Financial Terminology- II

Embedded Derivative

A component of a hybrid security that is embedded in a non-derivative instrument. An embedded derivative can modify the cash flows of the host contract because the derivative can be related to an exchange rate, commodity price or some other variable which frequently changes. For example, a Canadian company might enter into a sales contract with a Chinese company, creating a host contract. If the contract is denominated in a foreign currency, such as the U.S. dollar, an embedded foreign currency derivative is created. According to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), the embedded derivative has to be separated from the host contract and accounted for separately unless the economic and risk characteristics of both the embedded derivative and host contract are closely related.

Reverse Morris Trust

A tax-avoidance strategy, in which a corporation wanting to dispose of unwanted assets can do so while avoiding taxes on any gains from those assets. The Reverse Morris Trust starts with a parent company looking to sell assets to a smaller external company. The parent company then creates a subsidiary, and that subsidiary and a smaller external company merge and create an unrelated company. The unrelated company then issues shares to the shareholders of the original parent company. If those shareholders control over 50% of the voting right and economic value in the unrelated company, the Reverse Morris Trust is complete. The parent company has effectively transferred the assets, tax-free, to the smaller external company.

ACORN

A Classification Of Residential Neighbourhoods. Directory that groups the UK residential areas into 39 types, (and the US residential areas into 36 types) according to age, composition, facilities, household size, income, marital status, mode of travel to work, occupation, ownership of car, ownership of home, etc. It's based on the concept that areas with similar demographic and social characteristics tend to share common life styles and patterns of buying behaviour. Designed mainly for marketing and promotional campaigns by the UK researcher Richard Webber, and first published in 1977.

Blanket Mortgage

A mortgage which creates a lien on two or more pieces of property. Blanket mortgages are often used by individuals or companies that have more than one piece of real estate, and that want to take out a mortgage or second mortgage on the combined value of their properties. For example, a real estate developer with several undeveloped lots could mortgage those lots in order to build homes on them. Instead of taking a mortgage on each property, the real estate developer takes out one mortgage on the combined value of the properties.

Negative Arbitrage

The opportunity lost when municipal bond issuers assume proceeds from debt offerings and then invest that money for a period of time (ideally in a safe investment vehicle) until the money is used to fund a project, or to repay investors. The lost opportunity occurs when the money is reinvested and the debt issuer earns a rate or return that is lower than what must actually be paid back to the debt holders.

Leading and Lagging

Accounting technique of expediting (leading) or delaying (lagging) receipts and payments of cash to gain a business advantage. In foreign trade, for example, if a manufacturer has to pay $1 million on a certain date for imported material and receives an export order for $1 million, it might try either to delay the payment for imports or to press for an early payment by the buyer, or both, so that the cash inflow from export is used as cash outflow for imports. It will thus try to escape devaluation risk in import-payment and default risk in export-receipt by juggling two cash flows. Similarly, in transactions between the subsidiaries of the same firm, receipts and payments of cash may be delayed or expedited to defer taxes.

Foreign Exchange Derivatives

Any financial instrument that locks in a future foreign exchange rate. These can be used by currency or forex traders, as well as large multinational corporations. The latter often uses these products when they expect to receive large amounts of money in the future but want to hedge their exposure to currency exchange risk. Financial instruments that fall into this category include: currency options contracts, currency swaps, forward contracts and futures contracts.