The Bonded Score is designed to help investors compare bonds more intelligently, instead of looking at long lists of bonds without context.
Many investors start by looking at yield. That is understandable, but yield alone does not tell the full story. A bond with a high yield may also come with higher credit risk, weaker liquidity, a more complex structure, or a less attractive resale profile.
The Bonded Score brings several important bond characteristics together into one simple score. It is not a credit rating, and it is not an investment recommendation. It is a comparison tool designed to help investors quickly understand which bonds may deserve a closer look.
You can see the Bonded Score in the rightmost column of the bond table. When you click on an individual bond, you can also see a more detailed breakdown of the score.
1) What the Bonded Score measures
The Bonded Score is a proprietary composite score based on five key criteria:
- Issuer Profile
- Relative Value
- Liquidity
- Retail Accessibility
- Instrument Complexity
Each category is designed to capture a different part of the bond investment decision.
The goal is not simply to find the highest-yielding bond. The goal is to identify bonds where the balance between yield, risk, accessibility, and structure looks more attractive.
2) Issuer Profile
The Issuer Profile score looks at the quality and risk profile of the borrower.
In simple terms, this asks:
Who is borrowing the money, and how strong is the issuer?
For government bonds, this may include the country's credit rating profile, and other factors. For banks and companies, this may include the issuer's credit rating, systematic importance, or capital strength. Likewise, issuers which have a significant government shareholding are typically associated with stronger credit profiles.
A stronger issuer profile generally improves the Bonded Score. A weaker, unrated, or more opaque issuer profile may reduce the score.
It is also important to remember that the issuer and the bond instrument are not always the same risk. For example, a bank may be financially strong overall, but a Tier 2 capital bond from that bank can still be riskier than its senior debt. Tier 2 bonds rank below senior debt and can absorb losses earlier if the bank comes under stress.
3) Relative Value
The Relative Value score looks at whether the bond's yield appears attractive compared with similar bonds.
In simple terms, this asks:
Is the bond offering enough yield for the risk and maturity?
A bond is more useful to compare when it is measured against relevant peers. For example, a short-dated investment-grade government bond should not be compared directly with a subordinated bank capital bond.
Bonded looks at the bond's yield relative to bonds with similar characteristics, such as issuer type, credit risk, maturity, and structure.
A bond may score well on relative value if it offers a higher yield than comparable bonds without taking on clearly worse risk. A bond may score lower if its yield is below peers or does not appear to compensate investors enough for the risks involved.
This helps investors avoid one of the most common mistakes in bond investing: assuming that the highest yield is automatically the best opportunity.
4) Liquidity
The Liquidity score looks at how easy the bond may be to buy or sell in the secondary market.
In simple terms, this asks:
If I want to sell this bond before maturity, how difficult or expensive could that be?
Liquidity can depend on several factors, including the amount outstanding, trading activity, visibility of prices, and bid-ask spread.
A larger bond issue may be easier to trade than a very small issue, although size alone does not guarantee liquidity. A wide bid-ask spread can also make resale more expensive, because the price at which you can sell may be meaningfully lower than the price at which you can buy.
This is especially important for retail investors. If you plan to hold a bond until maturity, liquidity may be less important. But if you may need to sell before maturity, liquidity and resale risk matter much more.
A bond with weak liquidity may still be interesting, but investors should understand that exiting the position could be more difficult or costly.
5) Retail Accessibility
The Retail Accessibility score looks at whether the bond is practical for a private investor to access.
In simple terms, this asks:
Can a retail investor realistically buy this bond?
The most important factor is usually the minimum denomination. Some bonds can be bought in small amounts, such as €100, €1,000, or €10,000. Others may have minimum denominations of €100,000 or more, which makes them less accessible for many private investors.
A bond with a low minimum investment amount and simple terms will usually score better on retail accessibility. A bond with a high minimum denomination or limited broker access may score lower, even if the issuer itself is strong.
6) Instrument Complexity
The Instrument Complexity score looks at how simple or difficult the bond is to understand.
In simple terms, this asks:
Is this a straightforward bond, or does it contain features that require extra caution?
