How Do UK Government Bonds Work?
Af Financial World News-redaktionen · Pædagogisk forklaring · Sådan henter vi renter
A gilt has a coupon, a maturity date and a market price. This guide walks through cash flows from purchase to redemption.
Guidens fulde briefing er på engelsk. Titel, resumé og navigation er på dit sprog, så du kan beslutte, om du vil læse videre.
How Do UK Government Bonds Work — the mechanics
A conventional gilt pays a fixed coupon twice a year and £100 of face value at maturity. Between those dates the price moves with interest rates, inflation news and gilt supply.
Cash-flow shape is simple: a semi-annual coupon (half the annual rate on £100 nominal) and £100 at the final gilt date. Leap years and actual/actual gilt day-count change the accrued amount by pennies, which still matter on a large ticket.
Ex-dividend periods mean you can buy a gilt and not receive the next coupon; the dirty price adjusts. Brokers show clean prices on screens; settlement uses dirty.
Strip markets exist for some gilts: coupons and principal trade separately. Most private investors never strip; they just need to know a strip is still UK credit, with different duration.
Official sources (UK Gilts)
Primary statistics and prospectuses for UK Gilts are published by the issuer, not by this newsroom. The labelled links at the end of this page go to those official sites (DMO, TreasuryDirect, Finanzagentur, MEF, AFT, SNB or ECB as relevant).
Our live board is a teaching overlay: dated prints, named sources, estimated ISIN lines. It is not a replacement for the issuer’s calendar.
Vigtige pointer
- Cash-flow shape is simple: a semi-annual coupon (half the annual rate on £100 nominal) and £100 at the final gilt date.
- Prices and yields change. When this site quotes them, it dates them on the live board.
- Credit of a G7 government in its own currency is not the same as a stable screen price, and not the same as a bank deposit.
FAQ
- How often do gilts pay coupons?
- Most conventional gilts pay twice a year. Index-linked gilts also pay semi-annually, with amounts scaled by inflation.