Mutual Funds
March 6th, 2014
An open-ended fund operated by an investment company which raises money from shareholders and invests in a group of assets, in accordance with a stated set of objectives. Mutual funds raise money by selling shares of the fund to ...
Structure products
March 6th, 2014
Structured products are synthetic investment instruments specially created to meet specific needs that cannot be met from the standardized financial instruments available in the markets. Structured products can be used: as an alternative to a direct investment; as part ...
SWAPS
March 6th, 2014
A Swap is an agreement between two parties (the counterparties) to exchange a series of future cash flows at specified future times according to pre-specified conditions, typically with a notional principal and a stated maturity, often close to the ...
Forward Rate Agreement (FRA)
March 6th, 2014
Forward rate agreement (FRA) is an over-the-counter contract in which one party pays a fixed interest rate, and receives a floating interest rate equal to a reference rate (the underlying rate). The payments are calculated over a notional amount ...
Differences between Forward and Future contracts
March 6th, 2014
Forward Futures Not standardized. They offer flexibility in terms of maturity date and contract amount, but they lack liquidity because there is no standard format. Standardized. They are for standard amounts and for standard maturity dates, usually the third ...
Future Contracts
March 6th, 2014
A future contract is a legally binding agreement between two parties to buy or sell a specific quantity of a specific underlying instrument on a certain date in the future (expiry date) at a price agreed upon when concluding ...
Forward Contracts
March 6th, 2014
A forward contract is an agreement to buy or sell an asset at a certain future time for a certain price. It can be contrasted with a spot contract, which is an agreement to buy or sell an asset ...
Options
March 6th, 2014
Options on stocks were first traded on an organized exchange in 1973. Since then there has been a dramatic growth in options markets. Options are now traded on many exchanges throughout the world. Huge volumes of options are also ...
Rights
March 6th, 2014
A security that gives the company’s shareholder the option, but not the obligation, to purchase a predetermined number of the company’s shares at a predetermined price (normally less than the current market price) in proportion to the number of ...
Warrants
March 6th, 2014
A warrant is a time-limited right to subscribe for shares, debentures, loan stock or government securities and is exercisable against the original issuer of the underlying securities. It is an interest and dividend-free securities, granting the holder the right ...