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A eurobond is an international
bond Bond or bonds may refer to: Common meanings * Bond (finance), a type of debt security * Bail bond, a commercial third-party guarantor of surety bonds in the United States * Chemical bond, the attraction of atoms, ions or molecules to form chemical ...
that is denominated in a
currency A currency, "in circulation", from la, currens, -entis, literally meaning "running" or "traversing" is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general ...
not native to the country where it is issued. They are also called external bonds. They are usually categorised according to the currency in which they are issued: eurodollar, euroyen, and so on. The name became somewhat misleading with the advent of the
euro currency The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens ...
in 1999; eurobonds were created in the 1960s, before the euro existed, and thus the etymology is to "European bonds" rather than "bonds denominated in the Euro currency". The eurobond market was traditionally centered in the
City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...
, with
Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
also being a primary listing center for these instruments. Eurobonds have since expanded and are traded throughout the world, with
Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
and
Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...
being notable markets as well. These bonds were originally created to escape regulation: by trading in US dollars in London, certain financial requirements of the US government unpopular with bankers could be evaded, and London was happy to welcome the business to grow their own finance sector. Since then, eurobonds have grown to be a more general way to perform financial operations in a currency while using the regulatory framework of a separate country.


Terminology

Eurobonds are named after the currency they are denominated in. For example, Euroyen and Eurodollar bonds are denominated in Japanese yen and American dollars, respectively. Eurobonds were originally in bearer bond form, payable to the bearer and were also free of
withholding tax Tax withholding, also known as tax retention, Pay-as-You-Go, Pay-as-You-Earn, Tax deduction at source or a ''Prélèvement à la source'', is income tax paid to the government by the payer of the income rather than by the recipient of the incom ...
. The bank paid the holder of the coupon the interest payment due.


History

The first eurobonds were issued in 1963 by Italian motorway network Autostrade, which issued 60,000 bearer bonds at a value of US$250 each for a fifteen-year loan of US$15m, paying an annual coupon of 5.5%. The issue was arranged by London bankers S. G. Warburg. and listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. Allen & Overy, one of London's Magic Circle of law firms, were the lawyers on the transaction. Their conception was largely a reaction against the imposition of the
Interest Equalization Tax Interest Equalization Tax was a domestic tax measure implemented by U.S. President John F. Kennedy in July 1963. It was meant to make it less profitable for U.S. investors to invest abroad by taxing the purchase of foreign securities. The design o ...
in the United States. The goal of the tax was to reduce the US balance-of-payment deficit by reducing American demand for foreign securities. Americans could bypass the costly tax and Europeans could keep open access to US capital.


Electronic form

Like other commonly traded securities, virtually all Eurobonds now trade in dematerialized electronic
book-entry Book entry is a system of tracking ownership of securities where no certificate is given to investors. Several terms are often used interchangeably with "book entry" shares including "paperless shares", "electronic shares", "digital shares", "digit ...
form, rather than physical form. The bonds are held and traded within one of the clearing systems (
Euroclear Euroclear is a Belgium-based financial services company that specializes in the settlement of securities transactions, as well as the safekeeping and asset servicing of these securities. It was founded in 1968 as part of J.P. Morgan & Co. to set ...
and Clearstream being the most common).''Corporate Bonds and Structured Financial Products'', Moorad Choudhry, 213. Coupons are paid electronically via the clearing systems to the holder of the eurobond (or their nominee account).


References


Further reading

* Bonds in foreign currencies Capital markets of Europe International finance {{finance-stub