Industry WIKI

Financial management is the business function concerned with profitability, expenses, cash, and credit. These are often grouped together under the rubric of maximizing the value of the firm for stockholders. The discipline is then tasked with the "efficient acquisition and deployment" of both short- and long-term financial resources, to ensure the objectives of the enterprise are achieve

The Financial Management Service (FMS) was a bureau of the United States Department of the Treasury and provided several financial services for the federal government. On October 7, 2012, Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner issued a directive merging the FMS with the Bureau of the Public Debt to form the new Bureau of the Fiscal Service.

A financial market is a marketplace where the pricing and trade of securities, commodities, currency, derivatives, or other financial products takes place. The term may refer to a specific stock or commodity exchange, or to the general process by which relevant economic activity is organized and carried out.

There are several concepts of efficiency for a financial market. The most widely discussed is informational or price efficiency, which is a measure of how quickly and completely the price of a single asset reflects available information about the asset's value. Other concepts include functional/operational efficiency, which is inversely related to the costs that investors bear for maki

Economic turmoil associated with the COVID-19 pandemic has had wide-ranging and severe impacts upon financial markets, including stock, bond, and commodity (including crude oil and gold) markets. Major events included a described Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war, which after failing to reach an OPEC+ agreement resulted in a collapse of crude oil prices and a stock market crash in March

Financial market infrastructure refers to systems and entities involved in clearing, settlement, and the recording of payments, securities, derivatives, and other financial transactions. Depending on context, financial market infrastructure may refer to the category in general, or to individual companies or entities (thus also used in plural: financial market infrastructures).

There are two basic financial market participant distinctions, investors versus speculators and institutional versus retail. Action in financial markets by central banks is usually regarded as intervention rather than participation.

Financial mismanagement is management that, deliberately or not, is handled in a way that can be characterized as "wrong, bad, careless, inefficient or incompetent" and that will reflect negatively upon the financial standing of a business or individual. There are many ways of how financial mismanagement is carried out. For example, the wrong distribution of responsibility, to be remiss

Financial modeling

The Financial Modeling World Cup (FMWC) is an organization that hosts various Microsoft Excel–based competitions.

The Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU; Urdu: مالیاتی نگرانی اکائی) is the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of Pakistan established under the provisions of Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010 (Previously Anti-Money Laundering Ordinance, 2007). It is an independent intelligence service department of the Government of Pakistan and primarily responsible for analyzing transactions, money laundering

A financial network is a concept describing any collection of financial entities (such as payment card companies, firms, banks and financial transaction processing) and the links between them, ideally through direct transactions or the ability to mediate a transaction. A common example of a financial network link is security holdings (e.g. stock of publicly traded companies), where a fir

A financial planner or personal financial planner is a qualified financial advisor. Practicing in full service personal finance, they advise clients on investments, insurance, tax, retirement and estate planning.

A financial ratio or accounting ratio states the relative magnitude of two selected numerical values taken from an enterprise's financial statements. Often used in accounting, there are many standard ratios used to try to evaluate the overall financial condition of a corporation or other organization. Financial ratios may be used by managers within a firm, by current and potential shareh

Financial regulation is a broad set of policies that apply to the financial sector in most jurisdictions, justified by two main features of finance: systemic risk, which implies that the failure of financial firms involves public interest considerations; and information asymmetry, which justifies curbs on freedom of contract in selected areas of financial services, particularly those tha

The Financial Reporting Act 2015 (known as FRA 2015) is an act of the parliament of Bangladesh. The act was passed on September 6, 2015, in order to follow the accountability and transparency of the financial reporting procedures in the country. On September 9, 2015, the act was officially published by the government of Bangladesh.

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) of Nigeria, formerly the Nigerian Accounting Standards Board (NASB), is an organization charged with setting accounting standards in Nigeria. On Thursday, 6 May 2021, Shuaibu Adamu Ahmed was inaugurated by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo, as the Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of FRC.

