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Finance

Accredited investor

An accredited or sophisticated investor is an investor with a special status under financial regulation laws. The definition of an accredited investor (if any), and the consequences of being classified as such, vary between countries. Generally, accredited investors include high-net-worth individuals, banks, financial institutions, and other large corporations, who have access to complex

Finance

Anti–money laundering

Anti–money laundering (AML) refers to a set of laws, regulations and institutional practices designed to help financial institutions and other regulated entities prevent, detect, and report money laundering and related financial crime. (Anti–money laundering is sometimes paired with combating the financing of terrorism, using the initialism AML/CFT.) In addition to regulatory and supervi

Securities & exchanges

Asset classes

In finance, an asset class is a group of marketable financial assets that have similar financial characteristics and behave similarly in the marketplace. These instruments can be distinguished as either having to do with real assets or having to do with financial assets. Often, assets within the same asset class are subject to the same laws and regulations; however, this is not always

Securities & exchanges

Auction rate security

An auction rate security (ARS) typically refers to a debt instrument (corporate or municipal bonds) with a long-term nominal maturity for which the interest rate is regularly reset through a Dutch auction. Since February 2008, most such auctions have failed, and the auction market has been largely frozen. In late 2008, investment banks that had marketed and distributed auction rate secur

Securities & exchanges

Australian Securities and Investments Commission

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is an independent commission of the Australian Government tasked as the national corporate regulator. ASIC's role is to regulate company and financial services and enforce laws to protect Australian consumers, investors and creditors. ASIC, which reports to the treasurer, was established on 1 July 1998 following recommendations

Payments & settlement

Balance of payments

In international economics, the balance of payments (also known as balance of international payments and abbreviated BOP or BoP) of a country is the difference between all money flowing into the country in a particular period of time (e.g., a quarter or a year) and the outflow of money to the rest of the world. These financial transactions are made by individuals, firms and government b

Payments & settlement

Balance of trade

Balance of trade is the difference between the monetary value of a nation's exports and imports of goods over a certain time period. Sometimes, trade in services is also included in the balance of trade but the official IMF definition only considers goods. The balance of trade measures a flow variable of exports and imports over a given period of time. The notion of the balance of trade

Trading basics

Banking as a service

Banking as a service (BaaS) is the provision of banking products (such as deposit accounts, loans and credit cards) to customers through non-bank or non-financial third party partnerships. The bank provides the balance sheet management, including capital, liquidity and credit risk management, while the partner company (typically a fintech) interacts directly with the customer via their p

Banking

Banking in ancient Rome

In ancient Rome there were a variety of officials tasked with banking. These were the argentarii, mensarii, coactores, and nummularii. The argentarii were money changers. The role of the mensarii was to help people through economic hardships, the coactores were hired to collect money and give it to their employer, and the nummularii minted and tested currency. They offered credit systems

Banking

Banking in Nicaragua

Banking in Nicaragua refers to its financial system, which includes private and state-owned banks, microfinance institutions, financial cooperatives, and insurance providers. All institutions are regulated by the Superintendency of Banks and Other Financial Institutions (SIBOIF), which makes sure there compliance with domestic laws and international standards. The Nicaraguan banking sect

Securities & exchanges

Beneficial ownership

In domestic and international commercial law, a beneficial owner is a natural person (or persons) who ultimately owns or controls an interest in a legal entity or arrangement, such as a company, trust, or foundation. Legal owners (i.e. owners of record), commonly described as registered owners, may hold those interests as beneficial owners or for the benefit of someone else, in which cas

Trading basics

Bored Ape

Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), often colloquially called Bored Apes or Bored Ape, is a non-fungible token (NFT) collection built on the Ethereum blockchain with the ERC-721 standard. The collection features profile pictures of cartoon apes that are procedurally generated by an algorithm.

Securities & exchanges

Canadian securities regulation

Canadian securities regulation is managed through the laws and agencies established by Canada's 10 provincial and 3 territorial governments. Each province and territory has a securities commission or equivalent authority with its own provincial or territorial legislation.

