Warrant (finance)In finance, a warrant is a security that entitles the holder to buy or sell stock, typically the stock of the issuing company, at a fixed price called the exercise price. Warrants and options are similar in that the two contractual financial instruments allow the holder special rights to buy securities. Both are discretionary and have expiration dates. They differ mainly in that warrants are only issued by specific authorized institutions (typically the corporation on which the warrant is based) and in certain technical aspects of their trading and exercise.
Expected lossExpected loss is the sum of the values of all possible losses, each multiplied by the probability of that loss occurring. In bank lending (homes, autos, credit cards, commercial lending, etc.) the expected loss on a loan varies over time for a number of reasons. Most loans are repaid over time and therefore have a declining outstanding amount to be repaid. Additionally, loans are typically backed up by pledged collateral whose value changes differently over time vs. the outstanding loan value.
Risk parityRisk parity (or risk premia parity) is an approach to investment management which focuses on allocation of risk, usually defined as volatility, rather than allocation of capital. The risk parity approach asserts that when asset allocations are adjusted (leveraged or deleveraged) to the same risk level, the risk parity portfolio can achieve a higher Sharpe ratio and can be more resistant to market downturns than the traditional portfolio.
Credit valuation adjustmentCredit valuation adjustments (CVAs) are accounting adjustments made to reserve a portion of profits on uncollateralized financial derivatives. They are charged by a bank to a risky (capable of default) counterparty to compensate the bank for taking on the credit risk of the counterparty during the life of the transaction. These most common transaction types are interest rate derivatives, foreign exchange derivatives, and combinations thereof. The reserved profits can be viewed mathematically as the net present value of the credit risk embedded in the transaction.
Dirty priceThe price of a bond is the present value of its future cash-flows. To avoid the impact of the next coupon payment on the price of a bond, this cash flow is excluded from the price of the bond and is called the accrued interest. In finance, the dirty price is the price of a bond including any interest that has accrued since issue of the most recent coupon payment. This is to be compared with the clean price, which is the price of a bond excluding the accrued interest.
Position (finance)In finance, a position is the amount of a particular security, commodity or currency held or owned by a person or entity. In financial trading, a position in a futures contract does not reflect ownership but rather a binding commitment to buy or sell a given number of financial instruments, such as securities, currencies or commodities, for a given price. In derivatives trading or for financial instruments, the concept of a position is used extensively.
Asset classesIn finance, an asset class is a group of financial instruments that have similar financial characteristics and behave similarly in the marketplace. We can often break these instruments into those having to do with real assets and those 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 true. For instance, futures on an asset are often considered part of the same asset class as the underlying instrument but are subject to different regulations than the underlying instrument.
Time horizonA time horizon, also known as a planning horizon, is a fixed point of time in the future at which point certain processes will be evaluated or assumed to end. It is necessary in an accounting, finance or risk management regime to assign such a fixed horizon time so that alternatives can be evaluated for performance over the same period of time. Although short term horizons such as end of day, end of week, end of month matter in accounting, generally it is mere summing-up and the simplest mark to market processes that take place at these short term horizons.
Dividend policyDividend policy is concerned with financial policies regarding paying cash dividend in the present or paying an increased dividend at a later stage. Whether to issue dividends, and what amount, is determined mainly on the basis of the company's unappropriated profit (excess cash) and influenced by the company's long-term earning power. When cash surplus exists and is not needed by the firm, then management is expected to pay out some or all of those surplus earnings in the form of cash dividends or to repurchase the company's stock through a share buyback program.
Clean priceIn finance, the clean price is the price of a bond excluding any interest accrued since bond's issuance and the most recent coupon payment. Comparatively, the dirty price is the price of a bond including the accrued interest. Therefore, Clean Price = Dirty Price − Accrued Interest In Bloomberg Terminal or Reuters, bond prices are quoted using the clean price. Traders tend to think of bonds in terms of their clean prices. Clean prices are more stable over time than dirty prices.
