This time a month ago, July was shaping up to be the second lightest month for bond issuance, with records compiled by The Debt Capital Market Review showing only A$5.5 billion of bonds being issued or priced for the month. At the time, it appeared July was a slow month for the debt capital market.(This would increase to $7 billion if the $1.5 billion, ASX-listed subordinated note issue from Westpac was included.)However, a month later, and with the opportunity to update records, the issuance total for July now stands at A$11.2 billion, making it the third best month for the year. How can this be?The answer is that some A$4.2 billion of bond issuance was either reported late or not all. While it has been a common practice that small private placements go unannounced, in July there were $2.4 billion of bonds placed that went unannounced. Of this amount, $1.9 billion of the issuance was undertaken by Westpac and a further $500 million by CBA.The Debt Capital Market Review commented on the apparent absence of the major banks from the market during July. As it turns out, two of the majors had been issuing, they just didn't announce it.That said, August is now appears set to become the second lightest month of the year for issuance. At the end of last week, the last full week of the month, the issuance volume stood at just $4.5 billion.