The Financial Revolution was a set of economic and financial reforms in Great Britain after the Glorious Revolution in 1688 when William III invaded England. The reforms were based in part on Dutch economic and financial innovations that were brought to England by William III. New institutions were created: a public debt (first government bonds were issued in 1693) and the Bank of Englan

Financial risk is any of various types of risk associated with financing, including financial transactions that include company loans in risk of default. Often it is understood to include only downside risk, meaning the potential for financial loss and uncertainty about its extent.

The Financial Secrecy Index (FSI) is the report published by the advocacy organization Tax Justice Network (TJN) which ranks countries by financial secrecy indicators, weighted by the economic flows of each country.

Financial services are economic services tied to finance provided by financial institutions. Financial services encompass a broad range of service sector activities, especially as concerns financial management and consumer finance.

The Financial Services Commission (FSC) is the Belize government agency responsible for non-banking financial regulation. It is responsible for regulating all non-banking financial market participants and setting and enforcing of financial regulations. A number of international online forex brokers obtain their international license from FSC.

Financial services in China refers to the services provided in China by the finance industry: banks, investment banks, insurance companies, credit card companies, consumer finance companies, government sponsored enterprises, and stock brokerages.

The industry which has a range of businesses that deal with money like banks, insurance companies, accounting companies, finance companies, taxation, investment funds, credit companies, and few government enterprises is called the finance industry. The activities or services within this industry that cater to the economy of the country are called financial services. Therefore, the econom

A financial sponsor is a private equity investment firm, particularly a private equity firm that engages in leveraged buyout transactions.

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) is an international body that monitors and makes recommendations about the global financial system. It was established in the 2009 G20 Pittsburgh Summit as a successor to the Financial Stability Forum (FSF). The Board includes all G20 major economies, FSF members, and the European Commission. Hosted and funded by the Bank for International Settlements,

The Financial Stability Forum (FSF) was a group consisting of major national financial authorities such as finance ministries, central bankers, and international financial bodies. It was first convened in April 1999 in Washington. At the 2009 G20 London summit, the G20 nations established a successor to the FSF, called the Financial Stability Board with an expanded membership and broaden

The Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) is a United States federal government organization, established by Title I of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which was signed into law by President Barack Obama on July 21, 2010. The Office of Financial Research is intended to provide support to the council.

A financial regulatory authority or financial supervisory authority, alternatively financial regulator or financial supervisor, is a public authority whose role is to ensure the proper implementation of financial regulation within its scope of responsibility. Some, though not all, such authorities also set financial rules of their own.

The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC; Chinese: 金融監督管理委員會; pinyin: Jīnróng Jiāndū Guǎnlǐ Wěiyuánhuì; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Kim-iông Kàm-tok Kóan-lí Úi-oân-hōe, abbreviated to 金管會) is an independent government agency subordinate to the Executive Yuan of the Republic of China (Taiwan). It is responsible for regulating securities markets (including the Taiwan Stock Exchange and the Taiwan Futures

The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) is South Korea's integrated financial regulator that examines and supervises financial institutions under the broad oversight of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), the government regulatory authority staffed by civil servants.

A financial system is a system that allows the exchange of funds between financial market participants such as lenders, investors, and borrowers. Financial systems operate at national and global levels. Financial institutions consist of complex, closely related services, markets, and institutions intended to provide an efficient and regular linkage between investors and borrowers.

The Australian financial system consists of the arrangements covering the borrowing and lending of funds and the transfer of ownership of financial claims in Australia, comprising:

Financial technology (abbreviated as fintech) refers to the application of new technologies to products and services in the financial industry. This broad term encompasses a wide array of technological tools in financial services, including mobile banking, online lending platforms, digital payment systems, robo-advisors, and blockchain-based applications such as cryptocurrencies. Financi

The Financial Times Deutschland was a German-language financial newspaper based in Hamburg, Germany, published by Bertelsmann's Gruner + Jahr newspaper and magazine division. The daily contained four sections: Business, Politics & Economy, Finance, and Agenda (Comment, Analysis, Sport, Culture). It ceased publication on 7 December 2012.

