| Active Management | A type of investment approach employed to generate returns in excess of an investment benchmark index. Active management is employed to exploit pricing anomalies in those securities markets that are believed to be subject to mispricing by utilising fundamental analysis and/or technical analysis to assist in the forecasting of future events and the timing of purchases and sales of securities. |
| Alpha | The return from a security or a portfolio in excess of a risk-adjusted benchmark return. |
| American Depositary Receipt (ADR) | An ADR is a security that represents securities of a non-US company that trades in the US financial markets. |
| Alternative Investment Market (AIM) | The smaller UK public limited companies are listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) market. requires fewer admission requirements than LSE |
| Amortisation | The depreciation charge is applied to the company accounts against capitalised intangible assets. |
| Annual General Meeting (AGM) | The Annual General Meeting of the Board of Directors of a company |
| Arbitrage | The process of generating a risk-free profit by shorting and longing an asset in two markets during a time of price anomalies. |
| Asset Allocation | The process of selecting different securities to buy for maintaining in an investment portfolio |
| Auction | Bidding System employed to publicly or privately sell securities. |
| Base Currency | The currency in which the value of a counter currency is quoted |
| Bear Market | A heavy reclining move in a certain market. |
| Bearer Securities | Type of securities in which ownership is evidenced by the possession of the relative certificate. Ownership can be transferred by handing over the certificate of ownership only. |
| Beta | The measurement factor of the systematic risk of a certain security or a whole portfolio comparing to the return of the whole market. |
| Bonus Issue | The volume of the newly issued ordinary shares to ordinary shareholders in relation to the volume of existing ownership so that to lead the shares of the company to be more affordable in the market. |
| Bull Market | The contrary of a Bear Market. A market with increasing trend forecast. |
| Central Bank | The last resort domestic regulating banks with the highest consitutional authorities bearing the responsibility of managing the country’s interest rates levels, monetary and fiscal policies, national debt and money supply and managing the domestic debt issuance, maintanance and settlement |
| Circuit Breaker | A predetermined halting system of trading on a certain exchange when the prices move in an anomaly that might be caused by a panic or unreasonable trading behavior. |
| Closed-Ended | Predetermined size of a company’s shares or trusts/funds. |
| Commercial Paper (CP) | Security issued by large corporations for raising short term capitals |
| Commission | Flat fixed Charged by brokers, dealers or financial institutions. |
| Commodity | All items listed for trade on exchanges such as oil, gaz, wheat, corn, rice, precious metals, etc.. exchanges (eg, oil futures on ICE Futures). |
| Convertible Bond | A bond which is convertible into a issuer’s equity based on predetermined binding conditions and size that are preset upon issuance. It can be exercised either with call or put options related to predetermined triggering events. |
| Coupon | The interest payment on a bond on its due date. |
| Dematerialised Securities | Securities stored electronically on systems without the issuance of physical/hard certificates. |
| Derivatives | Instruments that are used to hedge against potential risks associated with the price movement that usually derives from a different underlying asset. |
| Dirty Price | The price of a security that include the accrued interest till date of trade transaction. |
| Diversification | The adoption of conservative investment strategy that embed the distribution of allocated capital amongst different seniorities of asset classes, markets and countries. |
| Dividend | The profit distributed by a company to shareholders. |
| Equities | The term representing the underlying security of ordinary and/or preference shares |
| ESMA | The European Securities and Markets Authority that is the European Union financial regulatory institution and European Supervisory Authority. |
| Eurobond | International bearer bond denominated in a currency different from that of the issuing country’s domestic currency. |