Finance

Chose

Chose (pronounced: , French for "thing") is a term used in common law tradition to refer to rights in property, specifically a combined bundle of rights. A chose is the enforcement right which a party possesses in an object. The use of chose extends from the English use of French within the courts. In English and commonwealth law, all personal things fall into one of two categories, eith

Assets

Coinye

Coinye (formerly Coinye West), is a scrypt-based cryptocurrency. Cease and desist letters were issued against it for its use of American rapper Kanye West as its mascot despite West having no affiliation with the project. The project was abandoned by the original developers following West's filing of a trademark infringement lawsuit against them.

Trading basics

Corn Exchange, London

The Corn Exchange was a commercial building in Mark Lane, London, England. The original structure dated from 1747, but the exchange later amalgamated with a rival exchange and was rebuilt several times before finally closing in 1987.

Networks

CryptoZoo

CryptoZoo was a blockchain game co-founded by the YouTuber Logan Paul, which was considered a failure. Launched in 2021, it promised a blend of cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens within a game.

Payments & settlement

Current account (balance of payments)

In macroeconomics and international finance, a country's current account records the value of exports and imports of both goods and services and international transfers of capital. It is one of the two components of the balance of payments, the other being the capital account (also known as the financial account). Current account measures the nation's earnings and spendings abroad and it

Finance

DataTreasury

DataTreasury is an American fintech company. Located in Plano, Texas, the company develops, acquires and licenses technology for secure check image capture and storage. The company has a patent portfolio relating to these technologies, which it enforces.

Finance

Digital banking

Digital banking is part of the broader context for the move to online banking, where banking services are delivered over the internet. The shift from traditional to digital banking has been gradual, remains ongoing, and is constituted by differing degrees of banking service digitization. Digital banking involves high levels of process automation and web-based services and may include AP

Fiat currencies

Electricity as the Dominant Force in the World

Electricity as the Dominant Force in the World is an 1896 United States five-dollar silver certificate. It is of the US large-size variety measuring 7.375 in (187.3 mm) by 3.125 in (79.4 mm). The note is one of three notes that are part of the "Educational Series". As a result of the nudity portrayed on the obverse and other controversies, the note was replaced in 1899.

Trading basics

Export Bonus Scheme

The Export Bonus Scheme (EBS) was a dual exchange rate system implemented by the government of Ayub Khan from 1959 to 1972. It was introduced to address foreign exchange shortages and support industrialization. In practice, it amounted to an effective devaluation of the Pakistani rupee for selected sectors. Although the EBS increased manufactured exports, it was later criticized for crea

Fiat currencies

Foreign exchange reserves

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

Finance

GoAML

goAML system is a software solution that has been developed in a manner to incorporate a set of processes and analyze reports about potential suspicious transactions and to classify financial transactions of any type. It is designed as a robust mechanism to capture automated data collection, document management, workflow, and statistical requirements conveniently for the decision-making

Trading basics

Grain trade

The grain trade refers to the local and international trade in cereals such as wheat, barley, maize, rice, and other food grains. Grain is an important trade item because it is easily stored and transported with limited spoilage, unlike other agricultural products. Healthy grain supply and trade is important to many societies, providing a caloric base for most food systems as well as imp

Securities & exchanges

Growth investing

Growth investing is a type of investment strategy focused on capital appreciation. Those who follow this style, known as growth investors, invest in companies that exhibit signs of above-average growth, even if the share price appears expensive in terms of metrics such as price-to-earnings or price-to-book ratios. In typical usage, the term "growth investing" contrasts with the strategy

Securities & exchanges

Hague Securities Convention

The Convention on the law applicable to certain rights in respect of securities held with an intermediary, or Hague Securities Convention is an international multilateral treaty intended to remove, globally, legal uncertainties for cross-border securities transactions. The Convention was drafted under the auspices of the Hague Conference on Private International Law, which as resulted in

Finance

History of debt relief

Debt relief, or debt forgiveness, has been practiced in many societies since antiquity. Periodic debt remission was institutionalised in the Ancient Near East and contributed to the stability of its societies. In ancient Greece and Rome the laws were more creditor-friendly and debt cancellation was one of the major demands of the poor, only occasionally implemented by the government. Med

Finance

History of insurance

The history of insurance traces the development of the modern business of insurance against risks, especially regarding cargo, property, death, automobile accidents, and medical treatment.

