PRE-FUNDED BOND

Bonds issued by a government agency that buys U.S. government securities to pledge as collateral for the bond issue. Pre-funded bonds are issued by municipalities that wants to attain a higher credit rating for their debt. Since state-issued bonds are not pledged by the full faith of the U.S government, the underlying collateral minimizes the risk of default. The pre-funded bond and the U.S. securities tend to have the same maturity.