Bond Group Drops Merger Talks

The Bond Market Association, which represents mortgage-backed securities dealers and other sell-side debt market participants, has discontinued talks about a possible consolidation with a trade group that represents stock exchange firms and investment bankers.The decision to discontinue talks was mutual, based on the fact that "both organizations felt that their members' current interests would be better served with the two remaining independent," according to a joint statement by TBMA and the Securities Industry Association. The organizations said they plan to "continue to work together on common issues to ensure effective advocacy of competitive, efficient, and fair capital markets that are critical to domestic and global economic growth." TBMA can be found online at http://www.bondmarkets.com, and SIA can be found at http://www.sia.com.