Industry WIKI

The vast majority of all second lien loans are senior secured obligations of the borrower. Second lien loans differ from both unsecured debt and subordinated debt.

The secondary banking crisis of 1973–1975 was a dramatic crash in British property prices that caused dozens of small ("secondary") lending banks to be threatened with bankruptcy.

The secondary market, also called the aftermarket, is the financial market in which previously issued financial instruments such as shares, bonds, options, and futures are bought and sold. The initial sale of the security by the issuer to a purchaser, who pays proceeds to the issuer, is the primary market. All sales after the initial sale of the security are sales in the secondary market

A secondary market offering, according to the U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), is a registered offering of a large block of a security that has been previously issued to the public. The blocks being offered may have been held by large investors or institutions, and proceeds of the sale go to those holders, not the issuing company. It is also called a secondary distri

A secured loan is a loan in which the borrower pledges some asset (e.g. a car or property) as collateral for the loan, which then becomes a secured debt owed to the creditor who gives the loan. The debt is thus secured against the collateral, and if the borrower defaults, the creditor takes possession of the asset used as collateral and may sell it to regain some or all of the amount ori

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP; Urdu: سیکیورٹیز اینڈ ایکسچینج کمیشن آف پاکستان), formerly known as Company Law Administration, Company Law Board, and Corporate Law Authority, is the corporate legislative and financial regulatory agency of Pakistan whose objective is to develop a modern and efficient corporate sector and a capital market based on sound authority

The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) is the independent statutory body of Hong Kong charged with regulating securities and futures markets. The SFC is responsible for fostering an orderly securities and futures markets, to protect investors and to help promote Hong Kong as an international financial centre and a key financial market in Asia. Even though it is considered to be a br

A securities commission, securities regulator or capital market authority is a government department or agency responsible for financial regulation of securities products within a particular country. Its powers and responsibilities vary greatly from country to country, but generally cover the setting of rules as well as enforcing them for financial intermediaries and stock exchanges.

Securities fraud, also known as stock fraud and investment fraud, is a deceptive practice in the stock or commodities markets that induces investors to make purchase or sale decisions on the basis of false information. The setups are generally made to result in monetary gain for the deceivers, and generally result in unfair monetary losses for the investors. They are generally violating

The Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) is a non-profit, member-funded, United States government corporation created under the Securities Investor Protection Act (SIPA) of 1970 that most US-registered broker-dealers are required to join. Although created by federal legislation and overseen by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the SIPC is neither a government agency no

In finance, securities lending or stock lending refers to the lending of securities by one party to another.

Securities market participants in the United States include corporations and governments issuing securities, persons and corporations buying and selling a security, the broker-dealers and exchanges which facilitate such trading, banks which safe keep assets, and regulators who monitor the markets' activities. Investors buy and sell through broker-dealers and have their assets retained b

Securities research is a discipline within the financial services industry about securities. Securities research professionals are known most generally as "analysts", "research analysts", or "securities analysts"; all the foregoing terms are synonymous. Research analysts produce research reports and typically issue a recommendation: buy ("overweight"), hold, or sell ("underweight"); see

Securitization is the financial practice of pooling contractual debt obligations (such as residential mortgages, commercial mortgages, auto loans, or credit card debt) and selling their associated cash flows to investors. The financial instruments sold in such transactions are known as securities, types of which include bonds, pass-through securities, and collateralized debt obligations

A security is a tradable financial asset. The term commonly refers to any form of financial instrument, but its legal definition varies by jurisdiction. In some countries and languages people commonly use the term "security" to refer to any form of financial instrument, even though the underlying legal and regulatory regime may not have such a broad definition. In some jurisdictions the

In law and finance, a security interest is a legal right that a secured party has over secured assets. Security interests most often arise where a debtor grants an interest over collateral to a creditor to secure the loan, such that the creditor will have enforceable rights in the event of the debtor's default or non-performance.

A security question is a form of shared secret used as an authenticator. It is commonly used by banks, cable companies and wireless providers as an extra security layer.

Seed money is the earliest financial support a new project receives, often arriving at a point when an idea exists but nothing concrete has been built yet. This first backing helps a venture take its initial steps and gives people working on it enough stability to continue developing their work. An investor puts capital in a startup company in exchange for an equity stake or convertible

A segregated portfolio company (or SPC), sometimes referred to as a protected cell company, is a company which segregates the assets and liabilities of different classes (or sometimes series) of shares from each other and from the general assets of the SPC.

