coupon

Coupon is a word used for interest payments on bonds. It comes from the days when paper bond certificates used to have tear-off coupons for each interest payment that the holder would exchange for cash on the pay date.

Treasury notes

Treasury notes represent debt issued by the US government that has a maturity less than a Treasury bond but longer than a Treasury bill – in other words more than one year but less than 20 years. Like Treasury bonds, Treasury notes pay a fixed annual interest payment (coupon) in six-monthly instalments and repay a […]

Perpetual bond/perpetual note

A perpetual bond, also known colloquially as a perpetual or perp, is a bond with no maturity date therefore allowing it to be treated as equity, not as debt. Issuers pay coupons on perpetual bonds forever.

OAT and BTAN

BTANs and OATs are debt instruments issued by the French government. BTAN Bon à Taux Annuel Normalisé or BTANs (Treasury notes with annual coupons) are medium-term treasury securities with a maturity of 2-5 years. They have a par value of €1 and their settlement is at par value on the maturity date. For streamlining purposes, as […]

BTP

BTP is an acronym for Buoni del Tesoro Poliennali. Bonds issued by the Italian government with maturities of 3, 5, 7, 10, 15 and 30 years. Euro-BTP futures are traded on the Eurex exchange. Each contract is for €100,000 of long-term euro-BTP. Futures contracts exist for the months of March, June, September and December. The deliverable product for […]

Bobl, bund and schatz

Bobl Bobl is an acronym for bundesobligationen – debt issued by the German government. The acronym crops up in a futures contract used to trade medium-term German debt. The contract has a notional value of €100,000. On the Eurex exchange euro-bobl futures contracts exist for the months of March, June, September and December. The underlying […]

Tenor

Tenor has two main uses within finance. It is most commonly used to describe the amount of time left until the repayment of a loan or until a financial contract expires. It is similar to ‘maturity’ but tenor is traditionally used for non-standardised contracts, for example foreign exchange and interest rate swaps, whilst maturity is […]

Bonds

Another name for debt that can be traded There are many types of debt instrument under the “catch-all” title of Bonds. They are also referred to as “Fixed Income”. They include sovereign or government debt (e.g. UK gilts, US treasuries, etc.), Supranational (e.g. The World Bank, ECB) and bonds issued by companies or institutions to […]

Glossary

coupon