The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) today released its latest figures on the size of the international bond market which show that at the end of 2006 the size of the market, measured in terms of outstanding debt in all currencies, had increased to US$ 10,545 billion a 10.5% increase in the total size of the market at the end of 2005.
According to the data supplied by ICMA the value of new international bonds issued during 2006 was equivalent to US$ 3,114,945 million. The Euro was again the dominant currency for new issues in 2006, with over 49% of last year’s issuance being denominated in Euro.
Euro denominated debt now comprises over 45% of the total outstanding, of other major currencies, the US$ accounts for 36% of the total and the GB£ for almost 10%. More information on market size is available from the ICMA website at www.icma-group.org
ICMA also reported an increase in the amount of secondary market trades in all asset classes reported through its TRAX/TRAX2 risk management and regulatory reporting system for the over the counter markets. The system processed some 53 million trades during 2006, an increase of 54% on the figure for 2005.
