Callable Bond Definition

A callable bond is a bond whose indenture includes one or more call provisions providing for the early retirement (“call” or “redemption”) of the bond. Call provisions may provide for optional redemption, extraordinary redemption or sinking fund redemption. When included in a bond’s indenture, extraordinary and sinking fund redemption are “boilerplate” provisions that usually afford the issuer little opportunity to benefit at investors’ expense. Form an investment standpoint, it is optional redemption that is interesting or a cause for concern. This article focuses exclusively on callable bonds with optional redemption provisions. Callable bonds pay a slightly higher interest rate to compensate for the additional risk. Some callable bonds also have a feature that will return a higher par value when called; that is, an investor may get back $1,050 rather than $1,000 if the bond is called.

The issuer of such bonds is allowed to pay back its obligation to the bondholder before maturity. The issuer can buy back the bonds by paying the call price together with its accrued interest up to the date . In effect, the bonds are not actually bought back and kept; rather, it gets canceled and the issuer issues new bonds. Investors receive higher coupon payments with callable bonds as compared to other bonds. These extraordinary event clauses can be either mandatory or optional, meaning the occurrence of an event can either require the company to redeem the bonds or they can open up that option to the company.

Callable Bond Law And Legal Definition

For example, Mr. A owns a bond of GOOGLE company with a face value of Rs. 1000 at a 5% zero-coupon rate. This YTM measure is more suitable for analyzing the non-callable bonds as it does not include the impact of call features. So the two additional measures that may provide a more accurate version of bonds are Yield to Call and Yield to worst. The call date on a callable bond varies with the issuer, but it can be found in the bond’s prospectus.

In this era of low interest rates, callable bonds by companies and cities have gained in popularity. In 2015, $1 trillion in callable corporate bonds were issued, compared to $234 billion in 2005. Some corporate bonds and most municipal bonds are callable, where the issuer has flexibility when borrowing in terms of loan length and payment amount. The discretionary nature of the call provision is put in place to protect the lending party should it have reason to believe that it may not receive full repayment of interest and principal by maturity. Others posit that since the call provision is understood by both parties from the start, the affected parties willingly assume this risk. Words of the masculine gender shall be deemed and construed to include correlative words of the feminine and neuter genders. All references to applicable provisions of Law shall be deemed to include any and all amendments thereto.

What Is A Bond?

Government Obligation which is specified in clause above and held by such bank for the account of the holder of such depositary receipt, or with respect to any specific payment of principal of or interest on any U.S. Government Obligation or the specific payment of principal or interest evidenced by such depositary receipt. Callable bonds are redeemable bonds that the issuer can call at the specified callable dates at a specified rate. Such a financial instrument will allow the business organization that issues such callable bonds to pay off their debt early. When the interest rates are reduced, the business organization may choose to call their bond. After the business organizations have called for bonds, they can further borrow them again at a more favorable rate. Therefore, it can be stated that such bonds will help in compensating the investors by offering more attractive interest rates or coupon rates.

Harold Averkamp has worked as a university accounting instructor, accountant, and consultant for more than 25 years. He is the sole author of all the materials on AccountingCoach.com. For that, the bank has around $9 billion at its disposal, plus another $73.6 billion in callable capital at the end of March.

Sinking Fund Redemption

The price behaviour of a callable bond is the opposite of that of puttable bond. Since call option and put option are not mutually exclusive, a bond may have both options embedded. A coupon rate is the amount of annual interest income paid to a bondholder, based on the face value of the bond. In certain cases, mainly in the high-yield debt market, there can be a substantial premium. Even more appealing for borrowers, the loans are callable from day one, giving companies great flexibility to refinance on the spot if rates decline. If the market rate is less than the coupon rate, the bonds will probably be sold for an amount greater than the bonds’ value.

Equity and fixed income products are financial instruments that have very important differences every financial analyst should know. Equity investments generally consist of stocks or stock funds, while fixed income securities generally consist of corporate or government bonds. Zero-coupon bonds, also known as “Strips,” are bonds that do not make periodic interest payments (in other words, there’s no coupon).

Where Do I Find Out If A Bond Is Callable?

The issuer will usually only redeem a bond when interest rates fall, so that it can issue replacement bonds at a lower interest rate, thereby reducing its interest expense. Buying a callable bond may not appear any riskier than buying any other bond. A callable bond exposes an investor to “reinvestment risk,” or the risk of not being able to reinvest the returns generated by an investment.

