[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] The Korea Securities Depository announced on the 8th that the total amount of funds raised through short-term bonds in the first half of this year was 515.5 trillion won, a 1.7% decrease compared to the same period last year (524.6 trillion won).

Short-term bonds (STB: Short-Term Bond) are corporate bonds issued with certain conditions such as a maturity of one year or less and a minimum issuance amount of 100 million won, and are electronically processed for issuance, distribution, and exercise of rights through an electronic registration agency.

The issuance volume of general short-term bonds was 416.5 trillion won, a 4.3% decrease compared to the same period last year (435 trillion won), while the issuance volume of securitized short-term bonds was 99 trillion won, a 10.6% increase compared to the same period last year (89.5 trillion won).

By maturity, bonds issued within 3 months accounted for 512.9 trillion won, representing 99.5% of the total issuance volume. The Depository interpreted this as mainly due to the current exemption benefit from submitting securities registration statements.

Ultra-short-term bonds within 7 days amounted to 313.8 trillion won, a decrease of 8.2% compared to the same period last year (341.7 trillion won), accounting for 60.9% of the total issuance.

By credit rating, the issuance volumes were in the order of A1 (466.7 trillion won), A2 (40.6 trillion won), A3 (6.6 trillion won), and below B (1.6 trillion won), showing a tendency for issuance volume to decrease as credit rating lowers.

By industry, the order was securities companies (289.1 trillion won), securitization companies (99 trillion won), card, capital, and other financial businesses (78.2 trillion won), and general companies and public enterprises (49.2 trillion won).