A top official at the Treasury department has proposed changes to the way transactions in the $24tn US government bond market are disclosed, as calls grow to improve the transparency and resiliency of what is considered the foundation of the global financial system.
Trading in Treasuries is notoriously opaque, and regulators and investors have long suggested that more insight would improve investor confidence, help officials spot problems sooner and bolster functioning, participation and stability in the market.
The Treasury department is proposing that transaction data for the most widely traded Treasury bonds — so-called on-the-run bonds — be made public on a daily basis starting in early 2023, with some limits on reporting expected, based on trade size. The comments were made by Nellie Liang, the under-secretary of domestic finance at the department, at a conference on Wednesday hosted by the New York Fed about the Treasury market.