Bonds without Borders

This book tells the extraordinary story of the growth of the world's largest international market for capital, for sovereign states, international agencies, financial institutions and companies around the world. The book reviews the evolution of international debt financing from medieval Italian City States to the financing of the First World War. Its core narrative charts the journey from the highly regulated national securities markets after the Second World War to the rise and development of a market, termed the 'Eurobond' market that targeted the international investor regardless of their domicile, market place or any exchange and created today's global cross-border markets. The book takes the reader through the endless challenges that were faced and overcome and the innovative products developed to meet the needs of both borrowers and investors. All this taking place in the context of a constantly changing, often volatile, economic and political environment; from post-war Keynesian economic policies, through oil crises, to deregulation and the monetarist philosophies of the Reagan and Thatcher eras, to the current global financial crisis with its arguments of deficit reduction versus growth.