During the global financial crisis, many Asian central banks took shelter in shorter maturities such as six-month or one-year Treasury bills. But since the second half of 2009, they have returned to more conventional buying patterns, which typically means heavy demand for three- and five-year paper, and more selective buying at the 10-year segment of the yield curve.
Asian central banks no longer dominate European sovereign, supranational and agency sovereign, supranational and agency (SSA) deals the way they did during the huge build-up in reserves between 2003 and 2007, but they still make up a significant part of the globally diversified investor base.