Finance

Hypothec

Hypothec (; from Lat. hypotheca, from Gk. ὑποθήκη: hypothēkē), sometimes tacit hypothec, is a term used in civil law systems (e.g. the law of most of Continental Europe) to refer to a registered real security of a creditor over real estate, but under some jurisdictions it may additionally cover ships only (ship hypothec), as opposed to other collaterals, including corporeal movables othe

Banking

Ijarah

Ijarah, (Arabic: الإجارة, al-Ijārah, "to give something on rent" or "providing services and goods temporarily for a wage" (a noun, not a verb)), is a term of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) and product in Islamic banking and finance.

Finance

Investment advisory

An investment advisory is a service that recommends certain securities primed for appreciation, usually through direct management of clients' assets or by way of written publications.

Finance

Investment performance

Investment performance is the return on an investment portfolio, which can contain a single asset or multiple assets.

Securities & exchanges

Investment style

Investment style,

Finance

Islamic finance products, services and contracts

Islamic finance products, services and contracts are financial products and services and related contracts that conform with Sharia (Islamic law). Islamic banking and finance has its own products and services that differ from conventional banking. These include Mudharabah (profit sharing), Wadiah (safekeeping), Musharakah (joint venture), Murabahah (cost plus finance), Ijar (leasing), Ha

Securities & exchanges

Joel Seligman

Joel Seligman (born January 11, 1950) is an American legal scholar and former academic administrator. He served as the 10th president of the University of Rochester, in Rochester, New York, from 2005 to 2018. Seligman is also one of the leading authorities on securities law in the United States. Seligman stepped down from his presidency in 2018 following his handling of a university-wide

Securities & exchanges

John C. Coffee

John C. Coffee Jr. (born November 15, 1944) is the Adolf A. Berle Professor of Law and director of the Center on Corporate Governance at Columbia Law School.

Banking

John Law (economist)

John Law (pronounced [lɑs] in French in the traditional approximation of Laws, the colloquial Scottish form of the name; 21 April 1671 – 21 March 1729) was a Scottish-French economist and financier. He rose to power in France where he created a novel financial scheme for French public finances known as Law's System (French: le système de Law) with two institutions at its core, John Law's

Trading basics

Jurisdictional arbitrage

Jurisdictional arbitrage is the practice of taking advantage of discrepancies between competing legal jurisdictions. It takes its name from arbitrage, the practice in finance of purchasing a good at a lower price in one market and selling it at a higher price in another. Just as in financial arbitrage, the attractiveness of jurisdiction arbitrage depends largely on its transaction costs,

Banking

Know your customer

Know your customer or know your client (KYC) laws, regulations and guidelines in financial services require regulated businesses and professionals to verify the identity of a customer, and the suitability and risks involved with maintaining a business relationship with them. These procedures fit within the broader scope of anti-money laundering (AML) and counter terrorism financing (CTF)

Securities & exchanges

Lewis Ranieri

Lewis S. Ranieri (; born 1947) is a former bond trader, and founding partner and current chairman of Ranieri Partners, a real estate firm.