Sell side is a term used in the financial services industry to mean providing services to sell securities. Firms or institutions on this side include investment banks, brokerages and market makers, who facilitate offering securities to investors, conducting research and creating financial products.

Seller financing is a loan provided by the seller of a property or business to the purchaser. When used in the context of residential real estate, it is also called "bond-for-title" or "owner financing." Usually, the purchaser will make some sort of down payment to the seller, and then make installment payments (usually on a monthly basis) over a specified time, at an agreed-upon intere

In finance, senior debt is debt that takes priority over other unsecured or otherwise more "junior" debt owed by an issuer. Senior debt is frequently issued in the form of senior notes or referred to as senior loans. Senior debt has greater seniority in the issuer's capital structure than subordinated debt. In the event the issuer goes bankrupt, senior debt theoretically must be repaid b

On September 17, 2019, interest rates on overnight repurchase agreements (or "repos"), which are short-term loans between financial institutions, experienced a sudden and unexpected spike. A measure of the interest rate on overnight repos in the United States, the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR), increased from 2.43 percent on September 16 to 5.25 percent on September 17. During

Serviceability in Australian banking is the ability of a debtor to meet loan repayments. In the 1990s debt serviceability criteria had been relaxed, but nowadays it's harder to get finance. Every creditor has own serviceability model.

In law, set-off or netting is a legal technique applied between persons or businesses with mutual rights and liabilities, replacing gross positions with net positions. It permits the rights to be used to discharge the liabilities where cross claims exist between a plaintiff and a respondent, the result being that the gross claims of mutual debt produce a single net claim. The net claim i

Settlement is the "final step in the transfer of ownership involving the physical exchange of securities or payment". After settlement, the obligations of all the parties have been discharged and the transaction is considered complete.

Settlement risk, also known as delivery risk or counterparty risk, is the risk that a counterparty (or intermediary agent) fails to deliver a security or its value in cash as per agreement after the first party has delivered the security or cash value. The term covers factors incidental to the settlement process that may suspend or prevent a trade from completing, even should the partie

Sheba (Persian: شناسه حساب بانکی ایران (شبا)) is a national standard defined in the framework of the global IBAN standard with the aim of integrating bank accounts in Iran. Shaba starts with "IR" followed by 24 other digits.

The shadow banking system is the collection of non-bank financial intermediaries (NBFIs), or nondepository financial institutions (NDFIs) that legally provide services similar to traditional commercial banks but outside normal banking regulations. S&P Global estimates that, at end-2022, shadow banking held about $63 trillion in financial assets in major jurisdictions around the world, re

The Shadow Open Market Committee (SOMC) is an independent group of economists, first organized in 1973 by Professors Karl Brunner, from the University of Rochester, and Allan Meltzer, from Carnegie Mellon University, to provide a monetarist alternative to the views on monetary policy and its inflation effects then prevailing at the Federal Reserve and within the economics profession.

The shadow rate is an interest rate in some financial models. It is used to measure the economy when nominal interest rates come close to the zero lower bound. It was created by Fischer Black in his final paper, "Interest Rates as Options".

The Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE; Chinese: 上海期货交易所) is a futures exchange in Shanghai, China formed from the amalgamation of the national level futures exchanges of China, the Shanghai Metal Exchange, Shanghai Foodstuffs Commodity Exchange, and the Shanghai Commodity Exchange in December 1999. It is a non-profit-seeking incorporated body under the China Securities Regulatory Commissio

ShapeShift AG was a cryptocurrency exchange which operated from 2014 to 2021 and was headquartered in Switzerland.

A share (sometimes referred to as stock or equity) is a unit of equity ownership in the capital stock of a corporation. It can refer to units of mutual funds, limited partnerships, and real estate investment trusts. Share capital refers to all of the shares of an enterprise. The owner of shares in a company is a shareholder (or stockholder) of the corporation. A share expresses the owner

In finance, a share class or share classification are different types of shares in company share capital that have different levels of voting rights. For example, a company might create two classes of shares class A share and a class B share where the class A shares have fewer rights than class B shareholders. This may be done to maintain control of a company by a group of shareholders o

A share price is the price of a single share of a number of saleable equity shares of a company.

