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Collateral: Definition & Meaning | Bondfish

What it means

When a bond is backed by collateral, it is called secured. The pledged asset acts as a safety net: if the issuer defaults, bondholders can enforce their claim on the collateral to recover part or all of what they are owed, ahead of unsecured lenders. A bond with no such backing is unsecured, and its holders rely only on the issuer’s general creditworthiness and its place in the repayment queue.

Collateral takes many forms in the European market. Covered bonds — such as German Pfandbriefe or Italian obbligazioni bancarie garantite — are backed by ring-fenced pools of mortgages or public-sector loans. Asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities are built directly on pools of collateral, and in secured lending, banks routinely pledge portfolios of assets to the European Central Bank in exchange for funding.

Why it matters for bond investors

Collateral changes the risk you are actually taking. Two bonds from the same issuer can behave very differently in a default: the secured one has an asset to fall back on, the unsecured one does not. Historically that gap is large — Moody’s long-run data show senior secured bonds recovering roughly 60% of face value in default, against under 50% for senior unsecured and below 30% for subordinated debt.

Because collateral improves the expected recovery, secured bonds usually pay a lower yield than unsecured bonds from the same borrower — you accept a little less income in exchange for a stronger claim. Before buying, it is worth checking whether a bond is secured, what backs it, and how senior your claim ranks. You can filter by seniority, credit rating and yield with the Bondfish bond screener to compare secured and unsecured options side by side.

Related terms

This definition is for general information only and is not investment advice. Bond investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal. Recovery figures cited are historical averages (Moody’s Investors Service) and are not a prediction of future recoveries.