The primary markets, whether for loans, bonds or equity are in many respects similar to each other. Each type of finance has a lead bank (a Book Runner) drumming up interest from other banks and/or big investors. The big differences occur in the secondary markets and are illustrated in the table below.

As can be seen in the table above the Loan Markets are much further from being a perfect market than the corresponding equities and bond markets. The key imperfections are the lack of;

• Low transaction costs (e.g. by use a central exchange or electronic trading platforms),
• Broad information availability, particularly on prices and who wishes to buy or sell,
• Ability to transact in small amounts,
• Ease of introduction for new payers (retail investors).