There's some justification to concerns about a liquidity shortage in UK corporate bond markets, according to researchers at the Financial Conduct Authority. But liquidity is still "relatively healthy" when measured across the eight years or so that have elapsed since the financial crisis.

Trading has become harder since 2014, according to the report prepared by Felix Suntheim, a technical specialist in the FCA chief economist's department, and Matthew Allan, a senior associate in its markets policy department.