A foreign bond is a bond which is issued by a company or government agency in one country, but is offered to investors in other countries in the currencies of those countries.
Example: A company domiciled in the United States issues bonds and offers them to investors in Switzerland in Swiss francs.
Foreign bonds provide borrowers with a way of accessing new capital markets or obtaining foreign currency, while providing investors with an avenue for investing in foreign companies in their local currency.
Foreign bonds which are sold in U.S. dollars in the United States are known as “Yankee bonds”. Foreign bonds sold in Japanese yen in Japan are known as “samurai bonds” and foreign bonds sold in the United Kingdom in British pounds are referred to as “bulldog bonds.”
Bonds which are denominated by a currency other than that of the jurisdiction in which they are issued are known as eurobonds. Collectively, foreign bonds and eurobonds are often referred to as international bonds because they allow investors to access debt markets outside of the countries in which they are domiciled.
More on this topic:
Swiss securities broker comparison
