Gilt-edged securities

Gilt-edged securities, also referred to as gilts, are bonds issued by the UK Government. The term is of British origin, and referred to the debt securities issued by the Bank of England on behalf of His Majesty's Treasury, whose paper certificates had a gilt (or gilded) edge.

In 2002, the data collected by the British Office for National Statistics revealed that at that time about two-thirds of all UK gilts were 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.

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