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Payments & settlement

Angadia

Angadia is a traditional banking system that has been prevalent in the Indian subcontinent for centuries. Angadia refers to a trusted network of individuals who specialize in the secure transportation of valuable goods, including cash, jewelry, and important documents. It originated in the state of Gujarat. Angadia services facilitate trade and commerce in the region. In exchange for the

Banking

Bank examiner

A bank examiner is a financial professional who has the task of making sure that banks and savings and loan associations are operating legally and safely, in accordance with the bank regulations imposed on these institutions by the chartering level of government. In the United States, they may conduct supervision on behalf of a U.S. government agency, the Federal Reserve System, a state

Trading basics

Basis risk

Basis risk in finance is the risk associated with imperfect hedging due to the variables or characteristics that affect the difference between the futures contract and the underlying "cash" position. It arises because of the difference between the price of the asset to be hedged and the price of the asset serving as the hedge before expiration, namely b = S - F. Barring idiosyncratic inf

Trading basics

Behavioural finance

Behavioural finance is the study of the influence of psychology on the behaviour of investors or financial analysts. It assumes that investors are not always rational, have limits to their self-control and are influenced by their own biases.

Trading basics

Biflation

Biflation (sometimes mixflation, indeflation, or compartflation) is a state of the economy, in which the processes of inflation and deflation occur simultaneously in different parts of the economy. The term was coined in 2003 by F. Osborne Brown, a senior financial analyst at Phoenix Investment Group, and has later been widely used in the media. During the biflation, there is a simultane

Trading basics

Bull (stock market speculator)

In finance, a bull is a speculator in a stock market who buys a holding in a stock in the expectation that, in the very short-term, it will rise in value, whereupon they will sell the stock to make a quick profit on the transaction. Strictly speaking, the term applies to speculators who borrow money to fund such a purchase, and are thus under great pressure to complete the transaction be

Securities & exchanges

Cashflow matching

Cash flow matching is a process of hedging in which a company or other entity matches its cash outflows (i.e., financial obligations) with its cash inflows over a given time horizon. It is a subset of immunization strategies in finance. Cash flow matching is of particular importance to defined benefit pension plans.

Finance

Certified International Investment Analyst

Certified International Investment Analyst (CIIA) is a global finance designation offered by the Association of Certified International Investment Analysts (ACIIA) to financial professionals; candidates may be financial analysts, portfolio managers or investment advisors.

Finance

Chartered Financial Analyst

The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) program is a postgraduate professional certification offered internationally by the US-based CFA Institute (formerly the Association for Investment Management and Research, or AIMR) to investment and financial professionals. The program teaches a wide range of subjects relating to advanced investment analysis—including business analysis, statistics,

Finance

Chief financial officer

A chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization who is assigned the primary responsibility for making decisions for the company for projects and its finances; i.a.: financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and financial reporting, and, increasingly, the analysis of data.

Finance

Chief investment officer

The chief investment officer (CIO) is a Board-level executive, responsible for investments within an organization.

Finance

Clawback

Clawback or claw back is any money or benefits that have been given out, but are required to be returned (clawed back) due to special circumstances or events, such as the money having been received as the result of a financial crime, or where there is a clawback provision in the executive compensation contract.

Trading basics

Commodity trading advisor

A commodity trading advisor (CTA) is US financial regulatory term for an individual or organization who is retained by a fund or individual client to provide advice and services related to trading in futures contracts, commodity options and/or swaps. They are responsible for the trading within managed futures accounts. The definition of CTA may also apply to investment advisors for hedge

Finance

Concentration risk

Concentration risk is a banking term describing the level of risk in a bank's portfolio arising from concentration to a single counterparty, sector or country.

