A medium-term note (MTN) is a debt note that usually matures (is paid back) in 5–10 years, but the term may be less than one year or as long as 100 years. They can be issued on a fixed or floating coupon basis. In opposite to conventional bonds, these can be offered continuously through various brokers, instead of issuing the full amount at once. Also, in contrast to conventional bonds market, the agent (typically investment bank) in MTN market is not obliged to underwrite the notes for the issuer and the agent is thus not guaranteed funds. Floating rate medium-term notes can be as simple as paying the holder a coupon linked to Euribor +/- basis points or can be more complex structured notes linked, for example, to swap rates, treasuries, indices, etc. The amount of the issues usually ranges from $100 million to $1 billion. In the recent years, MTNs have become major source of financing in international financial markets, both in US and EU. Issuance MTNs can be issued with a fixed maturity date (noncallable) or can be issued with embedded call or put options and triggers where the notes will redeem early based on certain parameters. MTNs are most commonly issued as senior, noncallable unsecured debt of investment grade credit rated entities which have fixed rates. MTNs offer more flexibility to the issuer and investor both in terms of structure and documentation. Issuance of MTNs to investors based in the US (under the SEC rule 415) requires a separate US MTN program approved by the SEC (or relying on some exemption from registration). When they are issued to investors outside the US, they are called "Euro Medium Term Notes" (EMTN). These can allow both investors and issuers to enter foreign markets easily. In that case, the requirements are similar. Emissions must have a standardized document, called program, which can be used across all issues and the notes are (mainly) of maturity shorter than 5 years. Similarly to Euro-bonds, EMTNs are not subject to national regulations, such as registration requirements. Even though the EMTNs can be traded throughout the world, most offerings are distributed in London. The process starts when a company files an shelf registration with the SEC, issues a prospectus and establishes the MTM program. Once this is done, it distributes the notes to the market, usually through investment banks, acting as selling agents, arranging the