Industry WIKI

Since the financial crisis, regulation of financial activities is at the center of economic and political events. The crisis has indeed led regulators but also the academic world to ask new questions about the effectiveness of regulation policies. To answer these questions, the French laboratory of excellence on financial regulation (Labex ReFi) was established at the initiative of the C

A labour-sponsored venture capital corporation (LSVCC), known alternately as labour-sponsored investment fund (LSIF) or simply retail venture capital (RVC), is a fund managed by investment professionals that invests in small to mid-sized Canadian companies. The Canadian federal government and some provincial governments offer tax credits to LSVCC investors to promote the growth of such c

In finance, a ladder, also known as a Christmas tree, is a combination of three options of the same type (all calls or all puts) at three different strike prices. A long ladder is used by traders who expect low volatility, while a short ladder is used by traders who expect high volatility. Ladders are in some ways similar to strangles, vertical spreads, condors, or ratio spreads.

In quantitative finance, a lattice model is a numerical approach to the valuation of derivatives in situations requiring a discrete time model. For dividend paying equity options, a typical application would correspond to the pricing of an American-style option, where a decision to exercise is allowed at the closing of any calendar day up to the maturity. A continuous model, on the othe

Legal risk as a subset of operational risk that comprises the uncertainty associated with a business becoming a subjects of legal liability and obligations as a result of its operation.

The LIBOR market model, also known as the BGM Model (Brace Gatarek Musiela Model, in reference to the names of some of the inventors) is a financial model of interest rates. It is used for pricing interest rate derivatives, especially exotic derivatives like Bermudan swaptions, ratchet caps and floors, target redemption notes, autocaps, zero coupon swaptions, constant maturity swaps and

Liquidity at risk (LaR) is a financial risk measure that estimates the potential net cash outflows an institution may face over a specified time horizon and confidence level. It is designed to quantify the risk that a bank, investment fund, or corporation will be unable to meet its short-term obligations due to unexpected demands on liquidity. The concept is closely related to Value at R

Liquidity risk is a financial risk that for a certain period of time a given financial asset, security or commodity cannot be traded quickly enough in the market without impacting the market price.

This list covers formal bank stress testing programs, as implemented by major regulators worldwide. It does not cover bank proprietary, internal testing programs.

This is a list of abbreviations used in a business or financial context.

This is a list of former stock exchanges in the Americas, including North America, South America, and the Caribbean Islands. Year of formation and the year the exchange was acquired, liquidated, or folded are also included. Some of these exchanges remain active as subsidiaries or divisions of other current exchanges (see current stock exchanges in the Americas). See regional stock exchan

This is a list of notable futures exchanges. Those stock exchanges that also offer trading in futures contracts besides trading in securities are listed both here and the list of stock exchanges.

This is a list of major stock exchange mergers and acquisitions in the Americas. It also features the name of any resultant stock exchanges from mergers or acquisitions. According to Robert E. Wright of Bloomberg in 2013, historians assert that "rather than exhibiting a trend of constant consolidation, the number of exchanges active across the globe has waxed and waned several times over

This page, a companion page to tax, lists different taxes by economic design. For different taxes by country, see Tax rates around the world.

A listed investment company (LIC) is an Australian closed-end collective investment scheme similar to investment trusts in the UK and closed-end funds in the United States. Instead of regularly issuing new shares or canceling shares as investors join and leave the fund, investors buy and sell to each other on the ASX. They are traded like other securities on the Australian stock exchange

In corporate finance, a listing refers to the company's shares being on the list (or board) of stock that are publicly listed. Some stock exchanges allow shares of a foreign company to be listed and may allow dual listing, subject to conditions.

LME Nickel refers to the spot, forward, and futures contracts, trading on the London Metal Exchange (LME) for primary nickel. These contracts are used for price hedging, physical delivery, investment, and speculation. Nickel futures contracts are used to hedge price risks and as a reference for prices. As of late 2024, LME nickel contracts were linked to approximately 230,000 tonnes of p

In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money.