| Euronext | A network of European stock exchange constituted by the merger of the Amsterdam, Brussels, Lisbon and Paris exchanges that all merged with the New York Stock Exchange. |
| Exchange Rate | The rate of exchanging one currency against another for another. |
| Fiscal Years | The periods for financial reporting used by the tax authorities for tax purposes. |
| Forward | A binding contract between two counterparties that grants one party to buy from the other a specified size of asset at a pre-determined price on a future date. |
| Future | A derivative binding contract typically similar to Forward contract. Yet, it is a non-nogotiable contract with standard parameters traded on exchanges. |
| Gross Domestic Product (GDP) | An economic measurement tool that reflects a country’s overall economic performance |
| Hedging | An adopted strategy used for reducing the exposure to risk associated with the price of holding an asset. |
| Index (movement) | A statistical average that reflects the weighted avarage value of multiple stocks, securities or assets that correspond to a single market, exchange, industry or country. |
| Inflation | The percentage point increase of consumer prices within one country that affects the price of interest and the level of GDP and the overall economic performance of a country. |
| Initial Public Offering (IPO) | A new issuance of common ordinary shares for the first time on a public market or exchange. |
| Insider Dealing/Trading | The act of abuse of position from a person of people possessing advantageous position in a company that allows them to be exposed to sensitive information that may allow them to take, leak, deal or take investment decision. It is considered a Criminal offence. |
| Introduction | As part of the process of assuming an IPO or a public listing, an introduction designates a company applying for, and gaining a listing for its securities on a stock exchange without having raised any funds. |
| Limit Order | A placed order on a specific market which specifies the highest price to pay or the lowest price to accept for a specific security. |
| Open-Ended | Type of investment that has the possibility of unlimited expansion stake or partnership. |
| Open-Ended Investment Company (OEIC) | Investment Company with Variable Capital (ICVC). |
| Option | A type of derivatives instuments that grants the buyer the right, notthe obligation, to buy or sell an asset at a pre-determined price in the future. |
| Passive Management | The investment strategy that adopts tracking or mimicking preset indices, benchmark or preset parameters. |
| Pre-Emption Rights | The rights of common shareholders to subscribe investing in the issuance of new ordinary shares issued by the company in relation to their actual stake in the company. |
| Preference Share | Equities or Shares which usually pay regular income or fixed dividents without granting their holders voting rights with preference of payment of dividends and capital in terms of distribution and of default. |
| Primary Market | The market where securities are issued and listed for the first time in IPOs. |
| Prospectus | A legal well referenced document about a company that is issuing new securities. It help the new potential investors in taking their decision about investing in the company. |
| Proxy | An appointee who votes on a shareholder’s behalf at company meetings. |
| Repo | Repurchase agreement of a sold securities between two counterparties at predefined price and date of settlement. Usually it happens at a discount to it facevalue. |
| Secondary Market | Marketplace for trading in the oustanding issued securities |
| Share Buyback | The buyback/call/cancellation/redemption of securities before their maturity date. |
| Share Split/Stock Split | A strategy that leads to reduce the market price of a company’s shares so that to allow them to be marketable while maitaining the overall value of the capital. |
| Spread | The difference between a purchasing, buying, bidding, longing and selling, offering, shorting price. |
| Swap | A type of derivative with a binding contract between two parties that derives the payment of a series of regular flows of payments related to a predefined terms. |
| Treasury Bills | Short-term Government borrowings that are issued at a deep discount listed in Money markets. |
| Two-Way Price | Prices quoted by a market maker at which they are willing to buy (bid) and sell (offer). |
