The UK Debt Management Office (DMO) issues new UK Treasury bills through tenders. These are held every Friday (or the last business day of the week).
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The tender is where a group of brokers and investment banks called “primary participants” offer to the DMO to invest in UK Treasury bills at the yield they want to receive. The DMO accepts the bids with the lowest yields until all of the supply for that week is used up.
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Previously, if you wanted to participate in the weekly tender process, you needed to have at least £500,000 to access this high-quality, short-term government debt.
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Soon you can participate through your Freetrade app.
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When you place an order for UK Treasury bills through your Freetrade account, it is added to a queue that we process during the weekly tender.
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The cut-off time for placing orders is 4:30 pm UK time on Thursday. This means that if you place an order on Tuesday, your order will be submitted in Friday’s tender.
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The Treasury bills purchase settles on the working day following the tender, usually a Monday, and they mature within 1 month** usually the Monday four weeks after the purchase is settled.