A local volatility model, in mathematical finance and financial engineering, is an option pricing model that treats volatility as a function of both the current asset level

The London Metal Exchange (LME) is a futures and forwards exchange in London, United Kingdom with the world's largest market in standardised forward contracts, futures contracts and options on base metals. The exchange also offers contracts on ferrous metals and precious metals. The company also allows for cash trading. It offers hedging, worldwide reference pricing, and the option of ph

In finance, a long position in a financial instrument means the holder of the position owns a positive amount of the instrument. The holder of the position has the expectation that the financial instrument will increase in value. This is known as a bullish position. The term "long position" is often used in context of buying options contracts.

Long/short equity is an investment strategy generally associated with hedge funds. It involves buying equities that are expected to increase in value and selling short equities that are expected to decrease in value. This is different from the risk reversal strategies where investors will simultaneously buy a call option and sell a put option to simulate being long in a stock.

Lookback options, in the terminology of finance, are a type of exotic option with path dependency, among many other kind of options. The payoff depends on the optimal (maximum or minimum) underlying asset's price occurring over the life of the option. The option allows the holder to "look back" over time to determine the payoff. There exist two kinds of lookback options: with floating st

In investing and finance, the low-volatility anomaly is the observation that low-volatility securities have higher returns than high-volatility securities in most markets studied. In other words, assets whose prices or returns change wildly pay worse than assets whose prices or returns are steady. This is an example of a stock market anomaly since it contradicts the central prediction of

Low-volatility investing is an investment style that buys stocks or securities with low volatility and avoids those with high volatility. This investment style exploits the low-volatility anomaly. According to financial theory risk and return should be positively related, however in practice this is not true. Low-volatility investors aim to achieve market-like returns, but with lower ris

Macro risk is financial risk that is associated with macroeconomic or political factors. There are at least three different ways this phrase is applied. It can refer to economic or financial risk found in stocks and funds, to political risk found in different countries, and to the impact of economic or financial variables on political risk. Macro risk can also refer to types of economi

Magic formula investing is an investment technique outlined by Joel Greenblatt that uses the principles of value investing.

In probability theory and related fields, Malliavin calculus is a set of mathematical techniques and ideas that extend the mathematical field of calculus of variations from deterministic functions to stochastic processes. In particular, it allows the computation of derivatives of random variables. Malliavin calculus is also called the stochastic calculus of variations. P. Malliavin firs

A managed futures account (MFA) or managed futures fund (MFF) is a type of alternative investment in the US in which trading in the futures markets is managed by another person or entity, rather than the fund's owner. Managed futures accounts include, but are not limited to, commodity pools. These funds are operated by commodity trading advisors (CTAs) or commodity pool operators (CPOs),

"Manager of managers" (MoM) is an investment approach by institutions who proprietary manage capital. Different investment managers are selected and investment mandates given to them. The allocated capital is then managed in Separate Managed Accounts by the respective selected asset managers. It is a solution often offered by big asset management divisions from investment banks but also

In finance, margin is the collateral that a holder of a financial instrument has to deposit with a counterparty (most often a broker or an exchange) to cover some or all of the credit risk the holder poses for the counterparty. This risk can arise if the holder has done any of the following:

The Margin-at-Risk (MaR) is a quantity used to manage short-term liquidity risks due to variation of margin requirements, i.e. it is a financial risk occurring when trading commodities. It is similar to the Value-at-Risk (VaR), but instead of simulating EBIT it returns a quantile of the (expected) cash flow distribution.

In mathematical finance, Margrabe's formula is an option pricing formula applicable to an option to exchange one risky asset for another risky asset at maturity. It was derived by William Margrabe in 1978. Margrabe's paper has been cited by over 2000 subsequent articles.

