s official WeChat account
| Mushtaq Kapasi Managing Director and Chief Representative for Asia-Pacific Direct line: +852 2531 6590 |
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| Ricco Zhang Senior Director, Asia Pacific Direct line: +852 2531 6591 |
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| Alex Tsang Director, Asia Pacific Direct line: +852 2531 6593 |
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| Wing Wong Office Manager, Asia Pacific Direct line: +852 2531 6592 |
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| Vincci Xiao Associate Director, Membership, Events and Communications, Asia Pacific Direct line: +852 2531 6595 |
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| Christhoper Matthew Associate, Asia Pacific Direct line: +852 2531 6594 |
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| Janus Zhao Associate, Events, Asia Pacific Direct line: +852 2531 6511 |
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