| Underwriting | The process of validating with the investment bank being the insurer about the sufficiency of demand on a company’s shares before it commits undergoing a new IPO or a new public listing |
| Unit Trust | Open-ended collective investment vehicles |
| Yield | Return on an investment reflected as a percentage of the purchasing price. |
| Zero Coupon Bonds (ZCBs) | Bonds that are redeemed on a pre=determined date at facevalue yet they are issued at a discount to their nominal value without paying any coupon while. |
| LBP | Lebanese Pound Currency |
| ABS | Asset-Backed Security |
| ACD | Authorised Corporate Director |
| ADR | American Depositary Receipt |
| AESP | Automatic Execution Suspension Period |
| AGM | Annual General Meeting |
| AIM | Alternative Investment Market |
| AUD | Australian Dollar Currency |
| ATS | Alternative Trading System |
| AUT | Authorised Unit Trust |
| B2B | Business to Business |
| B2C | Business to Client |
| BBA | British Bankers’ Association |
| BBT | Bloomberg Bond Trader |
| BIS | Bank for International Settlements |
| Bobl | Bundesobligationen |
| BoE | Bank of England |
| BoJ | Bank of Japan |
| BP | British Petroleum |
| BTAN | Bons du Trésor à Taux Fixe et à Intérêts Annuels |
| BTF | Bons du Trésor à Taux Fixe et à Intérêts Précomptés |
| CAC | Cotation Assistée en Continu |
| CAD | Cash Against Delivery |
| CAD | Canadian Dollar Currency |
| CBO | Collateralised Bond Obligation |
| CBOT | Chicago Board of Trade |
| CC | Competition Commission |
| CCP | Central Counterparty |
| CDS | Credit Default Swap |
| CET | Central European Time |
| CFD | Contract for Difference |
| CFTC | Commodity Futures Trading Commission |
| CGT | Capital Gains Tax |
| CHAPS | Clearing House Automated Payment System |
| CHF | Swiss Franc Currency |
| CIS | Collective Investment Scheme |
| CLO | Collateralised Loan Obligation |
| CLS | Continuous Linked Settlement |
| CMB | Cash Management Bill |
| CME | Chicago Mercantile Exchange |
| CP | Commercial Paper |
| CPI | Consumer Prices Index |
| CSD | Central Securities Depository |
| DAX | Deutscher Aktien IndeX |
| DIS | Discount |
| DJIA | Dow Jones Industrial Average |
| DMO | Debt Management Office |
| DTCC | Depository Trust Clearing Corporation |
| DTR | Disclosure and Transparency Rules |
| DVP | Delivery Versus Payment |
| EAFE | Europe, Australasia and Far East |
| EBIT | Earnings Before Interest and Tax |
| EBITDA | Earnings Before Interest and Tax, Depreciation |
| EC | European Commission |
| ECB | European Central Bank |
| ECN | Electronic Communication Network |
| EDGAR | Electronic Data Gathering And Retrieval System |
| EEA | European Economic Area |
| EGM | Extraordinary General Meeting |
| EMH | Efficient Markets Hypothesis |
| EMU | European Monetary Union |
| EPS | Earnings Per Share |
| ER | Expected Return |
| ERISA | Employee Retirement Income Security Act |
| ESMA | European Securities and Markets Authority |
| ETC | Exchange-Traded Commodity |
| ETF | Exchange-Traded Fund |
| ETP | Exchange-Traded Product |
| EU | European Union |
| EUR | Euro |
| EV | Enterprise Value |
| EVA | Economic Value Added |
| Fannie Mae | Federal National Mortgage Association |
| FCA | Financial Conduct Authority |
| FIFO | First In, First Out |
| Freddie Mac | Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation |
| FRS | Financial Reporting Standard |
| FSAP | Financial Services Action Plan |
| FSCS | Financial Services Compensation Scheme |
| FSMA | Financial Services and Markets Act |
| FTSE | Financial Times Stock Exchange |
| FX | Foreign Exchange |
| GAAP | Generally Accepted Accounting Principles |
| GBP | Great Britain Pound Currency |
| GDP | Gross Domestic Product |
| GDR | Global Depositary Receipt |
| GE | General Electric |
| GEMM | Gilt-Edged Market Maker |
| Ginnie Mae | Government National Mortgage Association |
| GMAC | General Motors Acceptance Corporation |
| GMSLA | Global Master Securities Lending Agreement |
| GRY | Gross Redemption Yield |
| GUI | Graphical User Interface |
| GUI | Graphical User Interface |
| HFT | High Frequency Trading |
| HICP | Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices |
| HMRC | Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs |
| HSBC | Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation |
| IASB | International Accounting Standards Board |
| ICE | Intercontinental Exchange |
| ICMA | International Capital Market Association(formally known as the International Securities Market Association (ISMA)) |
