Singapore T-bills: how the auction works, reading the cut-off yield, and buying with cash, SRS or CPF

A Singapore Treasury bill (T-bill) is a 6-month or 1-year short-term Singapore Government Security (SGS) issued by the Singapore Government. It pays no coupon; instead it is auctioned at a price below face value, the government repays face value at maturity, and the difference between the purchase price and face value is the investor's return. Compared with Singapore Savings Bonds (SSB), T-bills have shorter tenors, are priced by auction and cannot be redeemed early. Compared with fixed deposits, their credit comes from the government rather than a bank, and they are not covered by deposit insurance.

Product features: tenor, amount, frequency and channels

In a cash layering plan, T-bills usually sit in the "needed within a year" layer: the tenor is fixed and face value is repaid at maturity, but you cannot withdraw early as you can with a deposit. The table below summarises the product features MAS publishes for individuals (accessed Oct 2026).

Two points are easily misread. First, "no holding limit" does not mean you will always get the amount you want: a competitive bid may be partly allotted or not allotted at all. Second, the auction date on the issuance calendar is usually three business days before the issue date, and bank channels may close one to two business days before the auction; check the page of the bank you apply through.

Uniform-price auction: what competitive and non-competitive bids mean for you

T-bills are sold by uniform-price auction. Investors bid a yield (up to two decimal places), MAS ranks all bids from lowest to highest until the issue size is filled, and the last yield accepted is the cut-off yield. Every successful applicant, whatever they bid, pays the same price corresponding to the cut-off yield.

T-bill prices move inversely to yields. As an illustration: with a face value of S$10,000, a tenor of about 182 days and a cut-off yield of 1.95%, MAS published a cut-off price of S$99.028 per S$100 of face value, so you would pay about S$9,903 and receive S$10,000 at maturity, a discount of about S$97 (BS26121N, MAS auction statistics). Cash applicants are debited the full face value on submission, and refunds come in two kinds: unsuccessful amounts are refunded one to two business days after the auction (MAS auction page); the discount, combined with any unallotted amount in a partial allotment, is refunded within one to three business days after the auction (MAS T-bills FAQs).

Reading the cut-off yield: recent results

The cut-off yield is the result of that particular auction. It is neither an annualised promise nor a preview of the next auction. The table below lists recent 6-month T-bill results (source: MAS SGS Bonds and Bills Statistics, queried by issue code, accessed 23 Oct 2026; Beansprout's compiled figures match).

Three figures are worth reading. The cut-off yield sets the return for every successful applicant. The median and average bid yields reflect what most participants expected; if both are well below the cut-off, many bids were non-competitive or low. The ratio of total applications to the amount allotted (the bid-to-cover ratio) shows how strong demand was. T-bill yields move with market interest rates, and this site makes no judgement on where they will go. When comparing T-bills with fixed deposits, put figures for the same tenor and the same date side by side; see the like-for-like comparison.

Buying with cash, SRS or the CPF Ordinary Account

All three sources of funds buy the same T-bill, but the timing of the debit, how refunds work and where the money goes at maturity differ. The table below is based on the MAS T-bills FAQs and CPF Board pages.

The trade-off in using the CPF Ordinary Account is that money out of the OA stops earning OA interest (the OA rate for Q4 2026 is the 2.5% floor, CPF Board, 22 Sep 2026), and maturity proceeds start earning interest again only once they are back in the OA, which may involve a gap. Whether it is worthwhile depends on the cut-off yield at the time, the holding period and how long the money is in transit, not on a single yield figure. CPF interest rates and crediting rules follow the CPF Board's pages.

Selling before maturity and price risk

T-bills cannot be redeemed early with the government. If you need the money before maturity, you can only sell on the secondary market. MAS states that secondary market trading takes place at the main branches of DBS, OCBC and UOB, settles on T+1, and that "T-bill prices may go up or down before maturity" (MAS T-bills information for individuals). The MoneySense guide to bonds also cautions that when market interest rates rise, the market prices of existing bonds fall, and that bonds are not covered by deposit insurance (14 Oct 2026).

Three practical conclusions follow:

1. Put into T-bills only money you are sure you will not need until after maturity. A 6-month T-bill suits school fees, tax or part of a home down payment due in six months' time, not an emergency fund you may need at any moment.
2. Watch for gaps when rolling over. The maturity of one issue and the issue date of the next may not line up, so money may sit in a bank account for days or weeks; when building a maturity ladder, use the cash layering checklist to stagger maturities.
3. Secondary market liquidity is limited. The price and fees for individual investors selling at a bank branch are set by the bank, and for small amounts and short remaining tenors, transaction costs may offset part of the return.

Tax and foreigners

Under MAS's "Tax for Singapore Government Securities" (23 Jun 2023), interest on SGS received by individuals is exempt from income tax under the qualifying debt securities (QDS) arrangement, and the same applies to "other qualifying income" such as discount and redemption premium; income received through a Singapore partnership or a trade or business is excluded. T-bills are SGS, so this treatment applies. Singapore has no capital gains tax, and the MAS page also states that non-residents without a permanent establishment in Singapore do not pay tax on interest income.

On foreigners and non-residents, the MAS T-bills information for individuals states that eligible investors are "all institutions and individuals, including non-residents", and individuals must be aged 18 and above. In practice, a cash application requires a DBS/POSB, OCBC or UOB account and an individual CDP securities account; whether an account is approved is for the bank and CDP to decide under their own requirements, and this site makes no promise on the outcome. For preparation before opening accounts, see Getting set up.

For cross-border tax and CRS reporting, see Multi-currency cash and FX risk.

How T-bills, SSB and fixed deposits divide the work

T-bills, SSB and fixed deposits can all hold money needed within a year to about three years, but each comes with different constraints:

A common combination is to hold money you know you will need in six months or a year in T-bills or fixed deposits, and money whose timing is uncertain but which you want to be able to recover at face value in SSB. The right split depends on the household's spending plans and residency constraints; there is no single answer. For the steps to get started (opening a CDP account, making a first application), see Getting set up. If you would like this interpreted for your own circumstances, you can register your needs through the contact details on this site.