Share repurchase, also known as share buyback or stock buyback, is the reacquisition by a company of its own shares. It is an alternative way of returning money to shareholders than dividends. After a repurchase event, the company's stock price is now proportionally higher because of the smaller number of shares outstanding. Repurchases allow stockholders to potentially reduce taxes, by

A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as a stockholder) refers to an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) who is registered by a corporation as the legal owner of shares of the corporations share capital. Both public companies and private corporation have shareholders. Shareholders may also be referred to as mem

The Shareholder Executive (ShEx) was a body within the UK Government between 2003 and 2016, responsible for managing the government's financial interest in a range of state-owned businesses for commercial rather than political interests. It was part of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and staffed by civil servants, many of whom were corporate finance professionals with

Shares outstanding are all the shares of a corporation that have been authorized, issued and purchased by investors and are held by them. They are distinguished from treasury shares, which are shares held by the corporation itself, thus representing no exercisable rights. Shares outstanding and treasury shares together amount to the number of issued shares.

Sharia and securities trading is the impact of conventional financial markets activity for those following the Islamic religion and particularly sharia law. Sharia practices ban riba (earning interest) and involvement in haram. It also forbids gambling (maisir) and excessive risk (bayu al-gharar). This, however has not stopped some in Islamic finance industry from using some of these ins

A Sharia Board (also Sharia Supervisory Board, Advisory Board or Religious Board) certifies Islamic financial products as being Sharia-compliant (i.e. in accordance with Islamic law). Because compliance with Sharia law is the underlying reason for the existence of Islamic finance, Islamic banks (and conventional banking institutions that offer Islamic banking products and services) shou

Sharp Corporation (シャープ株式会社, Shāpu Kabushiki-gaisha) is a Japanese electronics company. It is headquartered in Sakai, Osaka, and was founded by Tokuji Hayakawa in 1912 in Honjō, Tokyō, and established as the Hayakawa Metal Works Institute in Abeno-ku, Osaka, in 1924. Since 2016, it is majority owned by the Taiwan-based manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., better known as Fo

Shell money is a medium of exchange similar to coin money and other forms of commodity money, and was once commonly used in many parts of the world. Shell money usually consisted of whole or partial sea shells, often worked into beads or otherwise shaped. The use of shells in trade began as direct commodity exchange, the shells having use-value as body ornamentation. The distinction betw

The Sherman Silver Purchase Act was a United States federal law enacted on July 14, 1890, which increased the amount of silver the government was required to purchase on a recurrent monthly basis to 4.5 million ounces, roughly the entirety of the American output.

Shetab (Persian: شتاب, lit. 'Acceleration'), officially the Interbank Information Transfer Network (Persian: شبکه تبادل اطلاعات بین بانکی), is an electronic banking clearance and automated payments system used in Iran. The system was introduced in 2002 with the intention of creating a uniform backbone for the Iranian banking system to handle ATM, EFTPOS and other card-based transactions.

Shift4 Payments, Inc. is an American payment processing company based in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The company, founded in 1999 by the then 16-year-old Jared Isaacman, processes payments for over 200,000 businesses in the retail, hospitality, leisure, and restaurant industries. Shift4 specializes in commerce technology such as mobile payment software and hardware. The company was publicly

In economics, a shock is an unexpected or unpredictable event that affects an economy, either positively or negatively. Technically, it is an unpredictable change in exogenous factors—that is, factors unexplained by an economic model—which may influence endogenous economic variables.

Shop Pay (also known as Shop, and formerly known as Shopify Pay) is a checkout and payment method developed by Shopify. The service allows users to securely store shipping and billing information in their Shop account, enabling one-click checkouts across online stores that offer Shop Pay.

ShoreBank was a community development bank founded and headquartered in Chicago. At the time of its closing it was the oldest and largest such institution, and in 2008 had $2.6 billion in assets. It was owned by ShoreBank Corporation, a regulated bank holding company.

In finance, being short in an asset means investing in such a way that the investor will profit if the market value of the asset falls. This is the opposite of the more common long position, where the investor will profit if the market value of the asset rises. An investor that sells an asset short is, as to that asset, a short seller.