A financial transaction is an agreement, or communication, between a buyer and seller to exchange goods, services, or assets for payment. Any transaction involves a change in the status of the finances of two or more businesses or individuals. A financial transaction always involves one or more financial asset, most commonly money or another valuable item such as gold or silver.

A financial transaction tax (FTT) is a levy on a specific type of financial transaction for a particular purpose. The tax has been most commonly associated with the financial sector for transactions involving intangible property rather than real property. It is not usually considered to include consumption taxes paid by consumers.

Financialization (or financialisation in British English) is a term sometimes used to describe the development of financial capitalism during the period from 1980 to the present, in which debt-to-equity ratios increased and financial services accounted for an increasing share of national income relative to other sectors.

Finite difference methods for option pricing are numerical methods used in mathematical finance for the valuation of options. Finite difference methods were first applied to option pricing by Eduardo Schwartz in 1977.

FinTech Association of Sri Lanka (FASL) is an independent, not-for-profit organization representing the fintech community in Sri Lanka and fostering connections with the global fintech sector.

FinTech Awards are several award ceremonies, most of them unrelated, which are held worldwide to recognize excellence in financial technology as assessed by either a public vote or panels of judges. There are typically many categories, winners and prizes. Hundreds of companies, including several fintech startups, participate as candidates.

The Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) movement is a personal finance phenomenon characterized by high savings rates—often exceeding the 10–15% typically recommended by financial planners—and aggressive investment, with the goal of accumulating sufficient assets to cover living expenses without traditional employment. The movement gained traction among millennials in the 2010s,

Firo, formerly known as Zcoin, is a cryptocurrency aimed at using cryptography to provide better privacy for its users compared to other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.

First Data Corporation was an American financial services company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The company's STAR Network provided nationwide domestic debit acceptance at more than 2 million retail POS, ATM, and at online outlets for nearly a third of all U.S. debit cards.

First Direct (styled first direct) is a telephone and internet based direct retail bank, which is a division of HSBC UK Bank plc based in the United Kingdom. First Direct has headquarters in Leeds, England, and in 2024, had 1.9 million customers. On its launch, it was the UK's first telephone-only bank.

The First Report on the Public Credit was one of four major reports on fiscal and economic policy submitted by Founding Father and first US Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton on the request of Congress. The report analyzed the financial standing of the United States and made recommendations to reorganize the national debt and to establish the public credit. Commissioned by the US Hous

First Solution Money Transfer was a UK-based private limited company which provided a money transfer service, providing expatriates the facilities to transfer money back to their family in Bangladesh.

Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. (FIS) is an American financial technology company headquarterd in Jacksonville, Florida, which focuses on core banking, payments and capital markets. Annually, FIS facilitates the movement of roughly US$9 trillion through the processing of approximately 75 billion transactions in service to more than 20,000 clients around the globe.

Fiscal dominance is a macroeconomic condition in which government fiscal pressures (high public debt and deficits) effectively dictate or constrain a country’s monetary policy. In a fiscally dominant regime, the central bank’s usual objective of controlling inflation becomes secondary to the Treasury’s budget financing needs, often leading the central bank to accommodate government borro

Fiscal pedaling (a calque from Brazilian Portuguese: pedalada fiscal, or simply pedaladas) is a governmental creative accounting technique involving the use of state-owned banks to front funds required for paying general government obligations without officially declaring a loan, thus hiding these transfers from public scrutiny and delaying repayment from the Treasury to these banks. As

The fiscal theory of the price level is the idea that government fiscal policy, including debt and taxes present and future, is the primary determinant of the price level or inflation as opposed to the quantity theory of money. The theory is one of the strongest advocates in the debate among mainstream economists for combatting inflation primarily through fiscal policy instead of monetar

Fiserv, Inc. ( fy-SURV) is an American multinational financial technology company headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The company processes debit and credit card transactions, loyalty programs, loans, electronic bill pay, wires and ACH transfers, check deposits, and ATM transactions on behalf of banking institutions. The company also produces debit and credit cards and point of sale t

