" If I report all gains and interests coming from those bonds on Form 8949"
Gains go on Form 8949, interest goes on Schedule B.
"why should I report that I simply own a brokerage account? In other words, if I had a checking account which does not produce any interest regardless of the amount of money put in it, should I report the fact that I simply have a certain amount of money in that account?"
It's the "foreign" aspect of the assets - "foreign bonds" - and the "foreign" aspect of the financial institution holding then - "foreign bank". There's no mention as to "income generating" being required, though we have established that these bonds do generate income.
Q1. What are the SPECIFIED FOREIGN FINANCIAL ASSETS that I need to report on Form 8938?
If you are required to file Form 8938, you must report your FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS MAINTAINED BY A FOREIGN FINANCIAL INSTITUTION. Examples of financial accounts include:
Savings, deposit, checking, and brokerage accounts held with a bank or broker-dealer.
And, to the extent held for investment and not held in a financial account, you must report stock or securities issued by someone who is not a U.S. person, any other interest in a foreign entity, and any financial instrument or contract held for investment with an issuer or counterpart that is not a U.S. person. Examples of these assets that must be reported if not held in an account include:
Stock or securities issued by a foreign corporation;
A note, bond or debenture issued by a foreign person;
An interest rate swap, currency swap, basis swap, interest rate cap, interest rate floor, commodity swap, equity swap, equity index swap, credit default swap or similar agreement with a foreign counterpart;
An option or other derivative instrument with respect to any of these examples or with respect to any currency or commodity that is entered into with a foreign counterpart or issuer;
A partnership interest in a foreign partnership;
An interest in a foreign retirement plan or deferred compensation plan;
An interest in a foreign estate;
Any interest in a foreign-issued insurance contract or annuity with a cash-surrender value.
The examples listed above do not comprise an exclusive list of assets required to be reported
