Asian governments realize that deep, liquid, and mature bond markets are effective tools in transforming the region’s large levels of savings into long-term investments and to avoid the double mismatch of currencies and maturities. Efforts at individual country levels are now being complemented by regional initiatives.

The Asia Bond Market Initiative (ABMI) is an ASEAN+3 initiative supported by the Asian Development Bank and funded by the Government of Japan. It is designed to promote bond market development in the region. ASEAN+3 consists of Brunei Darrusalam, Cambodia, the People’s Republic of China, Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam.

AsianBondsOnline is part of the ABMI. It is a one-stop clearinghouse of information on sovereign and corporate bonds. It presents both regional and market-specific information in a structured format, giving market participants and potential investors a clear perspective of the current market. Government and private sector initiatives to enhance market depth and liquidity are also detailed.

The web site is targeted at institutional and individual investors, sovereign and corporate issuers, financial intermediaries, credit rating agencies, market regulators, policy makers, multilateral institutions, academic researchers, and journalists, both in local markets and outside the region.

This is the first phase in the development of AsianBondsOnline. The focus has been to provide links to publicly available information on the Internet. In the future, AsianBondsOnline will expand by providing more in-depth information and analysis.

The ultimate goal of AsianBondsOnline is to be responsive to investor needs. To this end, a feedback facility is available to all users on an unrestricted basis. Suggestions or comments posted will be addressed by AsianBondsOnline analysts. This participatory approach helps guarantee that site enhancements will serve user needs.

The Office of Regional Economic Integration of the Asian Development Bank developed and maintains AsianBondsOnline.