Room for a retail corporate bond market

So perhaps this is where the lateral thinking is required. Many countries have retail bond markets - Australia doesn't - but perhaps its time has finally come.

The latest cut in the official cash rate by the RBA has again had self-funded retirees and others who live on fixed incomes crying out that they cannot afford to live on ever dwindling incomes. It can be reasonably expected that this group of investors would jump at the opportunity to buy listed, investment grade, corporate bonds that offer attractive yields.

Yes, it may cost a little more to tap the retail market, in terms of initial set-up costs and the time taken to raise the funds, but international markets consistently show that retail investors will accept narrower credit margins. Maybe the volume raised won't be as great, but issuing some debt is better than having to issue more equity, and the debt issued can be issued for longer terms to maturity, improving an issuer's debt maturity profile and lowering refinancing risk.

And wouldn't listing corporate bonds bring some transparency and liquidity to the market: attributes that are sadly missing now.

But perhaps most importantly for any listed company, it is the retail investors who will buy your debt that are increasingly not supporting your deeply discounted equity issues.