The year of booming bonds

China and other developing nations have the potential to make bonds a new engine of economic and financial reforms

Booming bond issuance and investment have been the pervasive themes throughout the global financial markets in 2012. The bond market not only met the needs of investors in the midst of the global financial crisis, but also provided strong support to companies and banks, becoming an engine for the world's economic growth.

It thus makes sense that amid market uncertainty investors regarded bond investment as a safe haven and flocked to this area. Over the past four years, according to JP Morgan's estimates, more than $2 trillion has flowed into fixed-income funds globally while equity funds have suffered an outflow of money.