| ICVC | Investment Company with Variable Capital |
| IDB | Inter-Dealer Broker |
| IHT | Inheritance Tax |
| Inc | Incorporated |
| IOB | International Order Book |
| IOU | I Owe You |
| IPA | Individual Pension Account |
| IPO | Initial Public Offering |
| IRR | Internal Rate of Return |
| ISA | Individual Savings Account |
| ISDA | International Swaps and Derivatives Association |
| ITG | Investment Technology Group |
| IV | Intrinsic Value |
| JASDEC | Japan Securities Depository Centre |
| JGB | Japanese Government Bond |
| JPY | Japanese Yen Currency |
| KFI | Key Features Information |
| LCH | London Clearing House |
| LIBOR | London Interbank Offered Rate |
| LIFO | Last In, First Out |
| LLC | Limited Liability Company |
| LSE | London Stock Exchange |
| MBS | Mortgage-Backed Security |
| MiFID | Markets in Financial Instruments Directive |
| MPC | Monetary Policy Committee |
| MQP | Mandatory Quote Period |
| MQS | Minimum Quote Size |
| MSCI | Index provider once known as Morgan Stanley Capital International |
| MTF | Multilateral Trading Facility |
| MTN | Medium-Term Note |
| MTS | Message Transfer System |
| NASDAQ | The US exchange that was once referred to as the National Association of Securities DealersAutomated Quotations |
| NAV | Net Asset Value |
| NBV | Net Book Value |
| NED | Non-Executive Director |
| NFP | Non-Farms Payroll |
| NFT | Non-Fungible Token |
| NMPI | Non-Mainstream Pooled Investment |
| NMS | Normal Market Size |
| NPV | Net Present Value |
| NRV | Net Realisable Value |
| NRY | Net Redemption Yield |
| NS&I | National Savings & Investment |
| NYMEX | New York Mercantile Exchange |
| NYSE | New York Stock Exchange |
| NZD | New-Zeeland Dollar Currency |
| OAT | Obligations Assimilables du Trésor |
| OEIC | Open-Ended Investment Company |
| OFT | Office of Fair Trading |
| ONS | Office for National Statistics |
| OTC | Over-the-Counter |
| P&L | Profit and Loss |
| P/E | Price/Earnings Ratio |
| PAT | Profit After Tax |
| PAYE | Pay As You Earn |
| PBIT | Profit Before Interest and Tax |
| PD | Prospectus Directive |
| PEG | Price Earnings to Growth |
| PEP | Personal Equity Plan |
| PIK | Payment In Kind notes |
| PIP | Primary Information Provider |
| POTAM | Panel On Takeovers And Mergers |
| PPI | Producer Prices Index |
| PPP | Purchasing Power Parity |
| PR | Public Relations |
| PRA | Prudential Regulation Authority |
| PSBR | Public Sector Borrowing Requirement |
| PSNCR | Public Sector Net Cash Requirement |
| PVP | Payment Versus Payment |
| PwC | PricewaterhouseCoopers |
| QI | Qualified Investor |
| RCH | Recognised Clearing House |
| REIT | Real Estate Investment Trust |
| RFQ | Request for Quote |
| RIE | Recognised Investment Exchange |
| RIS | Regulatory Information Service (the old name for a Primary Information Provider (PIP)) |
| RNS | Regulatory News Service |
| ROCE | Return On Capital Employed |
| RPI | Retail Prices Index |
| RPIX | RPI, excluding mortgage interest payments |
| RPIY | RPI, excluding mortgage interest payments and |
| RUR | Register Update Request |
| S&P | Standard & Poor’s |
| Sallie Mae | Student Loan Marketing Association |
| SAR | Substantial Acquisition Rule |
| SBLI | Stock Borrowing and Lending Intermediary |
| SDRT | Stamp Duty Reserve Tax |
| SEAQ | Stock Exchange Automated Quotation system |
| SEC | Securities and Exchange Commission |
| SEDOL | Stock Exchange Daily Official List |
| SETS | Stock Exchange Electronic Trading Service |
| SETSqx | Stock Exchange Electronic Trading Service quotes and crosses |
| SIP | Secondary Information Provider |
| SIPP | Self-Invested Personal Pension Scheme |
| SIV | Structured Investment Vehicle |
| SME | Small and Medium (Sized) Enterprises |
| SPIVA | Standard & Poor’s Index Versus Active |
| SPV | Special Purpose Vehicle |
| SRO | Self-Regulating Organisation |
| SSAP | Statement of Standard Accounting Practice |
| STP | Straight-Through Processing |
| STRIPS | Separate Trading of Registered Interest and Principal of Securities |
| SV | Scenario Variance |
| T | Treasury (as in T-bonds, T-bills, T-notes) |
| TARGET | Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross Settlement Express Transfer |
| TIPS | Treasury Inflation Protected Securities |
| TSE | Tokyo Stock Exchange |
| TTM | Trailing Twelve Month |
| TVM | Time Value of Money |
| UBS | Union Bank of Switzerland |
| UCIS | Unregulated Collective Investment Scheme |
| USD | United States Dollar |
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