Though the European market of government bonds still suffers from a certain segmentation, the corporate bond market has already at present exceeded all expectations. During the first six months of this year, European companies are said to have issued more than double the amount registered in 1998. BIS Review 114/1999  2  Moreover, the average size of these issues has increased considerably.
This evolution results from financing needs arising from Mergers and Acquisitions’ activities, but first and foremost from the enormous potential the private bond market represents. It indeed benefits from the decrease in the financing needs of governments, from the disappearance of exchange risk and from the advent of a large, more liquid and more homogeneous European bond market.