Financial markets/ Financial markets : Debt Securities

Overview
Issuing debt securities has increasingly become a means of marshaling capital. Since the economic meltdown of 1997, Thailand has been forced to float its currency, and many financial institutions and private businesses have encountered problems of monetary confidence. The government has had to issue bonds in order to compensate for budget shortfalls and to stimulate economic recovery, as private businesses have begun to issue bonds and debentures in order to build up capital in addition to taking out loans with financial institutions. Debt securities can be divided into many small equal units giving equal rates of return and can be bought and sold until the date of maturity. There are slight differences in the way debt securities are referred to in Thailand and the way they are referred to internationally. Internationally, in general, ;bond” refers to debt securities that are protected by collateral, that is, secured bonds, and ;debenture” refers to those that are not so protected, unsecured bonds. In Thailand, debt securities issued by the government are typically referred to as ;bonds” (phanthabat) while debt securities issued by private sector entities are referred to as ;debentures” (hunku).