Finance

Corporate action

A corporate action is an event initiated by a public company that brings or could bring an actual change to the debt securities—equity or debt—issued by the company. Corporate actions are typically agreed upon by a company's board of directors and authorized by the shareholders. For some events, shareholders or bondholders are permitted to vote on the event. Examples of corporate actions

Finance

Current (financial services company)

Finco Services, Inc., branded as Current, is an American financial services and software development company based in New York City. It provides mobile banking services through its partner banks, Choice Financial Group, and Cross River Bank.

Trading basics

Discretionary investment management

Discretionary investment management is a form of professional investment management in which investments are made on behalf of clients through a variety of securities. The term "discretionary" refers to investment decisions being made by the investment manager based on the investment manager's judgement rather than under the direction of the client. The major aim of the services offered

Finance

Drawdown (economics)

The drawdown is the measure of the decline from a historical peak in some variable (typically the cumulative profit or total open equity of a financial trading strategy).

Banking

Duration gap

In finance and accounting, and particularly in asset and liability management (ALM), the duration gap measures how well matched are the timings of cash inflows (from assets) and cash outflows (from liabilities), and is then one of the primary asset–liability mismatches considered in the ALM process.

Securities & exchanges

Earnings call

An earnings call is a teleconference or webcast in which a public company discusses its financial results for a reporting period, often providing earnings guidance for future performance. The term stems from earnings per share (EPS), calculated as net income (the "bottom line" on the income statement divided by the number of outstanding shares). Earnings calls typically accompany a press

Trading basics

Equity risk

Equity risk is "the financial risk involved in holding equity in a particular investment." Equity risk is a type of market risk that applies to investing in shares. The market price of stocks fluctuates all the time, depending on supply and demand. The risk of losing money due to a reduction in the market price of shares is known as equity risk.

Finance

Expected return

The expected return (or expected gain) on a financial investment is the expected value of its return (of the profit on the investment). It is a measure of the center of the distribution of the random variable that is the return. It is calculated by using the following formula:

Finance

Financial analyst

A financial analyst is a professional undertaking financial analysis for external or internal clients as a core feature of the job. The role may specifically be titled securities analyst, research analyst, equity analyst, investment analyst, or ratings analyst. The job title is a broad one:

Finance

Financial deepening

Financial deepening is a term used by economists to refer to increasing provision of financial services. It can refer both a wider choice of services and better access for different socioeconomic groups. Financial deepening can have an effect on both individuals' and societies' economic situations.

Finance

Financial institution

A financial institution, sometimes called a banking institution, is a business entity that provides service as an intermediary for different types of financial monetary transactions.

Finance

Financial intermediary

A financial intermediary is an institution or individual that serves as a middleman between two or more parties, typically a lender and borrower, in order to facilitate financial transactions. Common types include commercial banks, investment banks, stockbrokers, insurance and pension funds, pooled investment funds, leasing companies, and stock exchanges.

Trading basics

Fixed-income attribution

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.

Fiat currencies

Foreign exchange risk

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

Finance

FP&A

Financial planning and analysis (FP&A), in accounting and business, refers to the various integrated planning, analysis, and modeling activities aimed at supporting financial decisioning and management

Finance

Fund governance

Fund governance refers to a system of checks and balances and work performed by the governing body (board) of an investment fund to ensure that the fund is operated not only in accordance with law, but also in the best interests of the fund and its investors. The objective of fund governance is to uphold the regulatory principles commonly known as the four pillars of investor protection

Banking

Funds transfer pricing

The Fund Transfer Pricing (FTP) measures the contribution by each source of funding to the overall profitability in a financial institution. Funds that go toward lending products are charged to asset-generating businesses whereas funds generated by deposit and other funding products are credited to liability-generating businesses.

