What are “benchmark bonds” and “global bonds” issued by the World Bank?
Benchmark bonds issued by the World Bank are designed to offer high secondary market liquidity and spread performance to the institutional investor. Benchmark bonds are backed by the commitment of the World Bank´s underwriting partners in the financial community to carry out active secondary trading and make markets throughout the life of an issue. The World Bank regularly monitors the spread quotations of its benchmark issues versus the underlying government issues in order to ensure consistent market pricing and superior performance. Benchmark securities are sometimes issued in “global” bond format in order to allow the securities to be placed simultaneously with investors in all major international capital markets. Global bonds typically clear through several settlements systems such as Euroclear and Clearstream in Europe, and the Federal Reserve Bank or the Depository Trust Company bookentry system in the United States. Due to their worldwide placement, global benchmark bonds are o