A market anomaly in a financial market is predictability that seems to be inconsistent with (typically risk-based) theories of asset prices. Standard theories include the capital asset pricing model and the Fama-French Three Factor Model, but a lack of agreement among academics about the proper theory leads many to refer to anomalies without a reference to a benchmark theory (Daniel and

In finance, market depth is a real-time list displaying the quantity to be sold versus unit price. The list is organized by price level and is reflective of real-time market activity. Mathematically, it is the size of an order needed to move the market price by a given amount. If the market is deep, a large order is needed to change the price.

A market maker or liquidity provider is a company or individual that quotes both a buy and a sell price in a tradable asset held in inventory, hoping to make a profit on the difference, which is called the bid–ask spread or turn. This stabilizes the market, reducing price variation (volatility) by setting a trading price range for the asset.

In economics and finance, market manipulation occurs when someone intentionally alters the supply or demand of a security to influence its price. This can involve spreading misleading information, executing misleading trades, or manipulating quotes and prices.

An investment strategy or portfolio is considered market-neutral if it seeks to avoid some form of market risk entirely, typically by hedging. To evaluate market neutrality requires specifying the risk to avoid. For example, convertible arbitrage attempts to fully hedge fluctuations in the price of the underlying common stock. A portfolio is truly market-neutral if it exhibits zero corre

Market portfolio is an investment portfolio that theoretically consisting of a weighted sum of every asset in the market, with weights in the proportions that they exist in the market, with the necessary assumption that these assets are infinitely divisible.

Market risk is the risk of losses in positions arising from movements in market variables like prices and volatility.

Market sentiment, also known as investor attention, is the general prevailing attitude of investors as to anticipated price development in a market. This attitude is the accumulation of a variety of fundamental and technical factors, including price history, economic reports, seasonal factors, and national and world events. If investors expect upward price movement in the stock market, t

Market timing is the strategy of making buying or selling decisions of financial assets (often stocks) by attempting to predict future market price movements (market trends). The prediction may be based on an outlook of market or economic conditions resulting from technical or fundamental analysis. This is an investment strategy based on the outlook for an aggregate market rather than fo

A market trend is a perceived tendency of the financial markets to move in a particular direction over time. Analysts classify these trends as secular for long time-frames, primary for medium time-frames, and secondary for short time-frames. Traders attempt to identify market trends using technical analysis, a framework which characterizes market trends as predictable price tendencies wi

Marketing ethics is an area of applied ethics that examines the moral principles and standards governing the practice and regulation of marketing. It addresses ethical issues arising in areas such as advertising, promotion, pricing, product development, and distribution. Certain aspects of marketing ethics, particularly advertising and promotional practices, overlap with media ethics and

Martingale pricing is a pricing approach based on the notions of martingale and risk neutrality. The martingale pricing approach is a cornerstone of modern quantitative finance and can be applied to a variety of derivatives contracts, e.g. options, futures, interest rate derivatives, credit derivatives, etc.

A Master of Financial Economics is a postgraduate master's degree focusing

A master's degree in quantitative finance is a postgraduate degree focused on the application of mathematical methods to the solution of problems in financial economics. There are several like-titled degrees which may further focus on financial engineering, computational finance, mathematical finance, or financial risk management.

Mathematical finance, also known as quantitative finance and financial mathematics, is a field of applied mathematics, concerned with mathematical modeling in the financial field.

Mean reversion is a financial term for the assumption that an asset's price will tend to converge to the average price over time.

A merchant bank is historically a bank dealing in commercial loans and investment. In modern British usage, it is the same as an investment bank. Merchant banks were the first modern banks and evolved from medieval merchants who traded in commodities, particularly cloth merchants. Historically, merchant banks' purpose was to facilitate or finance the production and trade of commodities,

Mismarking in securities valuation takes place when the value that is assigned to securities does not reflect what the securities are actually worth, due to intentional fraudulent mispricing. Mismarking misleads investors and fund executives about how much the securities in a securities portfolio managed by a trader are worth (the securities' net asset value, or NAV), and thus misreprese

Mobile banking, also known as app-based banking is a service that allows a bank's customers to conduct financial transactions using a mobile device. Unlike the related internet banking it uses software, usually an app, provided by the bank. Mobile banking is usually available on a 24-hour basis. Many neobanks operate exclusively through mobile banking.

