Gilt-edged securities

Gilt-edged securities are bonds issued by some national governments. The term is of British origin, and then referred to the debt securities issued by the Bank of England on behalf of His/Her Majesty’s Treasury, whose paper certificates had a gilt (or gilded) edge. Hence, they are known as gilt-edged securities, or gilts for short. Today the term is used in the United Kingdom as well as some Commonwealth nations, such as South Africa and India. However, when reference is made to "gilts", what is generally meant is UK gilts, unless otherwise specified.

Colloquially, the term "gilt-edged" is sometimes used to denote high-grade securities, consequently carrying low yields, as opposed to relatively riskier, below investment-grade securities.

In 2002 the data collected by the British Office for National Statistics revealed that about two-thirds of all UK gilts are held by insurance companies and pension funds. Since 2009 large quantities of gilts have been created and repurchased by the Bank of England under its policy of quantitative easing, and in recent years overseas investors have also been attracted to gilts by their "safe haven" status.

The term "gilt account" is also a term used by the Reserve Bank of India to refer to a constituent account maintained by a custodian bank for maintenance and servicing of dematerialized government securities owned by a retail customer.

The first fund raising that could be considered a gilt issue was in 1694 when King William III borrowed £1.2m to fund a war with France via the newly created Bank of England. The term "gilt" however would not be used until the late 19th century for these types of debt securities.

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