And while in certain regions mobile money has given millions of customers access to our financial systems, more work is needed to ensure access for the 1.7 billion adults who currently do not have a transaction account. [2] Furthermore, in stark contrast to other ubiquitous technologies, existing cross-border payments are not always “up to speed” and cost-efficient.
In corporate bond markets, estimated bid-ask spreads have declined, indicating that, if anything, liquidity may have improved.8 However, given the nature of the corporate bond market, these estimates are based on transactions rather than on direct observations of quotes to buy or sell these bonds.