Banking

Libor scandal

The Libor scandal was a series of criminal allegations by financial authorities connected to the Libor (London Inter-bank Offered Rate) and the related Euribor benchmark, together with the resulting investigations and prosecutions. All ten convictions in the United States were overturned or vacated by 2022, after appellate courts held there was no evidence traders had broken any laws or

Trading basics

Local government financing vehicle

In China, a local government financing vehicle (LGFV) (Chinese: 地方政府融资平台) is an investment company formed by local governments to raise funds, usually by borrowing money to finance real estate development and other local infrastructure projects. They allow local governments to finance infrastructure projects while complying with laws prohibiting them from issuing bonds or having deficits

Trading basics

London Metal Exchange

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

Trading basics

London Platinum and Palladium Market

The London Platinum and Palladium Market (LPPM) is an over-the-counter trading centre for platinum and palladium and a commodity trading association. London has always been a centre for the research in and development of most of the platinum group metals. Trade was established in the early 20th century, typically by existing dealers of gold and silver. The LPPM has been involved in fixin

Banking

Michael Milken

Michael Robert Milken (born July 4, 1946) is an American financier. He is known for his role in the development of the market for high-yield bonds ("junk bonds"), which led to his reputation as the "Junk Bond King", and his conviction and sentence following a guilty plea on felony charges for violating U.S. securities laws. Milken's compensation while head of the high-yield bond departme

Finance

Ministry of Finance (Sweden)

The Ministry of Finance (Swedish: Finansdepartementet) is a Swedish government ministry responsible for matters relating to economic policy, the central government budget, taxes, banking, security and insurance, international economic work, central, regional and local government.

Finance

Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (Uganda)

The Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (MoFPED) is a cabinet-level government ministry of Uganda. Its mandate is to formulate sound economic and fiscal policies, mobilize resources for the implementation of government programmes, disburse public resources as appropriated by Parliament, and account for their use in accordance with national laws and international best p

Securities & exchanges

Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems

Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (MERS) is an American privately held corporation. MERS is a separate and distinct corporation that serves as a nominee on mortgages after the turn of the century and is owned by holding company MERSCORP Holdings, Inc., which owns and operates an electronic registry known as the MERS system, which is designed to track servicing rights and own

Banking

Mu'amalat

Muamalat (also muʿāmalāt, Arabic: معاملات, literally "transactions" or "dealings") is a part of Islamic jurisprudence, or fiqh. Muamalat has been defined as Islamic "rulings governing commercial transactions",

Banking

Murābaḥa

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

Payments & settlement

Negotiable instrument

A negotiable instrument is a document guaranteeing the payment of a specific amount of money, either on demand, or at a set time, whose payer is usually named on the document. More specifically, it is a document contemplated by or consisting of a contract, which promises the payment of money without condition, which may be paid either on demand or at a future date. The term has different

Finance

Net capital outflow

Net capital outflow (NCO) is the net flow of funds being invested abroad by a country during a certain period of time (usually a year). A positive NCO means that the country invests outside more than the world invests in it. NCO is one of two major ways of characterizing the nature of a country's financial and economic interaction with the other parts of the world (the other being the ba

Banking

Passbook

A passbook or bankbook is a paper book used to record bank or building society transactions on a deposit account.

Banking

Prudential Regulation Authority

The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) is a United Kingdom financial services regulatory body, formed as one of the successors to the Financial Services Authority (FSA). The authority is responsible for the prudential regulation and supervision of banks, building societies, credit unions, insurers and major investment firms. It sets standards and supervises financial institutions at t

Banking

Qard al-Hasan

Qardh al-hasan (Arabic: قرض الحسن, transl. benevolent lending) is an Islamic concept of interest-free lending. It is based on the principle of helping others without expecting a financial gain. However some Ulama deem it a form of interest-free loan (fungible, marketable wealth) that is extended by a lender to a borrower on the basis of benevolence (ihsan). Al-qardh, from a shari’a point

Networks

Regulation of algorithms

Regulation of algorithms, or algorithmic regulation, is the creation of laws, rules and public sector policies for promotion and regulation of algorithms, particularly in artificial intelligence and machine learning. For the subset of AI algorithms, the term regulation of artificial intelligence is used. The regulatory and policy landscape for artificial intelligence (AI) is an emerging

Assets

Regulation of cryptocurrency

The regulation of cryptocurrency constitutes regulatory, legal and political actions taken by various governments to regulate and oversee the development and adoption of bitcoin, cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies. Restrictions on cryptocurrency have been motivated by concerns regarding financial stability, consumer protection, national security, and enforcing laws against mon

Securities & exchanges

Republika Srpska Securities Commission

The Republika Srpska Securities Commission (Serbian: Комисија за хартије од вриједности Републике Српске or Komisija za hartije od vrijednosti Republike Srpske) is a financial services regulator in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is based in the city of Banja Luka.