A plain fixed-rate bond with a clear maturity date is usually easier to understand. More complex bonds may include features such as call options, subordination, floating coupons, reset mechanisms, perpetual structures, or bank capital features.
Complexity does not automatically make a bond bad. Sometimes investors are paid extra yield for accepting more complex terms. But complexity does increase the need for due diligence.
For example, a callable bond may be repaid early by the issuer. A Tier 2 bank capital bond ranks below senior debt and can be more exposed in a stress scenario. These features can affect the investor's return and risk.
The Bonded Score reflects this by giving higher scores to simpler, more transparent instruments and lower scores to bonds where the structure is more difficult to assess.
7) How to read the score
The Bonded Score is shown as a percentage.
A higher score generally means that the bond performs better across the Bonded framework. However, it does not mean the bond is risk-free or suitable for every investor.
A lower score does not always mean the bond should be avoided. It may simply mean that the bond has trade-offs, such as lower liquidity, higher complexity, a weaker issuer profile, or less attractive relative value.
The score should be used as a starting point for comparison; a useful way to read the score is:
- High score: the bond appears stronger across several practical criteria.
- Medium score: the bond may be reasonable, but there are important trade-offs.
- Low score: the bond may require more caution or may only suit investors with specific objectives or higher risk tolerance.
8) What happens when you click on a bond
When you click on a bond in the table, Bonded opens a more detailed bond view.
This view is designed to help you understand the bond beyond the headline numbers.
You can see:
- a short issuer description;
- country and issuer type;
- key bond details;
- available market data;
- implied coupon payments, where available;
- the overall Bonded Score;
- the score breakdown by category;
- and a short verdict.
The issuer description gives a quick overview of who is borrowing the money. This is useful because a bond is ultimately only as strong as the borrower behind it.
The implied coupon payment section helps investors understand the income profile of the bond in more practical terms. Instead of looking only at the coupon percentage, investors can better understand what the bond may pay based on its terms and investment amount.
The score breakdown shows how the bond performs across the five main Bonded criteria: Issuer Profile, Relative Value, Liquidity, Retail Accessibility, and Instrument Complexity.
This is important because two bonds can have the same overall score for different reasons. One bond may have a strong issuer profile but weaker liquidity. Another may offer attractive relative value but have a more complex structure.
9) Verdict
The Verdict is a short summary of the main points a retail investor should notice.
It may highlight factors such as:
- whether the bond offers attractive yield versus peers;
- whether the issuer has a strong or weaker credit profile;
- whether the bond is more complex, such as a Tier 2 capital instrument;
- whether the minimum investment is retail-friendly;
- whether liquidity or resale risk may be a concern;
- whether the bond is ESG-labelled;
- or whether there are other important watchpoints, such as controversies in recent years.
In summary, the Verdict is there to explain the most important drivers behind the bond's profile in plain language.
10) Why the Bonded Score is useful
The Bonded Score helps investors move beyond simple bond searching.
Instead of asking only:
"Which bond has the highest yield?"
Bonded helps investors ask:
"Which bond offers a better balance of yield, risk, accessibility, liquidity, and structure?"
That is a more useful question for private investors.
A high-yield bond may look attractive at first glance, but the Bonded Score may reveal that the bond has weak liquidity, a complex structure, or a less attractive issuer profile.
Similarly, a lower-yielding bond may still be interesting if it has stronger credit quality, better accessibility, and simpler terms.
The Bonded Score is therefore best used as a comparison tool. It helps investors identify which bonds may deserve further research and which ones may require more caution.
11) Final note
The Bonded Score is not investment advice, an investment recommendation, or a personal suitability assessment.
It is a structured framework designed to make bond comparison easier.
Bond data may not always be complete, accurate, or up to date. Prices, yields, ratings, bid-ask spreads, call assumptions, and market conditions can change.
Before investing, investors should always verify the final bond terms, check current pricing with their broker, understand the issuer and bond structure, consider liquidity and resale risk, and make sure the bond fits their own objectives, time horizon, and risk tolerance.
Used in that way, the Bonded Score can help investors make more structured and confident fixed-income comparisons.