BIS Papers No 30 143 Asian bond issues in Tokyo: history, structure and prospects

This paper outlines the contribution made by the Japanese capital market to international and in particular Asian bond finance. Drawing on one of the major global pools of savings, the Japanese capital market has provided funding opportunities, both in debt and equity, for international entities including sovereigns, government agencies, corporations and other financing vehicles. During the last several decades, Japanese money has played an important role in the international capital markets. For example, during the 1980s, the movement of Japanese money exerted crucial influence over the performance of US Treasuries, and all market participants carefully monitored Japanese investors ’ policy. In the area of primary markets, Japanese securities firms monopolised the top positions in international bond underwriting league tables for a considerable time. However, with the burst of the bubble economy in the early 1990s, the relative importance of Japanese money and capital markets started to decline. Japanese money retreated home, where domestic government debt issuance increased dramatically in the 1990s. As a result, the share of the yen has also been declining in international bond issuance. At the peak