Commercial Paper and Its Features

Commercial paper can be defined as a short term, unsecured promissory notes which are issued at discount to face value by well known companies that are financially strong and enjoy a high credit rating. Here are some of the features of commercial paper –

1. They are negotiable by endorsement and delivery and hence they are flexible as well as liquid instruments. Commercial paper can be issued with varying maturities as required by the issuing company.

2. They are unsecured instruments as they are not backed by any assets of the company which is issuing the commercial paper.

3. They can be sold either directly by the issuing company to the investors or else issuer can sell it to the dealer who in turn will sell it into the market.

4. It helps the highly rated company in the sense they can get cheaper funds from commercial paper rather than borrowing from the banks.

However use of commercial paper is limited to only blue chip companies and from the point of view of investors though commercial paper provides higher returns for him they are unsecured and hence investor should invest in commercial paper according to his risk -return profile.