The slow but steady consolidation of the multiplicity of bond trading platforms that emerged in the 1990s took a further step forward today with news that BondsInAsia (BIA) and asiabondportal (ABP), the two Asian bond trading platforms, have agreed to merge. F our ABP shareholders – ABN Amro, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan – have agreed to use BIA , which is currently the play thing of BNP Paribas, Citigroup, CSFB, Deutsche and
HSBC and the Hong Kong exchange plus Reuters. The merged entities will BIA technology and the BIA name. It was rumoured earlier that ABP was on the brink of folding.