Foreign Bondholders Protective Council


In 1933, under Title II of the Securities Act of 1933, and at the request of the United States Department of State, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, by Executive Order, created the Foreign Bondholders Protective Council to assist US citizens and creditors in collecting on defaulted foreign government bonds. Raymond B. Stevens was the Council's first president. Prior to formation of the private, non-profit FBPC, no permanent organization existed to negotiate settlements with defaulting debtors. The Council was particularly active before World War II, then again in the 1970s and 1980s. As recently as 2002, both the Department of State and the Securities and Exchange Commission recommended that creditors who hold more than 18,000 Chinese government bonds issued between 1913 and 1942 seek the FBPC's assistance in negotiating fair settlements. The FBPC works similarly to the UK's Corporation of Foreign Bondholders.