TORONTO

NO ONE would buy a house without knowing what the last house in the neighbourhood sold for. Buyers in the bond markets, however, must do exactly that. Unlike share trades, bond trades are often not reported publicly, so an investor has no sure way to know whether the price quoted by a broker accurately reflects the current market. Save for the market in American Treasury bonds, where a private system called GovPX provides real-time prices to subscribers, buying a bond is truly an exercise of faith.

Bond dealers say they are all for changing this. For example, the International Securities Market Association, based in Switzerland, announced in January that it would ...