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Finance

African Trade and Investment Development Insurance

The African Trade & Investment Development Insurance (ATIDI) is an investment, trade and political risk-mitigation institution on the African continent intended to provide insurance against political (investment) and commercial risks in order to attract foreign direct investment to the region. ATIDI was founded in 2001 by seven COMESA countries, with technical and financial backing of Th

Trading basics

Asset price inflation

Asset price inflation is the economic phenomenon whereby the price of assets rises and becomes inflated. A common reason for higher asset prices is low interest rates. When interest rates are low, investors and savers cannot make easy returns using low-risk methods such as government bonds or savings accounts. To still get a return on their money, investors instead have to buy up other a

Securities & exchanges

Banker's acceptance

A banker's acceptance is a document issued by a bank institution that represents a bank's commitment to make a requested future payment. The request will typically specify the payee, the amount, and the date on which it is eligible for payment. After acceptance, the request becomes an unconditional liability of the bank. Banker's acceptances are distinguished from ordinary time drafts in

Finance

Broker

A broker is a person or entity that arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller. This may be done for a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal. Neither role should be confused with that of an agent—one who acts on behalf of a principal party in a deal.

Payments & settlement

Charge card

A charge card is a type of credit card that enables the cardholder to make purchases which are paid for by the card issuer, to whom the cardholder becomes indebted. The cardholder is obliged to repay the debt to the card issuer in full by the due date, usually on a monthly basis, or be subject to late fees and restrictions on further card use. Charge cards are distinct from traditional c

Trading basics

Charge-off

A charge-off or chargeoff is a declaration by a creditor (usually a credit card account) that an amount of debt is unlikely to be collected. This occurs when a consumer becomes severely delinquent on a debt. Traditionally, creditors make this declaration at the point of six months without payment. A charge-off is a form of write-off.

Finance

Chervonets

Chervonets (pl.: chervontsy) is the traditional Russian name for large foreign and domestic gold coins. The name comes from the Russian term червонное золото (chervonnoye zoloto), meaning 'red gold' (also known as rose gold) – the old name of a high-grade gold type.

Trading basics

Chronic inflation

Chronic inflation is an economic phenomenon occurring when a country experiences high inflation for a prolonged period (several years or decades) due to continual increases in the money supply among other things. In countries with chronic inflation, inflation expectations become 'built-in', and it becomes extremely difficult to reduce the inflation rate because the process of reducing i

Trading basics

Commodity money

Commodity money is money whose value comes from a commodity of which it is made. Commodity money consists of objects having value or use in themselves (intrinsic value) as well as their value in buying goods. This is in contrast to representative money, which has no intrinsic value but represents something of value such as gold or silver, for which it can be exchanged, and fiat money, wh

Trading basics

Cost-of-living crisis

A cost-of-living crisis is a situation or period of high inflation with increases in the nominal cost of living while real wages decrease. As a result, real income and living standards are squeezed to the point that people cannot afford the standard of living that they were previously accustomed to. The population becomes 'poorer' than it used to be in real terms. This is in contrast to

Trading basics

Debt-trap diplomacy

Debt-trap diplomacy is an international financial relationship where a creditor country or institution extends debt to a borrowing nation partially, or solely, to increase the lender's political leverage. The creditor country is said to extend excessive credit to a debtor country with the intention of extracting economic or political concessions when the debtor country becomes unable to

Finance

Department of Finance (Australia)

The Department of Finance is a department of the Australian Government that is responsible for assisting the government across a wide range of policy areas to ensure its outcomes are met, particularly with regard to expenditure, fiscal management and operations of government.

Trading basics

EZ-Link

The EZ-Link card is a rechargeable contactless smart card and electronic money system that is primarily used as a payment method for public transport such as bus and rail lines in Singapore. A standard EZ-Link card is a credit-card sized stored-value contact-less smart-card that comes in a variety of colours, as well as limited edition designs. It is sold by SimplyGo Pte Ltd, a merged en

Finance

Finances of the British royal family

The finances of the British royal family come from a number of sources. The monarch and some of his family are supported financially by means of the Sovereign Grant, which comes from the government and is calculated as a percentage of profits from the Crown Estate, and which is intended to meet the costs of the sovereign's official expenditures. This includes the costs of the upkeep of t

Fiat currencies

Fiscal dominance

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

Trading basics

Gender lens investing

Gender lens investing (also known as gender-smart investing or gender finance) is the practice of investing premised on the understanding that gender is material to financial, business, and social outcomes The term was coined around 2009 and became an increasingly popular practice in the mid-2010s as part of reducing gender inequality.

