In 2000 the two largest non-sovereign issuers were once again the big US mortgage agencies, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. The sheer size of their funding requirements is breathtaking.
Freddie Mac's issuance programme alone totalled $935 billion last year, of which $9 billion equivalent was issued as part of its euro reference notes programme.
The agencies' adherence to detailed issuance calendars enhanced their bonds' usefulness for traders and others in hedging interest rate risk. The growth of futures markets on their bonds reinforces their status as alternatives to government bonds. That's just as well because the agencies faced tough questions from the US congress and from investors about their true credit status and degree of government support.
For supranationals innovation last year centred around the application of internet technology to the primary bond markets, with the European Investment Bank and the World Bank in particular making great efforts to jump...
