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By Johnny Debuysscher, Partner CIO Fixed Income, Petercam
I have been at Petercam for nearly twenty-seven years now, and all the time I have been involved in fixed income markets. When I started my career, things were relatively straightforward: government bonds were perceived as risk-free and one could safely assume that the principal would be redeemed at maturity, and that coupons would be paid on time. In other words, confidence has always been key, and remains so today. Unfortunately, trust today is a lot more fragile than it used to be.
Indeed, with the onset of the financial crisis six years ago, things started to change. The ensuing sovereign debt crisis in Europe has questioned the role of the risk-free assets that government bonds used...
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