Banking

Global Alliance for Banking on Values

The Global Alliance for Banking on Values (GABV) is an independent association of 'values-based banks' with a shared mission to use finance to deliver environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) positive outcomes. The GABV consists of over 70 member banks, credit unions and microfinance institutions. Its headquarters are in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Fiat currencies

Heiner Flassbeck

Heiner Flassbeck (born 12 December 1950) is a German economist and public intellectual. From 1998 to 1999 he was a State Secretary in the German Federal Ministry of Finance (German: Bundesministerium der Finanzen) where he also advised former finance minister Oskar Lafontaine on a reform of the European Monetary System. He became the Chief of Macroeconomics and Development of the United

Finance

Impact of microcredit

The impact of microcredit is the study of microcredit and its impact on poverty reduction which is a subject of much controversy. Proponents state that it reduces poverty through higher employment and higher incomes. This is expected to lead to improved nutrition and improved education of the borrowers' children. Some argue that microcredit empowers women. In the US and Canada, it is arg

Finance

Incentive

An incentive is anything that persuades a person or organization to alter their behavior to produce a desired outcome. Incentives are widely studied in personnel economics, where researchers and human resource managers examine how firms use pay, career opportunities, performance evaluation, and other mechanisms to motivate employees and improve organizational outcomes. Higher incentives

Trading basics

Incomes policy

Incomes policies in economics are economy-wide wage and price controls, most commonly instituted as a response to inflation, and usually seeking to establish wages and prices below free-market level. Incomes policies have often been resorted to during wartime. During the French Revolution, "The Law of the Maximum" imposed price controls (by penalty of death) in an unsuccessful attempt to

Trading basics

Intrade

Intrade.com was a web-based prediction market which offered a platform where individuals could place bets on future outcomes. After having been forced to exclude US traders in 2012, on 10 March 2013 Intrade suspended all trading, citing possible "financial irregularities". For a time after the suspension, the intrade.com website stated that they were working on a relaunch of the site, ca

Securities & exchanges

Kalshi

Kalshi Inc. is a prediction market platform based in Manhattan, New York City, that launched in July 2021. The platform is used primarily for sports betting, which constitutes more than 90% of site activity and 89% of revenue in 2025. Analysts describe activity on the platform as "heavily tied to the sports calendar". Individuals can place bets on other future outcomes, including economi

Trading basics

La Caldera (NFT collection)

La Caldera is a non-fungible token (NFT) collection created by Colombian singer-songwriter Shakira and Australian graphic designer BossLogic released on 21 September 2021. The collection consists of four pieces named "Zenith", "Caloris", "Watch, Don't Touch", and "Save Me from Myself". Each piece features music by Shakira and animated, digitally altered pictures of Shakira in the fantasy

Trading basics

Life settlement

A life settlement or viatical settlement (from Latin viaticum, something received before death) is the sale of an existing life insurance policy (typically of seniors) for more than its cash surrender value, but less than its net death benefit, to a third party investor. Such a sale provides the policy owner with a lump sum. The third party becomes the new owner of the policy, pays the m

Finance

Microfinance

Microfinance is the provision of financial services to individuals and small businesses, particularly those with low incomes and limited access to conventional banking and related financial services. It encompasses services such as microcredit, savings, checking accounts, microinsurance, and payment systems.

Finance

Ministry of Finance (Netherlands)

The Ministry of Finance (Dutch: Ministerie van Financiën; FIN) is the Dutch Ministry responsible for economic policy, monetary policy, fiscal policy, tax policy, incomes policy, financial regulation, the government budget and the financial market. The Ministry was created in 1798 as the Department of Finance of the Batavian Republic. It became the Ministry of Finance in 1876. The Ministe

Finance

Monte Carlo methods in finance

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

Trading basics

Nutraceutical

Nutraceutical is a marketing term used to imply a pharmaceutical effect from plant extracts, compounds, or food products that are claimed to influence health outcomes, typically as dietary supplements.

Banking

Of Unknown Origin

Of Unknown Origin is a 1983 psychological horror film directed by George P. Cosmatos in his North American film debut, and starring Peter Weller, Jennifer Dale, Lawrence Dane, Kenneth Welsh, Louis Del Grande, and Shannon Tweed in her film debut. Based on the novel The Visitor by Chauncey G. Parker III, it focuses on a mild-mannered Manhattan banker who becomes increasingly obsessive and

Finance

Orphan structure

Orphan structure or Orphan SPV or orphaning are terms used in structured finance closely associated with creating SPVs ("Special Purpose Vehicles") for securitisation transactions where the notional equity of the SPV is deliberately handed over to an unconnected 3rd party who themselves have no control over the SPV; thus the SPV becomes an "orphan" whose equity is controlled by no one.

Trading basics

Pecking order theory

In corporate finance, the pecking order theory (or pecking order model) postulates that "firms prefer to finance their investments internally, using retained earnings, before turning to external sources of financing such as debt or equity" - i.e. there is a "pecking order" when it comes to financing decisions. The theory was first suggested by Gordon Donaldson in 1961 and was modified by

Networks

Perfect (2018 film)

Perfect is a 2018 American science fiction thriller film directed by Eddie Alcazar in his feature length debut. The film stars Garrett Wareing as a young man who is sent to a clinic in hopes of relieving his mental troubles by altering his characteristics.