Mobile payment, also referred to as mobile money, mobile money transfer and mobile wallet, is any of various payment processing services operated under financial regulations and performed from or via a mobile device. Instead of paying with cash, cheque, or credit card, a consumer can use a payment app on a mobile device to pay for a wide range of services and digital or hard goods. Altho

A momentum crash is a sudden and significant decline in the performance of a momentum-based investment strategy, which involves buying assets that have shown an upward price trend and selling those with a downward trend. While this strategy can be profitable, it is also prone to sudden reversals that can result in large losses. These reversals can occur without warning, leading to a shar

Momentum investing is a system of buying stocks or other securities that have had high returns over the past three-to-twelve months, and selling those that have had poor returns over the same period.

A money center bank (also written money-center bank) is a bank or bank holding company that is a particular kind of high-end commercial bank: located in a major financial center such as New York or San Francisco, its lending operations are financed by borrowings from other banks or by issuing bonds. Money center banks tend to engage in a number of different or related businesses, such as

Money creation, or money issuance, is the process by which the money supply of a country or economic region is increased. In most modern economies, both central banks and commercial banks create money. Central banks issue money as a liability, typically called reserve deposits, which is available only for use by central bank account holders. These account holders are generally large comm

The money flow index (MFI) is an oscillator that ranges from 0 to 100. It is used to show the money flow (an approximation of the dollar value of a day's trading) over several days.

The money market is a component of the economy that provides short-term funds. The money market deals in short-term loans, generally for a period of a year or less.

A money market account (MMA) or money market deposit account (MMDA) is a deposit account that pays interest based on current interest rates in the money markets. The interest rates paid are generally higher than those of savings accounts and transaction accounts; however, some banks will require higher minimum balances in money market accounts to avoid monthly fees and to earn interest.

In finance, moneyness is the relative position of the current price (or future price) of an underlying asset (e.g., a stock) with respect to the strike price of a derivative, most commonly a call option or a put option. Moneyness is firstly a three-fold classification:

In microeconomics, a monopoly price is set by a monopoly. A monopoly occurs when a firm lacks any viable competition and is the sole producer of the industry's product. Because a monopoly faces no competition, it has absolute market power and can set a price above the firm's marginal cost.

Monopoly profit is an inflated level of profit due to the monopolistic practices of an enterprise.

In mathematical finance, a Monte Carlo option model uses Monte Carlo methods to calculate the value of an option with multiple sources of uncertainty or with complicated features. The first application to option pricing was by Phelim Boyle in 1977 (for European options). In 1996, M. Broadie and P. Glasserman showed how to price Asian options by Monte Carlo. An important development was

Monte Carlo methods are used in corporate finance and mathematical finance to value and analyze (complex) instruments, portfolios and investments by simulating the various sources of uncertainty affecting their value, and then determining the distribution of their value over the range of resultant outcomes. This is usually done by help of stochastic asset models. The advantage of Monte C

The Montreal Exchange (MX; French: Bourse de Montréal), formerly the Montreal Stock Exchange (MSE), is a derivatives exchange, located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada that trades futures contracts and options on equities, indices, currencies, ETFs, energy and interest rates. Since 1965, it has been located in the Tour de la Bourse (Stock Exchange Tower), Montreal's third-tallest building. I

In economics, a moral hazard is a situation where an economic actor has an incentive to increase its exposure to risk because it will not bear the full costs associated with that risk. For example, when a corporation is insured, it may take on higher risk knowing that its insurance will pay the associated costs. A moral hazard may occur where the actions of the risk-taking party change t

A mortgage-backed security (MBS) is a type of asset-backed security (an "instrument") which is secured by a mortgage or collection of mortgages. The mortgages are aggregated and sold to a group of individuals (a government agency or investment bank) that securitizes, or packages, the loans together into a security that investors can buy. Bonds securitizing mortgages are usually treated a

The mosaic theory in finance involves the use of security analyst personnel to gather information about a company or corporation to evaluate and determine its financial stability. In addition to public information available to all investors, securities analysts also have access to non-public information which the vast majority of investors do not possess. Trading based on such non-public

In mathematical finance, the multi-curve framework refers to

A multi-manager fund is an investment product that consists of multiple specialized funds. Each specialized fund may invest across different sectors and markets, or in the same asset class but have different investment styles. For example, large cap value fund versus large cap growth fund.