Short-term European paper (STEP) is a short-term financing instrument and investment tool, and also a tool for the European Union to align the market standards and practices to promote the integration of the European market. The EU has accepted the STEP market as a non-regulated market due to collateral purposes; meanwhile, this will not influence the existing national and European legis

In accounting, shrinkage or shrink occurs when a retailer has fewer items in stock than were expected by the inventory list. This can be caused by clerical error or by goods being damaged, lost, or stolen between the point of manufacture (or purchase from a supplier) and the point of sale. High shrinkage can adversely affect a retailer's profit.

In economics, shrinkflation, also known as package downsizing, weight-out, and price pack architecture is the reduction of available products, in size or quantity, while the prices remain the same. The word is a portmanteau of the words shrink and inflation and was coined as the counterpart to economic inflation, wherein prices rise while the product remains unchanged. A related term, sk

SIA S.p.A. is an Italian company operating in the area of ICT, providing services to the banking and finance sector in addition to platforms for financial markets and e-payment services.

The silver standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is a fixed weight of silver. Silver was far more widespread than gold as the monetary standard worldwide, from the Sumerians c. 3000 BC until 1873. Following the discovery in the 16th century of large deposits of silver at the Cerro Rico in Potosí, Bolivia, an international silver standard came into e

Silver Thursday refers to the sharp collapse in the United States silver and silver futures markets on Thursday, March 27, 1980. The crisis followed a rapid rise in silver prices and the accumulation of a large long position by members of the Hunt family, principally Nelson Bunker Hunt and William Herbert Hunt, with Lamar Hunt involved to a lesser extent. The term is used both for the tr

Silvergate Bank was a California bank founded in 1988. The company began providing services for cryptocurrency users in 2016, and conducted an IPO in 2019.

The Silverites were members of a political movement in the United States in the late-19th century that advocated that silver should continue to be a monetary standard along with gold, as authorized under the Coinage Act of 1792. The Silverite coalition's famous slogan was "16 to 1" – that is, the ratio of sixteen ounces of silver equal in value to one ounce of gold, a ratio similar to t

A simple agreement for future equity (SAFE) is an agreement between an investor and a company that provides rights to the investor for future equity in the company similar to a warrant, except without determining a specific price per share at the time of the initial investment. The SAFE investor receives the future shares when a priced round of investment or liquidity event occurs. SAFEs

The Singapore dollar (sign: $; code: SGD) is the official currency of the Republic of Singapore. Each dollar is divided into 100 cents (Malay: sen, Chinese: 分; pinyin: fēn, Tamil: காசு, romanized: kācu). It is normally abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or S$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) issues the banknotes and co

In the United States, the Single Audit, Subpart F of the OMB Uniform Guidance, is a rigorous, organization-wide audit or examination of an entity that expends $750,000 or more of federal assistance (commonly known as federal funds, federal grants, or federal awards) received for its operations. Usually performed annually, the Single Audit's objective is to provide assurance to the US fed

The Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) is a payment-integration system of the European Union that makes cross-border bank transfers in euros as fast, cheap, and simple as domestic payments. It allows individuals and businesses to make cashless euro transfers to any account within the zone using a single bank account and an International Bank Account Number, under the same basic conditions

A single-dealer platform (SDP) is software used by an investment bank dealing in the capital markets to deliver trading and associated services via the web. The function of an SDP is to integrate pricing, liquidity, and information from multiple sources within a bank and provide access to them via a single user interface. It is thus both an integration platform and a delivery platform.

Single-price auctions are a pricing method in securities auctions that give all purchasers of an issue the same purchase price. They can be perceived as modified Dutch auctions. This method has been used since 1992 when it debuted as an experiment of the U.S. Treasury for all auctions of 2-year and 5-year notes. There is only one main difference between the multiple-price system and the

A single-tier banking system is a policy framework under which all credit institutions coexist without distinction about the quality of their liabilities, or in other words, there is no distinction between central bank money and broad money. This setting is generally associated with communist economic systems.

Sir Francis Baring, 1st Baronet (18 April 1740 – 11 September 1810) was a British merchant, banker and politician. A member of the Baring family, he became the first of the Baring baronets.