Trading basics

Persona (user experience)

A persona (also user persona, user personality, customer persona, buyer persona) in user-centered design and marketing is a semi-fictional characterization or representation of a typical customer segment or end user. Personas help marketers and designers focus their efforts by humanizing data into relatable profiles. Personas are one of the outcomes of market segmentation, where markete

Trading basics

Polymarket

Polymarket is an American cryptocurrency-based prediction market which offers a platform where individuals can place bets on future outcomes, including sports matches, economic indicators, weather patterns, awards, political and legislative outcomes, and military conflicts. Participants can deposit cryptocurrency through the Polygon blockchain network and trade shares that represent the

Trading basics

Prediction market

Prediction markets, also known as betting markets, information markets, decision markets, idea futures, or event derivatives, are open markets that enable the prediction of specific outcomes using financial incentives. They are exchange-traded markets established for trading bets in the outcome of various events.

Trading basics

Predictive modelling

In finance and mathematics, predictive modelling is the use of statistics to predict outcomes. Most often the event one wants to predict is in the future, but predictive modelling can be applied to any type of unknown event, regardless of when it occurred. For example, predictive models are often used to detect crimes and identify suspects, after the crime has taken place.

Securities & exchanges

Refinitiv Identification Code

A Refinitiv Instrument Code, previously Reuters Instrument Code (RIC), is a ticker-like code used by Refinitiv to identify financial instruments and indices. The codes are used for looking up information on various Refinitiv financial information networks (such as Refinitiv Real Time) and appear to have developed from the Quotron service purchased in the 1980s.

Securities & exchanges

Restricted stock

Restricted stock, also known as restricted securities, is stock of a company that is not fully transferable (from the stock-issuing company to the person receiving the stock award) until certain conditions (restrictions) have been met. Upon satisfaction of those conditions, the stock is no longer restricted, and becomes transferable to the person holding the award. Restricted stock is of

Finance

Reuters 3000 Xtra

Reuters 3000 Xtra was an electronic trading platform which was released by Reuters in 1999 and supported until the end of 2013. It was typically used by professional traders and financial analysts in trading rooms. It was superseded by the Eikon platform, first released in 2010.

Finance

Roman finance

The practices of ancient Roman finance, while originally rooted in Greek models, evolved in the second century BC with the expansion of Roman monetization. Roman elites engaged in private lending for various purposes, and various banking models arose to serve different lending needs.

Finance

Secured loan

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

Trading basics

Social marketing intelligence

Social marketing intelligence is the method of extrapolating valuable information from social network interactions and data flows that can enable companies to launch new products and services into the market at greater speed and lower cost. This is an area of research however, companies using social marketing intelligence have achieved significant improvement in marketing campaigns.

Finance

Systematic risk

In finance and economics, systematic risk (in economics often called aggregate risk or undiversifiable risk) is vulnerability to events which affect aggregate outcomes such as broad market returns, total economy-wide resource holdings, or aggregate income. In many contexts, events like earthquakes, epidemics and major weather catastrophes pose aggregate risks that affect not only the dis

Finance

Tax transparent fund

A tax transparent fund (TTF) - also known as an authorised contractual scheme fund - is the proposed authorised collective investment scheme structure in the United Kingdom once the UK Finance Bill 2012 becomes an act and when the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and the Corporation Tax Act 2010 are amended, sometime mid-2012. TTFs will then have the option to be based in the UK r

Finance

Taxation in Estonia

Taxation in Estonia consists of state and local taxes. A relatively high proportion of government revenue comes from consumption taxes whilst revenue from capital taxes is one of the lowest in the European Union.

Trading basics

Trade and Investment Framework Agreement

A Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) is a trade pact that establishes a framework for expanding trade and resolving outstanding disputes between countries.

Finance

Trade finance technology

Trade finance technology (abbreviated TradeTech, tradetech, or sometimes Trade Tech) refers to the use of technology, innovation, and software to support and digitally transform the trade finance industry. TradeTech can be seen as a subcategory under FinTech. As digital information becomes more readily accessible, convenient, and available, the trade finance industry is being gradually m

Finance

Trading room

A trading room gathers traders operating on financial markets. The trading room is also often called the front office. The terms "dealing room" and "trading floor" are also used, the latter being inspired from that of an open outcry stock exchange. As open outcry is gradually replaced by electronic trading, the trading room becomes the only remaining place that is emblematic of the finan

Finance

Uganda Investment Authority

The Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) is a semi-autonomous investment promotion and facilitation organisation in Uganda and is owned by the government of Uganda.

Finance

United Kingdom cost-of-living crisis

In late 2021, the prices of many essential goods in the United Kingdom began increasing faster than household incomes, resulting in a fall in real incomes. The phenomenon has been termed a cost-of-living crisis. It is due in part to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including a global surge in inflation, wage stagnation attributed to the Conservative Party's austerity program

Banking

You Can't Take It with You (film)

You Can't Take It with You is a 1938 American screwball romantic comedy film directed by Frank Capra, and starring Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore, James Stewart, and Edward Arnold. Adapted by Robert Riskin from the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1936 play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, the film is about a man from a family of rich snobs who becomes engaged to a woman from a