We study the influence of credit default swaps (CDS) trading on the costs of bond intermediation. After CDS initiation, CDS firms pay 12-28% (8-20 basis points) lower underwriting fees than similar non-CDS firms do. Underwriting fees decline more for riskier issuers and illiquid bonds for which...

The average maturity of newly issued corporate bonds has declined substantially over the past 40 years, and the traditional determinants of debt maturity fail to explain this decrease fully. We show that the changing composition of the investors in the corporate bond market affects the maturity...