Skrill is part of Paysafe Limited, a global payments platform. It is one of Paysafe's digital wallet brands and was established in 2001 to offer multiple online payment and money transfer services. The company facilitates multiple payment options including card payments, bank transfers and local payment methods. The funds in a Skrill account can then be used to pay merchants and other S

A smart card (SC), chip card, or integrated circuit card (ICC or IC card), is a card used to control access to a resource. It is typically a plastic credit card-sized card with an embedded integrated circuit (IC) chip. Many smart cards include a pattern of metal contacts to electrically connect to the internal chip. Others are contactless, and some are both. Smart cards can provide perso

A smart contract is a computer program or a transaction protocol that is intended to automatically execute, control or document events and actions according to the terms of a contract or an agreement. The objectives of smart contracts are the reduction of need for trusted intermediators, arbitration costs, and fraud losses, as well as the reduction of malicious and accidental exceptions.

The Smeed Report (titled Road Pricing: The Economic and Technical Possibilities) was a study into alternative methods of charging for road use, commissioned by the UK government between 1962 and 1964 led by R. J. Smeed. The report stopped short of an unqualified recommendation for road pricing but supported congestion pricing for busy road networks.

The Smithsonian Agreement, announced in December 1971, created a new dollar standard, whereby the currencies of a number of industrialized states were pegged to the US dollar. These currencies were allowed to fluctuate by 2.25% against the dollar. The Smithsonian Agreement was created when the Group of Ten (G-10) states (Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Sw

SMS banking is a form of mobile banking. It is a facility used by some banks or other financial institutions to send messages (also called notifications or alerts) to customers' mobile phones using SMS messaging, or a service provided by them which enables customers to perform some financial transactions using SMS.

Social capital is a concept used in sociology and economics to define networks of relationships which are productive towards advancing the goals of individuals and groups.

Social credit is a distributive philosophy of political economy developed in the 1920s and 1930s by the British engineer and economist C. H. Douglas. Douglas attributed economic downturns to discrepancies between the cost of goods and the compensation of the workers who made them. To combat what he saw as a chronic deficiency of purchasing power in the economy, Douglas prescribed governm

Social finance is a category of financial services that aims to leverage private capital to address challenges in areas of social and environmental need. Having gained popularity after the 2008 financial crisis, it is notable for its public benefit focus. Mechanisms of creating shared social value are not new; however, social finance is conceptually unique as an approach to solving socia

Social insurance is a form of social welfare that provides insurance against economic risks. The insurance may be provided publicly or through the subsidizing of private insurance. In contrast to other forms of social assistance, individuals' claims are partly dependent on their contributions, which can be considered insurance premiums to create a common fund out of which the individuals

Social media in the financial services sector refers to the use of social media by the financial services sector to promote and distribute financial services. Social media is used in various aspects of the financial industry including customer service, marketing, and product development. It has enabled financial institutions to extend their reach through direct and real-time communicatio

According to the International Labour Organization, social security is a human right that aims at reducing and preventing poverty and vulnerability throughout the life cycle of individuals. Social security includes different kinds of benefits (maternity, unemployment, disability, sickness, old age, etc.) A social pension is a stream of payments from the state to an individual that starts

Social trading is a form of investing that allows investors to observe the trading behavior of their peers and expert traders. The primary objective is to follow their investment strategies using copy trading or mirror trading. Social trading requires little or no knowledge about financial markets.

SoFi Technologies, Inc. (abbreviated as SoFi, short for Social Finance) is an American financial technology company. Founded in 2011 by Stanford University graduates as a student loan refinancier, it operates a direct bank serving retail customers and businesses. SoFi is the largest U.S.-based online lender, and has nearly 16 million customers as of 2026.

Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) is a secured overnight interest rate. SOFR is a reference rate (that is, a rate used by parties in commercial contracts that is outside their direct control) established as an alternative to LIBOR. LIBOR had been published in a number of currencies and underpins financial contracts all over the world. Deeming it prone to manipulation, UK regulators

SOFR Academy, Inc. is an American financial market infrastructure company focused on developing benchmark credit-spread infrastructure designed to complement risk-free reference rates in global capital markets. In connection with global reference rate reform and the transition away from the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), which underpinned approximately US$400 trillion in financia

JVL Ventures, LLC d/b/a Softcard (formerly Isis Mobile Wallet), was a joint venture between AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon which produced a mobile payments platform known as Softcard, which used near-field communication (NFC) technology to allow users to pay for items at stores and restaurants with credit and debit card credentials stored on their smartphones. The partnership was first annou

Solana is a public blockchain platform that uses a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism and provides smart contract functionality. The platform's native cryptocurrency is SOL. Solana was founded in 2018 by Toly Yakovenko and Raj Gokal, and the network was launched in March 2020 by their San Francisco-based company, Solana Labs.