A multilateral trading facility (MTF) is a European Union regulatory term for a self-regulated financial trading venue. These are alternatives to the traditional stock exchanges where a market is made in securities, typically using electronic systems. The concept was introduced within the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), a European Directive designed to harmonise re

Murābaḥa (Arabic: مرابحة, derived from ribh Arabic: ربح, meaning profit) was originally a term of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) for a sales contract where the buyer and seller agree on the markup (profit) or "cost-plus" price for the item(s) being sold. In recent decades it has become a term for a very common form of Islamic (i.e., "shariah-compliant") financing, where the price is marked

In portfolio theory, a mutual fund separation theorem, mutual fund theorem, or separation theorem is a theorem stating that, under certain conditions, any investor's optimal portfolio can be constructed by holding each of certain mutual funds in appropriate ratios, where the number of mutual funds is smaller than the number of individual assets in the portfolio. Here a mutual fund refer

A mutual savings bank is a financial institution chartered by a central or regional government, without capital stock, owned by its members who subscribe to a common fund. From this fund, claims, loans, etc., are paid. Profits after deductions are shared among the members. The institution is intended to provide a safe place for individual members to save and to invest those savings in mo

A naked option or uncovered option is an options strategy where the options contract writer (i.e., the seller) does not hold the underlying asset to cover the contract in case of assignment (like in a covered option). Nor does the seller hold any option of the same class on the same underlying asset that could protect against potential losses (like in an options spread). A naked option i

NASDAQ futures are financial futures which launched on June 21, 1999. It is the financial contract futures that allow an investor to hedge with or speculate on the future value of various components of the NASDAQ market index.

The probability of the outcome of an experiment is never negative, although a quasiprobability distribution allows a negative probability, or quasiprobability for some events. These distributions may apply to unobservable events or conditional probabilities.

A neobank is a type of direct bank that operates exclusively using online banking without traditional physical branches. In contrast to direct banks, in many cases, neobanks do not have their own banking licenses, and instead rely on partner banks. They typically have lower operational costs, which can sometimes result in lower fees and more competitive interest rates.

Net asset value (NAV) is the value of an entity's assets minus the value of its liabilities, often in relation to open-end, mutual funds, hedge funds, and venture capital funds. Shares of such funds registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission are usually bought and redeemed at their net asset value. It is also a key figure with regard to hedge funds and venture capital fu

Net volatility refers to the volatility implied by the price of an option spread trade involving two or more options. Essentially, it is the volatility at which the theoretical value of the spread trade matches the price quoted in the market, or, in other words, the implied volatility of the spread.

NSW Treasury is a department of the New South Wales Government, is responsible for state financial management policy and reporting, and providing advice to the government on economic conditions and issues in New South Wales, Australia. NSW Treasury was established in April 1824 and is the oldest continuing government agency in Australia.

A non-banking financial institution (NBFI) or non-bank financial company (NBFC) is a financial institution that is not legally a bank; it does not have a full banking license or is not supervised by a national or international banking regulatory agency. NBFC facilitate bank-related financial services, such as investment, risk pooling, contractual savings, and market brokering. Examples

Numerix is an American capital markets analytics and risk management technology company headquartered in New York City. It develops pricing, risk management, and portfolio analytics software for financial derivatives, structured products, fixed income securities, and convertible securities, serving sell-side institutions including banks and broker-dealers, and buy-side participants inclu

