Frequently Asked Questions


What is a Treasury Bill?
What is a Discount House?
What is a Primary Market?
What is a Secondary Market?
What instruments are actively traded by CDH?
What do we mean by the Money Market?
How do I Invest in a Treasury Bill?

What is a Treasury Bill ?
A Treasury bill is a short-term financial instrument issued by the Malawi Government through the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) to borrow funds from the general public to finance cash-flow shortfalls in Government expenditure. Treasury Bills are low risk and highly liquid instruments as they are re-discountable by authorised dealers such as Continental Discount House Limited (CDH). If for any reason the investor needs to liquidate his investment prior to maturity, he can do so by selling the bills to CDH at the prevailing rate for the tenor of the bills to maturity.

What is a Discount House ?
A Discount House is a financial institution devoted to trading in money market securities in the secondary
market.

What do we mean by the Money Market ?
Money market is a wholesale market for low risk, highly liquid, short-term debt instruments (usually of tenors of less than one year). 

What is the Primary Market ?
The Primary Market is where Government Securities (Treasury Bills and RBM Bills) are issued by the Reserve Bank of Malawi to investors for fixed tenors by means of an auction bid process. The securities are issued at the rate bid by investors up to the marginal rate, which is determined by the Reserve Bank of Malawi.

What is the Secondary Market ?
The secondary market is where previously issued money market securities are traded. An investor in these securities can buy or sell through authorised dealers such as Continental Discount House for settlement the same day.

What instruments are actively traded by CDH?
CDH's main instruments of trade are Treasury Bills, RBM Bills, Bankers Acceptances, Call Money
and Negotiable Certificates of Deposit.



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