China’s bond market is destined to play an increasingly important role, both at home and abroad. And the inclusion of the country’s bonds in global indexes will be a milestone for its financial market integration, bringing big opportunities as well as challenges for policymakers and investors alike. This calls for a good understanding of China’s bond market structure, its unique characteristics, and areas where reforms are needed. This volume comprehensively analyzes the different segments of China’s bond market, from sovereign, policy bank, and credit bonds, to the rapidly growing local government bond market. It also covers bond futures, green bonds, and asset-backed securities, as well as China’s offshore market, which has played a major role in onshore market development.

The Asian Bond Markets Initiative (ABMI) was launched in December 2002 by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the People’s Republic of China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea---collectively known as ASEAN+3 to strengthen financial stability and reduce the region’s vulnerability to the sudden reversal of capital flows. This paper also provides recommendations for addressing new sources of market volatility and other challenges within and outside the framework of the Asian Bond Markets Initiative.

This report, consisting of three parts, is the result of Phase 2 studies of the ASEAN+3 Bond Market Forum Sub-Forum 2 and enhances the findings of Phase 1. Part 1 provides an overview of ASEAN+3 bond markets and their infrastructure. Part 2 reports on the bond market-related issues of economies in the region. Part 3 contains diagrams of ASEAN+3 bond market infrastructures, domestic bond transaction flows, and cross-border bond transaction flows.

Social bond markets have grown rapidly in Asia and around the world amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Today, the global social bond market is dominated by bonds that address pandemic-related social impact areas. To better understand the potential contribution of social bonds in tackling developing Asia’s most urgent social issues, this study reviews the current status and recent trends of global and Asian social bond markets. It further analyzes social impact areas that can be addressed by social bonds in both the short and long term. The study’s findings can help align finance with the Sustainable Development Goals and maximize the impact of the social bond market for sustainable development.

The Singapore bond market has become one of the most developed open capital markets in Asia with over US$221 billion in total local currency bonds outstanding with an additional US$53 billion of bonds outstanding. The Singapore Bond Market Guide is an outcome of the support and contributions of ASEAN+3 Bond Market Forum members and experts, particularly from Singapore, while the ASEAN+3 Bond Market Guide as a whole is a comprehensive explanation of the region’s bond markets. This report should be recognized as a collective good to support bond market development among ASEAN+3 members.

This guidance note was prepared by International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Group staff under a project undertaken with the support of grants from the Financial Sector Reform and Strengthening Initiative, (FIRST).The aim of the project was to deliver a report that provides emerging market and developing economies with guidance and a roadmap in developing their local currency bond markets (LCBMs). This note will also inform technical assistance missions in advising authorities on the formulation of policies to deepen LCBMs.