Fish for finance is the popular phrase used to describe the possible trade-off betrween two major UK industries that was considered by both sides during the trade negotiations between the United Kingdom and the European Union (EU) over their future relationship following Brexit in January 2020. The Brexit withdrawal agreement between the two parties called for an agreement on fisheries t

A fixed deposit (FD) is a tenured deposit account provided by banks or non-bank financial institutions which provides investors a higher rate of interest than a regular savings account, until the given maturity date. It may or may not require the creation of a separate account. The term fixed deposit is most commonly used in India and the United States. It is known as a term deposit or

A fixed exchange rate, often called a pegged exchange rate or pegging, is a type of exchange rate regime in which a currency's value is fixed, or pegged, by a monetary authority against the value of another currency, a basket of other currencies, or another measure of value, such as gold or silver.

Fixed income is a type of investment under which the borrower or issuer is obliged to make payments of a fixed amount on a fixed schedule. For example, the borrower may have to pay interest at a fixed rate once a year and repay the principal amount on maturity. Fixed-income securities (more commonly known as bonds) can be contrasted with equity securities (often referred to as stocks and

Fixed-income arbitrage is a group of market-neutral-investment strategies that are designed to take advantage of differences in interest rates between varying fixed-income securities or contracts (Jefferson, 2007). Arbitrage in terms of investment strategy, involves buying securities on one market for immediate resale on another market in order to profit from a price discrepancy.

Fixed investment in economics is the purchase of newly produced physical asset, or, fixed capital. It is measured as a flow variable – that is, as an amount per unit of time.

Fixed-income attribution is the process of measuring returns generated by various sources of risk in a fixed income portfolio, particularly when multiple sources of return are active at the same time.

Fixed-Income Relative-Value Investing (FI-RV) is a hedge fund investment strategy made popular by the failed hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management.

Flag of convenience (FOC) refers to a business practice whereby a ship's owners register a merchant ship in a ship register of a country other than that of the ship's owners, and the ship flies the civil ensign of that country, called the flag state. The term is often used pejoratively, and although common, the practice is sometimes regarded as contentious.

In modern finance, a flash crash is a very rapid, deep, and volatile fall in security prices occurring within a very short time period followed by a quick recovery. Flash crashes are frequently blamed by media on trades executed by black-box trading, combined with high-frequency trading, whose speed and interconnectedness can result in the loss and recovery of billions of dollars in a ma

Flattr was a Swedish-based microdonation subscription service, where subscribers opted in to pay a monthly patronage to help fund their favourite websites and creators. It shut down in November 2023.

A flight-to-quality, or flight-to-safety, is a financial market phenomenon occurring when investors sell what they perceive to be higher-risk investments and purchase safer investments, such as gold and government bonds. This is considered a sign of fear in the marketplace, as investors seek less risk in exchange for lower profits.

In finance, a floating charge is a security interest over a fund of changing assets of a company or other legal person. Unlike a fixed charge, which is created over ascertained and definite property, a floating charge is created over property of an ambulatory and shifting nature, such as receivables and stock.

In macroeconomics and economic policy, a floating exchange rate (also known as a fluctuating or flexible exchange rate) is a type of exchange rate regime in which a currency's value is allowed to fluctuate in response to international events affecting exchange rates. A currency that uses a floating exchange rate is known as a floating currency. In contrast, a fixed currency is one where

A floor trader is a member of a stock or commodities exchange who trades on the floor of that exchange for their own account. The floor trader must abide by trading rules similar to those of the exchange specialists who trade on behalf of others. The term should not be confused with floor broker.