Payments & settlement

Hawala

Hawala or hewala (Arabic: حِوالة, romanized: Ḥawāla, lit. 'transfer, trust'), originating in India as havālā (Hindi: हवाला) or huṇḍī (Hindi: हुण्डी, romanized: Huṇḍī, Sanskrit: हुण्डिका, romanized: Huṇḍikā, lit. 'bill of exchange, draft, or promissory note'), also known as ḥavâleh in Persian, and xawala or xawilaad in Somali, is a popular and informal value transfer system based on the p

Finance

Informal value transfer system

An informal value transfer system (IVTS) is any system, mechanism, or network of people that receives money for the purpose of making the funds or an equivalent value payable to a third party in another geographic location, whether or not in the same form. Informal value transfers generally take place outside of the conventional banking system through non-bank financial institutions or o

Finance

Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India

The Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (ICFAI) was established in 1984 as a non-profit educational society in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. The institution has been offering education to students across India through its various programs in the field of higher education. The institution was founded by N. J. Yasaswy, Besant C. Raj and Dr. Prasanna Chandra, the Director of

Trading basics

Interest rate risk

Interest rate risk refers to the potential for financial loss due to fluctuations in interest rates. It will, in turn, impact differently re market risk, i.e. impacting instruments such as Bonds, re banks and re insurers.

Finance

Internal contradictions of capital accumulation

The internal contradictions of capital accumulation is an essential concept of crisis theory, which is associated with Marxist economic theory. While the same phenomenon is described in neoclassical economic theory, in that literature it is referred to as systemic risk.

Finance

International finance

International finance (also referred to as international monetary economics) is the branch of monetary and macroeconomic interrelations between two or more countries. International finance examines the dynamics of the global financial system, international monetary systems, balance of payments, exchange rates, foreign direct investment, and how these topics relate to international trade.

Trading basics

Investment management

Investment management (sometimes referred to more generally as financial asset management) is the professional asset management of various securities, including shareholdings, bonds, and other assets, such as real estate, to meet specified investment goals for the benefit of investors. Investors may be institutions, such as insurance companies, pension funds, corporations, charities, edu

Securities & exchanges

Investor relations

Investor relations (IR) is a "strategic management responsibility that is capable of integrating finance, communication, marketing and securities law compliance to enable the most effective two-way communication between a company, the financial community, and other constituencies, which ultimately contributes to a company's securities achieving fair valuation." as defined by National Inv

Trading basics

Liability-driven investment strategy

Liability-driven investment (LDI) is an asset–liability management approach that designs the asset portfolio around the size, timing, and risk profile of known obligations. It is used by defined benefit pension schemes and insurers to reduce funding volatility and to help ensure cash is available when benefits fall due.

Finance

Liikanen report

The Liikanen Report or "Report of the European Commission’s High-level Expert Group on Bank Structural Reform" (known as the "Liikanen Group") is a set of recommendations published in October 2012 by a group of experts led by Erkki Liikanen, governor of the Bank of Finland and ECB council member. On 3 July 2013, by large majority the European Parliament adopted an own initiative report c

Banking

Liquidity at risk

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

Finance

Liquidity risk

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.

Trading basics

List of bank stress tests

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

Finance

List of business and finance abbreviations

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

Securities & exchanges

List of securities examinations

The following is a list of securities examinations and the organizations that offer them.

Trading basics

Managed futures account

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),

Finance

Margin at risk

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.

Trading basics

Market portfolio

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.

Trading basics

Master of Finance

A Master of Finance is a professional master's degree awarded by higher education institutions preparing students for careers in finance.

Finance

McClellan oscillator

The McClellan oscillator is a market breadth indicator used in technical analysis by financial analysts of the New York Stock Exchange to evaluate the balance between the advancing and declining stocks. The McClellan oscillator is based on the Advance-Decline Data and it could be applied to stock market exchanges, indexes, portfolio of stocks or any basket of stocks.

Fiat currencies

Onno Ruding

Herman Onno Christiaan Rudolf "Onno" Ruding (born 15 August 1939) is a retired Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and businessman.

Finance

PEG ratio

The PEG ratio (price/earnings to growth ratio) is a valuation metric for determining the relative trade-off between the price of a stock, the earnings generated per share (EPS), and the company's expected growth.

