Since the arrival of the euro, government debt management agencies have had to work hard to distinguish themselves from one another. They have had to come up with policies that make their issues more attractive than their neighbours'. Along with liquidity and transparency, marketing is now a buzzword among agencies that relied for many years on a captive domestic market.
According to Graham Bishop, an adviser on European financial affairs to Salmon Smith Barney who was once nicknamed "Mr Euro" for his positive view on the single currency, it is now a fairer market: "The Germans do not have the edge any more that the Bund gave them. And the captive domestic market has all but vanished, which I think is a good thing. All the agencies are now having to get out there and market to a worldwide audience."