Flooz.com was a dot-com venture, now defunct, based in New York City that went online in February 1999. It was promoted by comic actress Whoopi Goldberg in a series of television advertisements. Started by iVillage co-founder Robert Levitan, the company attempted to establish a currency unique to Internet merchants, somewhat similar in concept to airline frequent flyer programs or grocer

Flow of funds accounts are a system of interrelated balance sheets for a nation, calculated periodically. There are two types of balance sheets: those showing

FMO (Dutch: Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden N.V.) is a Dutch development bank structured as a bilateral private-sector international financial institution based in the Hague, the Netherlands. Among others, FMO manages funds for the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Economic Affairs of the Dutch government to maximize the development impact of private secto

Fobaproa (from the Spanish: Fondo Bancario de Protección al Ahorro, lit. 'Savings Protection Banking Fund') was a contingencies fund created in 1990 by the Mexican government, led by then dominant Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), to attempt to resolve liquidity problems of the banking system. The contingencies fund was applied in 1995 during the Mexican peso crisis to protect Mex

FOCUS is a fourth-generation programming language (4GL) computer programming language and development environment that is used to build database queries. Produced by Information Builders Inc., it was originally developed for data handling and analysis on the IBM mainframe. Subsequently versions for minicomputers and such as the VAX and other platforms were implemented. FOCUS was later ex

In statistical mechanics and information theory, the Fokker–Planck equation is a partial differential equation that describes the time evolution of the probability density function of the position or velocity of a particle under the influence of drag forces and random forces, as in Brownian motion. The equation can be generalized to other observables as well. The Fokker–Planck equation h

"Follow the money" is a catchphrase popularized by the 1976 docudrama film All the President's Men, which suggests political corruption can be brought to light by examining money transfers between parties.

The Fondo Interbancario di Tutela dei Depositi (FITD; English: Interbank Deposit Protection Fund) is an Italian deposit guarantee fund founded in 1987. The fund became a mandatory scheme under the EU Deposit Guarantee Schemes Directive (94/19/EEC). However, the cooperative banks (BCC) of Italy managed their own fund (Fondo di Garanzia dei Depositanti del Credito Cooperativo). Another fun

Fonix is a British payment company that provides a mobile payments and a mobile messaging platform. The company is headquartered in London.

Food inflation is a type of inflation that affects food items. It is often the most noticeable form of inflation, and tends to impact lower income individuals the hardest. Common causes include poor harvest, war, increasing energy prices, and food being unharvested. Food inflation almost always leads to currency inflation, as food is a requirement for survival.

Food speculation refers to the buying and selling of futures contracts or other commodity derivatives by traders with the aim of profiting from changes in food prices. Food speculation can be both positive and negative for food producers and buyers. It is betting on food prices in financial markets.

Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the collateral for the loan.

Foreclosure rescue in the United States is where a mortgage that is in arrears and where the lender is at the stage of foreclosing on the loan agrees to stop the foreclosure in exchange for funds received through loan modification or from a government grant. It may also refer to funds that allow the homeowner to repurchase the property at or after foreclosure.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) is an ownership stake in a company, made by a foreign investor, company, or government from another country. More specifically, it describes a controlling ownership of an asset in one country by an entity based in another country. The magnitude and extent of control, therefore, distinguishes it from a foreign portfolio investment or foreign indirect invest

Foreign direct investment and the environment involves international businesses and their interactions and impact on the natural world. These interactions can be observed through the stringency applied to foreign direct investment policy and the responsiveness of capital or labor incentive for investment inflows. The laws and regulations created by a country that focuses on environmental

Foreign direct investment (FDI) has been an important part of the economy of the People's Republic of China since the 1980s. During the Mao period, most foreign companies halted their operations in China, though China remained connected to the world economy through a limited scale of international trade. Since 1978, China was again open to foreign investment and within two decades it bec

A foreign direct investment (FDI) is an investment in the form of a controlling ownership in a business in one country by an entity based in another country. It differs from a foreign portfolio investment, which remains limited to the secondary markets. Broadly, the term includes "mergers and acquisitions, building new facilities, reinvesting profits earned from overseas operations, and

Foreign direct investment in Iran (FDI) refers to investment by foreign individuals or companies in businesses operating in the country. Net FDI inflows to Iran are recorded in the World Bank's World Development Indicators, using data from the International Monetary Fund, UN Trade and Development, and official national sources. It has been hindered by unfavorable or complex operating req

