An expert spoke about the advantages and disadvantages of federal loan bonds

Federal loan bonds (OFZ) are securities through which the government borrows money from its citizens. At the same time, it, represented by the issuer - the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation - undertakes to return both the invested capital and the coupon - investment income, which is expressed as a percentage of the face value, explained Ruslan Spinka, Director of Sales and Customer Service Department of Fontvielle Investment Company. He told Izvestia about the advantages and disadvantages of OFZs.

"It is better to assess the investment efficiency of OFZ in the context of other instruments for capital preservation. Government bonds are a conservative instrument with a well-predictable yield. A savings deposit has similar qualities, so let's compare the strengths and weaknesses of federal loan bonds and deposit," the expert said.

According to him, if we compare only numbers, it may seem that against the background of tight monetary policy, the efficiency of savings deposits is higher than interest on bonds. In particular, on November 13, the Ministry of Finance held two auctions on placement of OFZ: OFZ-PD 26246 with a weighted average yield of 16.82% and OFZ-PD 26248 with a yield of 16.95%, the expert specified. At the same time, the main buyers at the auctions are banks, which invest in them, including attracted funds of the population.

"Savings deposits may have more favorable conditions, but there is a nuance: the deposit allows you to fix a high yield for a short period of time, maximum - a few years. Then everything will depend on the key rate, if it decreases, then deposits with savings accounts will cease to be so attractive," Spinka pointed out.

At the same time, classical bonds have a constant yield, i.e. the terms and conditions in force on them may remain valid for five, ten, fifteen years, depending on the maturity of the issue.

According to the expert, when evaluating any investment instrument with a significant investment horizon, it is important to keep in mind how the change of market conditions will affect its efficiency. He noted that sooner or later the Bank of Russia will move to the easing of monetary policy. In this case, when the key rate is reduced, the yield on bank deposits and savings accounts will decrease, while the cost of OFZ with a high coupon will begin to grow.

"That is, it will be possible not to hold government bonds until their maturity, but to plan their sale after the key rate reduction and get income from this transaction," Spinka emphasized.

In addition, the popularity of federal loan bonds with floating yields - they are called floaters - is growing rapidly at present. As the expert explained, the peculiarity of such OFZs is that the coupon is not fixed for the entire circulation time, as in conventional bonds, but changes in accordance with some indicator, most often the key rate.

"On the cycle of monetary policy tightening, the coupon yield of floaters is growing, so now it is profitable to invest capital in this instrument," he said.

At the same time, the disadvantages of bonds in the monetary tightening cycle, which is now underway, include their poor performance on a short investment horizon.

"If the key rate rises, the cost of OFZ with a constant coupon goes down, so you should not buy government bonds for a short period of time. It is rational to use them only for medium and long-term investments," Spinka explained.

Other investment instruments allow to get income quickly. According to him, for example, you can turn to money market funds based on repo transactions with the central counterparty. Investment income on them is accrued daily, there are no problems with withdrawal of funds from large funds.

"In addition, the corporate bond market gives more attractive yields than OFZ on the medium-term horizon. Companies attracting debt financing compete both with each other and with bank products for the attention of Russians, so the terms are often more favorable, giving a premium to the key rate. However, one should not forget about risks, it is important to take into account the credit rating of the issuer," Spinka added.

Summarizing, he noted that federal loan bonds are a reliable and effective investment instrument, which is suitable for investments with a medium and long-term horizon.

The information in the material is not an investment recommendation.

Earlier, on October 25, the head of the center of brokerage operations of MTS Bank Julia Gorokhova said that you can start investing with 100 rubles, but do not immediately invest large sums. The optimal attitude to money is to form a portfolio, which is rebalanced depending on the market situation and a person's needs, she specified.