An odd lotter is an investor who purchases shares or other securities in small or unusual quantities. Stocks are typically traded in increments of 100 shares, a quantity known as a round lot or board lot. The cost of 100 shares of a security may be beyond the means of an individual investor, or may represent a larger investment than the investor wishes to make. Thus, the investor purcha

The official cash rate (OCR) is the term used in Australia and New Zealand for the bank rate and is the rate of interest which the central bank charges on overnight loans between commercial banks. This allows the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand to adjust the interest rates that apply in each country's economy. The OCR cannot be changed by transactions betwee

An offshore bank is a bank that is operated and regulated under international banking license (often called offshore license), which usually prohibits the bank from establishing any business activities in the jurisdiction of establishment. Due to less regulation and transparency, accounts with offshore banks were often used to hide undeclared income. Since the 1980s, jurisdictions that p

An offshore fund is generally a collective investment scheme domiciled in an offshore jurisdiction. Like the term "offshore company", the term is more descriptive than definitive, and both the words 'offshore' and 'fund' may be construed differently.

Online ticket brokering is the resale of tickets through a web-based ticket brokering service or online ticket exchanges. Prices on ticket brokering websites are determined by demand, availability, and the ticket reseller. Tickets sold through an online ticket brokering service may or may not be authorized by the official seller.

Open outcry is a method of communication between professionals on a stock exchange or futures exchange, typically on a trading floor. It involves shouting and the use of hand signals to transfer information primarily about buy and sell orders. The part of the trading floor where this takes place is called a pit.

Open road tolling (ORT), also called all-electronic tolling, cashless tolling, or free-flow tolling, is the collection of tolls on toll roads without the use of tollbooths. An electronic toll collection system is usually used instead. The major advantage to ORT is that users are able to drive through the toll plaza at highway speeds without having to slow down to pay the toll. In some in

In mathematics, the theory of optimal stopping or early stopping is concerned with the problem of choosing a time to take a particular action, in order to maximise an expected reward or minimise an expected cost. Optimal stopping problems can be found in areas of statistics, economics, and mathematical finance (related to the pricing of American options). A key example of an optimal stop

In finance, an option is a contract which conveys to its owner, the holder, the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell a specific quantity of an underlying asset or instrument at a specified strike price on or before a specified date, depending on the style of the option.

In financial markets, an option naming convention is a method of identifying which of many possible options is being quoted or traded.

In finance, the style or family of an option is the class into which the option falls, usually defined by the dates on which the option may be exercised. The vast majority of options are either European or American (style) options. These options—as well as others where the payoff is calculated similarly—are referred to as "vanilla options". Options where the payoff is calculated differe

In finance, the time value (TV) (extrinsic or instrumental value) of an option is the premium a rational investor would pay over its current exercise value (intrinsic value), based on the probability it will increase in value before expiry. For an American option this value is always greater than zero in a fair market, thus an option is always worth more than its current exercise value.

Option-adjusted spread (OAS) is the yield spread which has to be added to a benchmark yield curve to discount a security's payments to match its market price, using a dynamic pricing model that accounts for embedded options. OAS is hence model-dependent. This concept can be applied to a mortgage-backed security (MBS), or another bond with embedded options, or any other interest rate deri

In finance, options backdating is the practice of altering the date a stock option was granted, to a usually earlier date (i.e backdating), but sometimes later date (i.e. forward dating), at which the underlying stock price was lower. This is a way of repricing options to make them more valuable when the option "strike price" (the fixed price at which the owner of the option can purchase

Option strategies are the simultaneous, and often mixed, buying or selling of one or more options that differ in one or more of the options' variables. Call options, simply known as Calls, give the buyer a right to buy a particular stock at that option's strike price. Opposite to that are Put options, simply known as Puts, which give the buyer the right to sell a particular stock at the

An order book is the list of orders (manual or electronic) that a trading venue (in particular stock exchanges) uses to record the interest of buyers and sellers in a particular financial instrument. A matching engine uses the book to determine which orders can be fully or partially executed.