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Romania has increased dramatically. As of 2022, Romania's foreign direct investment (FDI) stock reached nearly €108 billion, marking its highest value to date. Cheap and skilled labor force, low taxes, a 16% flat tax for corporations and individuals, no dividend taxes, liberal labor code and a favorable geographical location are Romania's main advantage

Foreign exchange controls are various forms of controls imposed by a government on the purchase/sale of foreign currencies by residents, on the purchase/sale of local currency by nonresidents, or the transfers of any currency across national borders. These controls allow countries to better manage their economies by controlling the inflow and outflow of currency, which may otherwise crea

A foreign exchange derivative is a financial contract whose value changes depending on currency exchange rates.

Foreign exchange fraud is any trading scheme used to defraud traders by convincing them that they can expect to gain a high profit by trading in the foreign exchange market. Currency trading became a common form of fraud in early 2008, according to Michael Dunn of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

A foreign exchange hedge (also called a FOREX hedge) is a method used by companies to eliminate or "hedge" their foreign exchange risk resulting from transactions in foreign currencies (see foreign exchange derivative). This is done using either the cash flow hedge or the fair value method. The accounting rules for this are addressed by both the International Financial Reporting Standard

The foreign exchange market (forex, FX, or currency market) is a global decentralized or over-the-counter (OTC) market for the trading of currencies. This market determines foreign exchange rates for every currency. By trading volume, it is by far the largest market in the world, followed by the credit market.

In finance, a foreign exchange option (commonly shortened to just FX option or currency option) is a derivative financial instrument that gives the right but not the obligation to exchange money denominated in one currency into another currency at a pre-agreed exchange rate on a specified date. See Foreign exchange derivative.

Foreign exchange regulation is a form of financial regulation specifically aimed at the over-the-counter Forex market that is decentralized and operates with no central exchange or clearing house. Due to its decentralized and global nature, the foreign exchange market has been more prone to foreign exchange fraud and has been less regulated than other financial markets.

Foreign exchange reserves (also called forex reserves or FX reserves) are cash and other reserve assets such as gold and silver held by a central bank or other monetary authority that are primarily available to balance payments of the country, influence the foreign exchange rate of its currency, and to maintain confidence in financial markets. Reserves are held in one or more reserve cur

Foreign exchange risk (also known as FX risk, exchange rate risk or currency risk) is a financial risk that exists when a financial transaction is denominated in a currency other than the domestic currency of the company. The exchange risk arises when there is a risk of an unfavourable change in exchange rate between the domestic currency and the denominated currency before the date when

A foreign exchange spot transaction (FX spot) is an agreement between two parties to buy one currency against selling another currency at an agreed price for settlement on the spot date. The exchange rate at which the transaction is done is called the spot exchange rate. As of 2010, the average daily turnover of global FX spot transactions reached nearly US$1.5 trillion, counting 37.4% o

In finance, a foreign exchange swap, forex swap, or FX swap is a simultaneous purchase and sale of identical amounts of one currency for another with two different value dates (normally spot to forward) and may use foreign exchange derivatives. An FX swap allows sums of a certain currency to be used to fund charges designated in another currency without acquiring foreign exchange risk. I

The Foreign Investment Law is a law of the People's Republic of China governing foreign direct investment in China. The law was adopted by the National People's Congress on March 15, 2019, and came into effect on January 1, 2020. It replaces the Law of the People's Republic of China on Sino-Foreign Equity Joint Ventures, the Law of the People's Republic of China on Wholly Foreign-owned E

Foreign ownership refers to the ownership of a portion of a country's assets (businesses, natural resources, property, bonds, equity, etc.) by individuals who are not citizens of that country or by companies whose headquarters are not in that country.

Foreign ownership of companies of Canada pertains to the majority-ownership of Canadian-based assets (including businesses and subsidiaries) by non-Canadian individuals or companies, as well as to companies that are effectively owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by non-Canadians. "Non-Canadian," for all intents and purposes, refers to entities based outside Canada and to those