Outside the United States, corporate bond markets weren’t really liquid at any time and some observers say that even in the United States – the biggest corporate market – genuine liquidity was always a bit doubtful. BIS central bankers’ speeches  asset managers.
The Financial Stability Board continues to work on these issues and over time presumably we will be able to refine our assessments. Monetary policy Turning to other policies, when the financial crisis ushered in a very serious economic downturn in late 2008, central banks around the world reduced their policy rates dramatically – in a number of cases reaching the so called “zero bound”.