Finance

Performance attribution

Performance attribution, or investment performance attribution is a set of techniques that performance analysts use to explain why a portfolio's performance differed from the benchmark. This difference between the portfolio return and the benchmark return is known as the active return. The active return is the component of a portfolio's performance that arises from the fact that the po

Banking

Pitch book

A pitch book, also called a confidential information memorandum, is a marketing presentation (information layout) used by investment banks, entrepreneurs, corporate finance firms, business brokers and other M&A intermediaries advising on the sale or disposal of the shares or assets of a business. It consists of a careful arrangement and analysis of the investment considerations of the cl

Finance

Present value of growth opportunities

In corporate finance,

Finance

Price-to-cash flow ratio

The price/cash flow ratio (also called price-to-cash flow ratio or P/CF), is a financial ratio used to compare a company's market value to its cash flow. It is calculated by dividing the company's market cap by the company's operating cash flow in the most recent fiscal year (or the most recent four fiscal quarters); or, equivalently, divide the per-share stock price by the per-share ope

Trading basics

Private equity real estate

Private equity real estate is a term used in investment finance to refer to a specific subset of the real estate investment asset class. Private equity real estate refers to one of the four quadrants of the real estate capital markets, which include private equity, private debt, public equity and public debt.

Finance

Product control

Product Control is a control and support function, responsible for ensuring accurate financial reporting for trading, lending and treasury desks.

Finance

Professional certification in financial services

Following is a partial list of professional certifications in financial services, with an overview of the educational and continuing requirements for each; see Professional certification § Accountancy, auditing and finance and Category:Professional certification in finance for all articles.

Trading basics

Relative value (economics)

In finance, relative value is the attractiveness measured in terms of risk, liquidity, and return of one financial asset relative to another, or for a given instrument, of one maturity relative to another. The concept arises in economics, business and investment.

Trading basics

Replicating portfolio

In mathematical finance, a replicating portfolio for a given asset or series of cash flows is a portfolio of assets with the same properties (especially cash flows). This is meant in two distinct senses: static replication, where the portfolio has the same cash flows as the reference asset (and no changes need to be made to maintain this), and dynamic replication, where the portfolio doe

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

Risk of ruin

Risk of ruin is a concept in gambling, insurance, and finance relating to the likelihood of losing all one's investment capital or extinguishing one's bankroll below the minimum for further play. For instance, if someone bets all their money on a simple coin toss, the risk of ruin is 50%. In a multiple-bet scenario, risk of ruin accumulates with the number of bets: each play increases th

Finance

Risk-adjusted return on capital

Risk-adjusted return on capital (RAROC) is a risk-based profitability measurement framework for analysing risk-adjusted financial performance and providing a consistent view of profitability across businesses. The concept was developed by Bankers Trust and principal designer Dan Borge in the late 1970s. Note, however, that increasingly return on risk-adjusted capital (RORAC) is used as a

Banking

Sales and trading

Sales and trading is one of the primary front-office divisions of major investment banks. The term is typically reserved for the trading activities done by sell-side investment banks who are primarily engaged in making markets for institutional clients in various forms of securities. The trading floor of these banks will contain dedicated desks who generally focus exclusively on trading

Securities & exchanges

Securities research

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

Securities & exchanges

Seeking Alpha

Seeking Alpha is a crowd-sourced content service that publishes news on financial markets. It is accessible via a website and mobile app and offers both free and paid subscriptions. Independent contributors, mostly from the buy side, write almost all of the articles published by the service and are paid based on how many subscribers access their articles.