Solaris SE is a credit institution licensed in Germany. Known as Solarisbank AG until November 2022, it is headquartered in Berlin and has branches in London, Paris, Milan, Madrid and Vilnius.

Solidarity lending is a lending practice where small groups borrow collectively and group members encourage one another to repay. It is an important building block of microfinance.

The Sterling Overnight Index Average, abbreviated as SONIA, is the principal risk-free interest rate benchmark for sterling markets, administered by the Bank of England and published each London business day at 09:00 UK time for the previous day’s transactions. Introduced in March 1997 (1997-03) and transferred to Bank of England administration in April 2016 (2016-04), SONIA was reformed

Sort codes are the domestic bank codes used to route money transfers between financial institutions in the United Kingdom, and formerly in Ireland. They are six-digit hierarchical numerical addresses that specify clearing banks, clearing systems, regions, large financial institutions, groups of financial institutions and ultimately resolve to individual branches. In the UK they continue

Insurance in South Africa describes a mechanism in that country for the reduction or minimisation of loss, owing to the constant exposure of people and assets to risks (be they natural or financial or personal). The kinds of loss which arise if such risks eventuate may be either patrimonial or non-patrimonial.

The South African Mint is responsible for minting all coins of the South African rand on behalf of its owner, the South African Reserve Bank. Located in Centurion, Gauteng near South Africa's administrative capital Pretoria, the mint manufactures coins and planchets for both domestic and international markets.

The South Sea Company was a British joint-stock company founded in January 1711, created as a public-private partnership to consolidate and reduce the cost of the national debt. To generate income, in 1713 the company was granted a monopoly (the Asiento de Negros) to supply enslaved Africans to the islands in the "South Seas" and South America. When the company was created, Britain was i

Sovereign funds of China are mechanisms through which the Chinese state acts as a market participant with the goals of supporting key domestic economic sectors, advancing strategic interests internationally, and diversifying its foreign exchange reserves.

A sovereign wealth fund (SWF), or sovereign investment fund, is a state-owned investment fund that invests in real and financial assets such as stocks, bonds, real estate, precious metals, or in alternative investments such as private equity funds or hedge funds. Sovereign wealth funds invest globally. Most SWFs are funded by revenues from commodity exports or from foreign exchange reser

The Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute (also SWF Institute, or simply SWFI) is an American corporation that analyzes public asset owners such as sovereign wealth funds and other long-term governmental investors. Initially focused solely on sovereign wealth funds, the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute has branched out to cover all types of public institutional investors. The institute sells i

A Spahn tax is a type of currency transaction tax that is meant to be used for the purpose of controlling exchange-rate volatility. This idea was proposed by Paul Bernd Spahn in 1995.

SpareBank 1 is a Norwegian alliance and brand name for a group of savings banks. The alliance is organised through the holding company SpareBank 1 Gruppen AS owned by the participating banks. In total the alliance is Norway's second largest bank with total assets of NOK 625 billion, 352 branches and 6300 employees. The alliance has its head office in Oslo, Norway. The banks in the SpareB

SparkBase, LLC (SparkBase or SB) was a stored-value and gift card transaction processor located in Cleveland, Ohio, United States from 2004 to 2016. It provided private-label, stored-value, specialty gift cards, customer loyalty, and community rewards programs to Independent Sales Organizations (independent companies used by banks to develop new merchant relationships on their behalf).

Special drawing rights (SDRs, code XDR) are a supplementary foreign exchange reserve asset defined and maintained by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). SDRs are the units of account for the IMF, and not a currency; rather, SDR value is based on a basket of currencies, the specific composition of which is reviewed every five years. SDRs represent a claim to currency held by IMF member

A special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC; ), also known as a blank check company or a blind-pool stock offering, is a shell corporation listed on a stock exchange with the purpose of acquiring (or merging with) a private company, thus taking the private company public through a procedure which requires fewer regulatory filings and has fewer safeguards for investors than the initial pu