The Development of Asian Bond Markets Since the Global Financial Crisis —Significance and Challenges Summary

bonds increased around 17 times and financial institutions and corporate bonds around eight times. The balance of corporate bonds, including financial institutions bonds, expanded at around the same rate as domestic credit balances. This is con-tributing to the formation of deeper financial structures. However, corporate bond markets tend to be small compared with domestic credit balances, and their level of development, as indicated by GDP ratios, varies from country to country. Overall, there still seems to be considerable room for growth in Asia’s corporate bond mar-kets. Most issuers in corporate bond markets are government-affiliated enterprises or private sector enterprises in a limited range of sectors. There has been little progress toward the diversification of investors and little improvement in the liquidity of sec-ondary markets. 2. Regional financial cooperation toward the improvement of Asian bond markets has brought steady progress, primarily through the Asian Bond Markets Initiative (ABMI). Recent achievements include the establishment of the Credit Guarantee and Investment Facility (CGIF) to guarantee bonds issued within the region, and th