Federal notes ("Bobls")

Profile

Maturity: 5 years

Income: fixed annual interest payment

Redemption: at par value

Price risk: medium

Issuer risk: very low

Federal notes (Bobls), which have maturities of five years, represent the middle of the German Government yield curve.

Bobls as a proportion of currently tradeable Government debt

Primary market

As in 2021, two new series are to be issued in 2022: Series 185 in January and Series 186 in June. The new issues of €4 bn will be followed by five reopenings of €3 or €4 bn each.

In the 2022 annual issuance calendar, €43 billion or around 10% of the annual auction volume is expected to be accounted for by federal notes, €6 billion less than in 2021.

Bobls as a proportion of total issuance volume in 2022

In contrast to the issuance volumes of nominal and money market securities which already had been fixed within the issuance calendar for the whole calendar year, the issuance amount of the inflation-linked securities is specified only right before issuance. So in this chart their share increases over the course of the year with each new issuance of an inflation-linked security whereby the shares of the other Federal securites decrease slightly. Similarly, the issuance volumes from syndicates and the increases of conventional twins of Green Federal securities into the Federal Government's own holdings are only included on the date of issuance. They lift the issuance volume - but not the auction volume.

Secondary market

As at the end of 2021, Bobls accounted for € 217 bn of tradable Federal securities in circulation. Thereof each security comprised a volume between € 18.5 to 25 bn.

In 2021, Bobls made up about 15 % (€ 715 bn) of the trading volume in German Government securities of the Bund Issues Auction Group. 2020 their share amounted to about 16 % (€ 694 bn).

Currently tradeable five-year Federal notes

The terms of issue for Federal notes are available within the security master data after clicking on the corresponding ISIN.