This generally means that the bond’s market and contract rates are equal to each other, meaning that there is no bond premium or discount. Callability — Some bonds give the issuer the right to repay the bond before the maturity date on the call dates. To be detailed, the bond issuer will repurchase bonds with callability.

Dictionary

Moreover, if you are counting on the steady stream of income from the coupon, you might find that stream dried up, and you might not be able to find a suitable replacement investment for that cash. If you are considering a callable bond, the most significant factor is interest rates. What do you expect to happen to interest rates between now and the call date? If you think rates will rise or hold steady, you need not worry about the bond being called. However, if you think rates may fall, you should be paid for the additional risk in a callable bond. As the investor, you will receive the original principal of the bond, but you will have difficulty reinvesting that principal and matching your initial 4% return.

• The call premium by start of 20Y2 will be 3%, so the applicable call price is $1,030.
• Call risk is the risk faced by a holder of a callable bond that a bond issuer will redeem the issue prior to maturity.
• In other words, on the call dates, the issuer has the right, but not the obligation, to buy back the bonds from the bondholders at the call price.
• The major risk of these bonds is if borrowers repay their mortgages in a “refinancing boom,” it could have an impact on the investment’s average life and potentially its yield.
• This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional.
• A bond is redeemable if, before its maturity date, the issuer returns the investor’s principle and stops future payments of interest.
• In the case of callable bonds, an issuer might exercise the provision following a decline in the prevailing level of interest rates, subsequently issuing new bonds at a lower, cheaper rate.

Due to lower duration, it is less sensitive to interest rate movements. However, the possibility of redemption before maturity exposes it to a situation in which the bond-holder might have to reinvest the redemption proceeds at lower rate thereby resulting in significant reinvestment risk. A callable bond may have a call protection i.e. a provision that stops the issuer from paying off the bond during an initial period, say 5 years. The call price, the price callable bond definition at which the issuer may pay off the bond, may be higher than the face value of the bond and may decline as the bond nears its maturity date. The excess of call price over the face value is called call premium. Regular callable bonds have predetermined call dates accompanied with the premium price the issuer will pay on each call date. For coupon bonds, the bond issuer is supposed to pay both the par value of the bond and the last coupon payment at maturity.

In layman’s terms, once an investor has purchased a European option, even if the underlying security’s price moves in a favourable direction, the investor cannot take advantage by exercising the option early. They are generally called at a premium (i.e price higher than the par value) This is due to additional risk investor takes. In this case, if as on 31st November 2018 the interest rates fell to 8%, the company may call the bonds and repay them and take debt at 8%, thereby saving 2%.

• An investor may be interested in holding a callable bond if it expects the interest rates to increase.
• In this era of low interest rates, callable bonds by companies and cities have gained in popularity.
• The preferred shares pay a dividend of 10 percent and are callable after three years at a 10 percent premium.
• High-yield bonds are bonds that are rated below investment grade by the credit rating agencies.
• Generally, this is the date on which the money you’ve loaned the issuer is repaid to you (assuming the bond doesn’t have any call or redemption features).

The bondholder must turn in the bond to get back the principal, and no further interest is paid. Higher coupon rate or rate of interest – The main advantage of the callable bond is that it provides a high coupon rate to the investors. Unlike non-callable bonds, the issuer can redeem the bond when the coupon rate declines and re-issue such bonds once the favorable rate of return reached. This is because the investors are provided with a high rate of interest by the issuing company. With fixed-rate bonds, the coupon rate is set at the time the bond is issued and does not change. Most bonds make interest payments semiannually, although some bonds offer monthly and quarterly payments.

Structuring Of Call Options

A bond that can be called by the issuer prior to its maturity, on certain call dates, at call prices. On the call dates, the issuer has the right, but not the obligation, to buy back the bonds from the bond holders at the call price. Technically speaking, the bonds are not really bought and held by the issuer, but cancelled immediately or no longer accrue interest at the original coupon rate. If the bond is callable, the company can borrow money from the bank at 6% and pay back the investors.

For this perceived risk, investors demand a higher coupon rate than other bonds. Callable bonds offer some benefits to issuers and investors, though.

However, callable bonds come with an embedded call feature that investors are aware of. Is the lowest yield an investor expects while investing in a callable bond. A callable bond is a type of bond that an issuer can redeem or “call back” before its maturity date. The issuer does this by paying a call premium over the par value to the bondholder. A bond is redeemable if, before its maturity date, the issuer returns the investor’s principle and stops future payments of interest. The largest market for callable bonds is that of issues from government sponsored entities.