Bonds are debt instruments issued by corporations or governments. The primary purpose of issuing bonds for these entities is to collect finance for their operations. Mostly, the investor gets periodic interest payments for their investment. The repayment of the principal amount depends on the type of bond. Usually, bond issuers pay the principal amount at its maturity. Sometimes, however, they may also pay it with periodic interest payments.
What is an Amortizing Bond?
An amortizing bond, or amortized bond, is a type of debt instrument in which the issuer repays the principal amount periodically. It is different from other bonds where investors get their invested amount at the bond’s maturity. With the periodic principal payments, investors also get their interest payments. These bonds also have a maturity date, which defines their lifetime.
There are various types of amortizing bonds in practical transactions. For example, fixed-rate residential mortgages are a prevalent example. It is because these come with monthly interest and principal amount payments over their lifetime. With each repayment, the mix of interest and principal differs. Therefore, investors don’t get a constant percentage of principal payments.
The opposite of amortizing bonds is balloon or bullet bonds. These are bonds where investors only get periodic interest payments. They do not receive any principal repayment until the bond reaches its maturity.
How do Amortizing Bonds work?
An amortizing bond comes with an amortization schedule. These are similar to leases in their structure, where both principal and interest payments occur periodically. The amortization schedule for these bonds defines the repayment course that the issuer will follow. Similarly, amortizing bonds come with an interest rate like other bonds.
In the case of amortizing bonds, the interest rate depends on the principal amount. Since the issuer repays the principal amount, the investors will not receive a fixed interest amount each period. Therefore, at the start of the amortizing bond, the interest payments will be the highest as the principal amount will be the maximum. As the bond reaches its maturity date, the interest payments will fall.
However, amortizing bonds usually come with fixed payments to the investor. But the fixed amount includes a different mix of interests and principal repayments. At the start of the loan, the majority share of the payment will be interest payments. At maturity, the larger portion will be principal repayments. Once the issuer makes the last repayment, the bond’s principal amount will reach zero.
What are the advantages of Amortizing Bonds?
Amortizing bonds can have various advantages. Firstly, they come with reduced credit risks for the investor. Since the investor gets principal repayments each period, their risk related to the principal amount keeps decreasing. Similarly, bond amortization reduces the bond’s duration, also lowering its sensitivity to interest rate risks.
Amortizing bonds are also beneficial for the issuer. With other types of bonds, issuers have to pay fixed interest over the bond’s lifetime. The fixed interest rate depends on the full principal amount. Therefore, they are more expensive. However, with amortizing bonds, issuers only pay interest on the remaining amount.
Conclusion
Amortizing bonds are debt instruments in which issuers repay a portion of the principal amount periodically. The interest payments on these bonds depend on the principal amount remaining. Therefore, the interest payments will be higher at the start of the bond’s lifecycle and lower near maturity.
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