Despite the apparently arbitrary classification of financial markets according to maturity, the distinction is important because market participants tend to gravitate either toward short- or long-term instruments. Bond investors match the maturities of their assets to their liabilities or investment horizons, and so have strong maturity preferences. Bank tend to lend in the short- and intermediate-term market to offset their short- and intermediate-term liabilities. Life insurance companies and pension funds invest in long-term assets to couter-balance their long-term obligations. The distinction between capital markets and money market also is often encoded in national regulation governing public securities issues.