Mayor Walsh launches City of Boston investor website powered by BondLink

Mayor Martin J. Walsh today launched Boston's new investor outreach platform, BuyBostonBonds.com. Building on Mayor Walsh's commitment to fiscal transparency and stability, the new website is the latest step in the city's continued efforts to optimize financial disclosure and will feature details on sales, existing bonds, credit ratings and other investor resources. The website is designed to drive investment in Boston's debt, which helps pay for capital projects and investments the City makes.

"Over the past three years Boston has maintained a perfect AAA bond rating, and we're committed to maintaining a strong fiscal foundation so we can invest in projects like our new Dearborn STEM Academy in Roxbury or new investments in Franklin Park -- services our residents depend on," said Mayor Walsh. "I encourage investors to visit this new resource, and learn more about how they can invest in Boston's thriving economy."

Featuring nearly 6,000 pages of data and documents, Boston's new site offers a corporate-style investor platform to provide insight into the financial data that underpin its AAA bond ratings. Potential bondholders, from large institutional investors to smaller local investors, will benefit from the easy-to-use, easy-to navigate website. Investors will realize efficiency gains through the new BuyBostonBonds.com website's various tools, and will have the opportunity to register for alerts as the City adds new financial data and schedules future bond sales.

These latest investor tools are powered by BondLink, a Boston-based financial technology company that provides investor outreach solutions to issuers in the $4 trillion municipal bond market. The company is based in the Seaport District, and powers the investor outreach programs for other issuers, including the State of California, the City of Chicago and the University of Texas.

"Boston is one of the top-rated cities in the U.S. and we couldn't be more excited to partner with it to enhance its investor outreach," said Colin MacNaught, BondLink CEO. "We're working with major governments across the country, but BondLink is based here and that makes this partnership special as we're rapidly growing our team. Our goal with Boston is to open up its bond sales so that more investors can participate and support the City's infrastructure investments."

Academic research shows that better disclosure to bond investors can lower yields for issuers such as Boston. BondLink's technology makes it easier for Boston to engage with its investors, using enhanced transparency to the bond market to attract more investors and diversify its existing investor base. Using a dedicated investor website for disclosure also follows best practices from government finance organizations such as the Government Finance Officers Association.The long-term goal of this investor platform is ultimately to drive increased demand for Boston bonds, as a deeper, more diverse investor pool is key to optimizing overall borrowing costs.

The BondLink platform builds on Mayor Walsh's commitment to financial responsibility throughout the City of Boston. Over the past five years, Boston's revenue has grown by 25 percent, and has added 80,000 new jobs over the last four years. Earlier this month, Mayor Walsh presented his Fiscal Year 2019 (FY19) budget proposal, a plan that affirms a commitment to progress, opportunity and innovation by investing in Boston's neighborhoods, while building on the City's strong record of proactive fiscal management. The $3.29 billion plan builds on the Walsh Administration's commitment to accelerating progress in key areas, investing in a growing middle class through strong 21st-century schools; good jobs; affordable homes in safe neighborhoods; providing pathways to opportunities; supporting public safety for a growing city; and improving core city services to benefit all residents.

About BondLink

Led by founders Colin MacNaught, CEO, and Carl Query, CTO, BondLink helps issuers in the $4 trillion municipal bond market attract more investors through better disclosure and enhanced technology. BondLink enables institutional investors to automate their credit surveillance of an issuer, and makes it easier for smaller investors, including individuals, to participate in public bond sales.Since going live in 2016, BondLink's investor platform has helped states, counties, cities, school districts, universities, hospitals, public utilities and ports across the country improve their transparency to the bond market. Headquartered in Boston, BondLink is backed by top investors, including Franklin Templeton Investments, one of the largest municipal bond fund managers in the country, as well as Coatue and Accomplice.