PROVIDENCE – With an objective of increasing transparency into Rhode Island’s public finances, the state has launched a new, dedicated information platform for bond investors at RhodeIslandBonds.com.
The new investor portal was announced by General Treasurer Seth Magaziner.
With thousands of pages of data, Rhode Island’s new investor portal provides insight into the credit fundamentals behind the state’s bond ratings. RhodeIslandBonds.com consolidates the state’s credit data and documents, providing comprehensive, sortable and searchable financial information to institutional and retail bond investors and to credit ratings agencies.
The goal of the new investor portal is to attract more investors to Rhode Island’s bond program, increasing the demand for bonds. A broader, more diversified pool of investors can help lower the cost of borrowing for public infrastructure and reduce the burden on Rhode Island taxpayers.
“Bonds are essential to finance projects that improve schools, transportation and other quality-of-life projects that are important for Rhode Island communities to grow,” Magaziner said. “This new web portal offers a new, more transparent and user-friendly way to provide investors with information about state and municipal bond offerings.”
The new platform is the latest in a series of actions by Magaziner to improve the state’s position in the bond marketplace. In 2016, he conducted the state’s first competitive sale of tax-exempt bonds in nearly a decade, resulting in $2.7 million of net savings in debt-service costs for taxpayers. In 2017, he released a comprehensive Debt Affordability Study, setting new debt-affordability targets for the first time since 1999.
Mary Lhowe is a PBN contributing writer.