Securities & exchanges

Roberta Karmel

Roberta Sarah Karmel (née Segal; May 4, 1937 – March 23, 2024) was an American attorney and the Centennial Professor of Law, and Co-Director of the Center for the Study of International Business Law, at Brooklyn Law School. She was the first female Commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Securities & exchanges

Scienter

In law, scienter (, Law Latin for "knowingly", Latin pronunciation: [skiˈɛntɛr], from Latin scire 'to know, to separate one thing from another') is a legal term for intent or knowledge of wrongdoing, or reckless disregard for the truth. An offending party then has knowledge of the "wrongness" of an act or event prior to committing it.

Securities & exchanges

Securities class action

A securities class action (SCA), or securities fraud class action, is a lawsuit filed by investors who bought or sold a company's publicly traded securities within a specific period of time (known as a “class period”) and suffered economic injury as a result of violations of the securities laws.

Securities & exchanges

Securities offering

A securities offering (or funding round or investment round) is a discrete round of investment, by which a business or other raises money to fund operations, expansion, a capital project, an acquisition, or some other business purpose.

Networks

Session (software)

Session is an Australian, currently Switzerland-based, cross-platform end-to-end encrypted instant messaging application emphasizing user confidentiality and anonymity. Developed and maintained by the non-profit The Session Technology Foundation, it employs a blockchain-based decentralized network for transmission. Users can send one-to-one and group messages, including various media typ

Securities & exchanges

Share class

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

Finance

Shipbroking

Shipbroking is a financial service, which forms part of the global shipping industry. Shipbrokers are specialist intermediaries/negotiators (i.e. brokers) between shipowners and charterers who use ships to transport cargo, or between buyers and sellers of vessels.

Assets

Smart contract

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.

Securities & exchanges

Stock certificate

In corporate law, a stock certificate (also known as certificate of stock or share certificate) is a legal document that certifies the legal interest (a bundle of several legal rights) of ownership of a specific number of shares (or, under Article 8 of the Uniform Commercial Code in the United States, a securities entitlement or pro rata share of a fungible bulk) or stock in a corporatio

Banking

Sukuk

Sukuk (Arabic: صكوك, romanized: ṣukūk; plural of Arabic: صك, romanized: ṣakk, lit. 'legal instrument, deed, cheque') is the Arabic name for financial certificates, also commonly referred to as "sharia compliant" bonds.

Finance

Suspicious activity report

In financial regulation, a suspicious activity report (SAR) or suspicious transaction report (STR) is a report made by a financial institution about suspicious or potentially suspicious activity as required under laws designed to counter money laundering, financing of terrorism and other financial crimes. The criteria for when a report is required vary by country, but in general, a repor

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

Securities & exchanges

UNIDROIT

UNIDROIT (formally, the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law; French: Institut international pour l'unification du droit privé) is an intergovernmental organization whose objective is to harmonize private international law across countries through uniform rules, international conventions, and the production of model laws, sets of principles, guides and guidelines. E

Finance

United States House Committee on Financial Services

The United States House Committee on Financial Services, also referred to as the House Banking Committee and previously known as the Committee on Banking and Currency, is the committee of the United States House of Representatives that oversees the entire financial services industry, including the securities, insurance, banking and housing industries. The Financial Services Committee als

Trading basics

Unsecured debt

In finance, unsecured debt refers to any type of debt or general obligation that is not protected by a guarantor, or collateralized by a lien on specific assets of the borrower in the case of a bankruptcy or liquidation or failure to meet the terms for repayment. Unsecured debts are sometimes called signature debt or personal loans. These differ from secured debt such as a mortgage, whic