The issue of market liquidity in secondary bond markets is highly topical and controversial. There is a perception among market participants and stakeholders that market liquidity has deteriorated in recent years, although opinions vary on the extent of the change in liquidity and its causes. In this context, the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) released a report on bond market liquidity in August 2016 and invited comments through a public consultation.

To inform policy developments related to bond market liquidity, CFA Institute conducted a survey of a pool of its members that have expressed interest and expertise in this topic. In total, 3,881 survey invitations were sent out and 513 responses were received from members, for a response rate of 13.2%.

The majority (53%) of respondents (272 people) were from the Americas region (AMER), which includes but is not limited to the United States; 29% (150 people) were from the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region (EMEA), of which 64% (95 people) of EMEA respondents were from the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom; and 18% (91 people) were from the Asia‐Pacific region (APAC), of which half were from Japan. The majority (51%) of respondents were from the buy side, 13% from the sell side, 9% straddled both the buy and sell sides, and 27% selected “neither.”