Tenor has two main uses within finance. It is most commonly used to describe the amount of time left until the repayment of a loan or until a financial contract expires. It is similar to ‘maturity’ but tenor is traditionally used for non-standardised contracts, for example foreign exchange and interest rate swaps, whilst maturity is more commonly used for bonds, both corporate or government.
Tenor can also refer to the coupon or payment frequency on a swap.