Securities & exchanges

Settlement risk

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

Finance

Shape risk

Shape risk in finance is a type of basis risk when hedging a load profile with standard hedging products having a lower granularity. In other words, a commodity supplier wants to pre-purchase supplies for expected demand, but can only buy in fixed amounts that are bigger or smaller than the demand forecasted. This means it has to either over order or under order and make up the differe

Securities & exchanges

Share (finance)

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

Finance

Sharpe ratio

In finance, the Sharpe ratio (also known as the Sharpe index, the Sharpe measure, and the reward-to-variability ratio) measures the performance of an investment such as a security or portfolio compared to a risk-free asset, after adjusting for its risk. It is defined as the difference between the returns of the investment and the risk-free return, divided by the standard deviation of the

Finance

Sortino ratio

The Sortino ratio measures the risk-adjusted return of an investment asset, portfolio, or strategy. It is a modification of the Sharpe ratio but penalizes only those returns falling below a user-specified target or required rate of return, while the Sharpe ratio penalizes both upside and downside variance equally. Though both ratios measure an investment's risk-adjusted return, they do s

Finance

Speculative attack

In economics, a speculative attack is a precipitous selling of untrustworthy assets by previously inactive speculators and the corresponding acquisition of some valuable assets (currencies, gold). The first model of a speculative attack was contained in a 1975 discussion paper on the gold market by Stephen Salant and Dale Henderson at the Federal Reserve Board. Paul Krugman, who visited

Banking

Standardized approach (operational risk)

In the context of operational risk, the standardized approach or standardised approach is a set of operational risk measurement techniques proposed under Basel II capital adequacy rules for banking institutions.

Finance

Stockbroker

A stockbroker is an individual or company that buys and sells stocks and other investments for a financial market participant in return for a commission, markup, or fee. In most countries they are regulated as a broker or broker-dealer and may need to hold a relevant license and may be a member of a stock exchange. They generally act as a financial adviser and investment manager. In thi

Finance

Strategic financial management

Strategic financial management is the study of finance with a long term view considering the strategic goals of the enterprise. Financial management is sometimes referred to as "Strategic Financial Management" to give it an increased frame of reference.

Trading basics

Stress test (financial)

In finance, a stress test is an analysis or simulation designed to determine the ability of a given financial instrument or financial institution to deal with an economic crisis. Instead of doing financial projection on a "best estimate" basis, a company or its regulators may do stress testing where they look at how robust a financial instrument is in certain crashes, a form of scenario

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

Systemic risk

In finance, systemic risk is the risk of collapse of an entire financial system or entire market, as opposed to the risk associated with any one individual entity, group or component of a system, that can be contained therein without harming the entire system. It can be defined as "financial system instability, potentially catastrophic, caused or exacerbated by idiosyncratic events or co

Finance

Trust company

A trust company is a corporation that acts as a fiduciary, trustee or agent of trusts and agencies. A professional trust company may be independently owned or owned by, for example, a bank or a law firm, and which specializes in being a trustee of various kinds of trusts.

Finance

Valuation risk

Valuation risk is the risk that an entity suffers a loss when trading an asset or a liability due to a difference between the accounting value and the price effectively obtained in the trade.

Securities & exchanges

VIX

VIX is the ticker symbol and popular name for the Chicago Board Options Exchange's CBOE Volatility Index, a popular measure of the stock market's expectation of volatility based on S&P 500 index options. It is calculated and disseminated on a real-time basis by the CBOE, and is often referred to as the fear index or fear gauge.

Securities & exchanges

Volatility risk

Volatility risk

Trading basics

Volcker Rule

The Volcker Rule is section 619 of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (12 U.S.C. § 1851). The rule was originally proposed by American economist and former United States Federal Reserve chair Paul Volcker in 2010 to restrict United States banks from making certain kinds of speculative investments that do not benefit their customers. It was not implemented until

Trading basics

Volume risk

Volume risk, also known as quantity risk, is the risk of production or sales volumes materially and adversely deviating from their expected quantities. The term has context-specific applications.

Securities & exchanges

Watered stock

Watered stock is an asset with an artificially-inflated value. The term most commonly refers to a form of securities fraud in which a company issues stock to someone before receiving at least the par value in payment.

Fiat currencies

Willem Drees Jr.

Willem "Wim" Drees Jr. (24 December 1922 – 5 September 1998) was a Dutch politician of the Democratic Socialists '70 (DS'70) party and economist.