New York.

New York Ciry, the nation's largest issuer of debt in recent years, will now list its bonds on the New York Stock Exchange.

City officials say the move is aimed at helping retail investors better track the price of their holdings of city municipal paper. City officials said they will inform the exchange this week of their decision.

New York City will join three other major issuers -- California, Connecticut, and the New York State Urban Development Corp. -- which already have listings on the exchange. City officials said listing was free of charge.

At the moment, federal market regulators are pressuring issuers to provide more information to investors, particularly retail investors, who now must go to their brokers to obtain prices.

But several municipal bonds executives said only a few actively traded bonds could be placed on the exchange. Most municipal bonds trade so infrequently that adequate prices are hard to come by.

"Maybe I'm missing something, but beyond a few activity traded bonds, I don't see many issuers following suits, said Michael Shamosh, a municipal market strategist at Cowen & Co.

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