Financial markets have made a pretty good recovery from their cardiac arrest 18 months ago. Despite large budget deficits in major countries, long-term rates of interest remain remarkably low. Since risk spreads for most borrowers have also declined this means that overall borrowing costs for rated borrowers, corporate and most governments, are low by the standards of the past few decades.
The Securities Settlement System (SSS) here is the “Bank of Japan Financial Network System (BOJ-NET) JGB Services”, which is the Japanese government bonds (JGB) settlement system in Japan. The answers as prepared by the operator of the system, the Bank of Japan, are intended to help current and future participants in the settlement system to appropriately understand and assess the risks associated with it.