Perpetual

subordinated debt In finance, subordinated debt (also known as subordinated loan, subordinated bond, subordinated debenture or junior debt) is debt which ranks after other debts if a company falls into liquidation or bankruptcy. Such debt is referred to as 'subordi ...

is debt (bonds) with no

maturity date Maturity or immaturity may refer to: * Adulthood or age of majority * Maturity model ** Capability Maturity Model, in software engineering, a model representing the degree of formality and optimization of processes in an organization * Development ...

for the return of principal, never needs to be redeemed by the issuer, and thus pay coupon interest continually until bought back (hence, "perpetual"). Like other subordinated debt, it has claims after senior debt (hence "subordinated") in the event of default. Perpetual subordinated debt is not "straight debt", rather it is close to, or in some cases identical to,

preferred shares Preferred stock (also called preferred shares, preference shares, or simply preferreds) is a component of share capital that may have any combination of features not possessed by common stock, including properties of both an equity and a debt inst ...

, paying a fixed-rate coupon similar to preferred shares' fixed-rate dividend. Perpetual debt comes in two types: cumulative and noncumulative. Interest on cumulative perpetual debt accrues if payments are missed. For noncumulative perpetual debt, if payments are missed, they do not accrue and the

cash flow A cash flow is a real or virtual movement of money: *a cash flow in its narrow sense is a payment (in a currency), especially from one central bank account to another; the term 'cash flow' is mostly used to describe payments that are expected ...

is lost.Dictionary of Finance and Investment Terms, p. 529 Noncumulative perpetual debt is almost identical to typical preferred shares (most of which are noncumulative), the only difference being that preferred shares often have the option of conversion to

common shares Common stock is a form of corporate equity ownership, a type of security. The terms voting share and ordinary share are also used frequently outside of the United States. They are known as equity shares or ordinary shares in the UK and other Co ...

, while perpetual debt generally does not. Because noncumulative perpetual debt can be counted as

Tier 2 capital Tier 2 capital, or supplementary capital, includes a number of important and legitimate constituents of a bank's capital requirement.By definition of Bank for International Settlements. These forms of banking capital were largely standardized in the ...

(supplementary capital), it is generally issued by banks as a way to maintain

capital requirement A capital requirement (also known as regulatory capital, capital adequacy or capital base) is the amount of capital a bank or other financial institution has to have as required by its financial regulator. This is usually expressed as a capital ad ...

s (i.e.

capital adequacy ratio Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) is also known as ''Capital to Risk (Weighted) Assets Ratio'' (CRAR), is the ratio of a bank's capital to its risk. National regulators track a bank's CAR to ensure that it can absorb a reasonable amount of loss and co ...

or CAR). The debt is generally callable by the issuer at some point. The first yuan-denominated perpetual subordinated bond was issued by Ananda Development PCL in 2013 in the

dim sum bond Dim sum bonds are bonds issued outside of China but denominated in Chinese renminbi, rather than the local currency. They are named after dim sum, a popular style of cuisine in southern China. History and use The first dim sum bond was issued b ...

market.

References

{{Reflist Dictionary of Finance and Investment Terms, by John Downes and Jordan Elliot Goodman, published by Barron's Corporate finance Debt