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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z #

F

Face Value - The debt (or loan) amount that appears on the face of the certificate and that the issuer must pay at maturity.
Factor - A decimal between 0 and 100 that represents the amount of mortgages remaining in a pool of mortgage-backed securities.
Factor Book - A tabular presentation that shows relevant information about factors, value of remaining mortgages, and interest rates on mortgage-backed securities.
Factor Tab - A table used to compute the outstanding principal on Pass-Throughs — Ginnie Maes, Freddie Macs and Fannie Maes.
Fail to Deliver - A situation that occurs when the broker-dealer on the sell side of a transaction does not deliver securities to the broker-dealer on the buy side by the settlement date of the transaction. Usually this occurs because the selling broker-dealer has not received the certificates from the selling customer. The buying broker-dealer will not pay for the securities until the fail to deliver is eliminated by delivery of the certificates.
Fail to Receive - A situation that occurs when the broker-dealer on the buy side of a transaction has not received securities from the broker-dealer on the sell side by the settlement date of the transaction. The buying broker-dealer will not pay for the securities until the fail to receive is eliminated by delivery of the certificates.
Fair Market Value - Value based on current market value and supply and demand conditions.
Family of Funds - Group of mutual funds managed by the same investment management company.
Fannie Mae - Nickname for the Federal National Mortgage Association and the mortgage-backed securities it issues.
Farmer Mac - Nickname for the Federal Agricultural Corporation and the securities it issues.
Fast Market - A market condition in which a large number of orders for a particular security are received within a short period of time and faster than the brokers-specialists and market makers can handle effectively. These situations are often created by the announcement of unexpected news and may lead to price volatility.
FDIC - Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Government agency that insures repayment of savings and time deposits if a member bank becomes insolvent. Mutual fund shares are not bank deposits and are not FDIC-insured.
Federal Agency Security - A debt instrument issued by an agency of the federal government such as the Federal National Mortgage Association. Although these securities generally have high credit ratings due to the fact that they are sponsored by the federal government, they are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, unlike Treasury securities.
Federal Call - When a client makes certain types of transactions in their margin account, the brokerage firm will issue a call notifying the client if additional equity is required by the settlement date in order to satisfy Federal Regulation T.
Federal Farm Credit System - Established by Congress to provide credit to farms and farm-related enterprises. The FFCS is also an issuer of agency securities.
Federal Funds - Any immediately usable funds that can be utilized to pay for money market instruments and U.S. government securities transactions.
Federal Funds Conversion - Process in which an investment check for a money market fund is converted into cash. Also known as Overnight Conversion.
Federal Funds Rate - The interest rate charged by one financial institution lending federal funds to another. The Federal Reserve Board adjusts the federal funds rate to affect the direction of interest rates.
Federal Home Loan Bank - System supplying credit reserves for savings and loan associations, cooperative banks and mortgage lenders in a manner similar to the Federal Reserve's role with commercial banks.
Federal Home Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC or "Freddie Mac") -  A federally sponsored corporation established to facilitate the financing of single-family residential housing by creating and maintaining an active secondary market for conventional home mortgages.
Federal Reserve Board - The government agency that regulates credit.
Federal Reserve System - The nation’s central monetary authority and the Treasury Department’s agent for selling new issues of Treasury bills, notes, and bonds.
FHA - Abbreviation for the Federal Housing Administration. The FHA is also an issuer of agency securities.
FHA Experience - An estimate of the average life of a pool of mortgage-backed securities in relation to experience tables developed by the Federal Housing Administration.
Fiduciary - A person legally appointed to represent others.
Fill or Kill (FOK) - An order that requires execution of the entire quantity immediately. If not, the order is canceled.
Final Dividend - The dividend paid by a company at the end of its financial year, recommended by the directors but authorized by the shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting.
Financing Corporation - An agency created to assist the S&L industry by retailing securities to the public. Also the nickname for its securities.
First Call Date - First date on which part or all of a bond may be redeemed, or called, by the issuer, at a pre-specified price. The first call date is specified in the bond's indenture. Bond brokers generally will quote callable bonds by giving both the yield to maturity and the yield to call.
Fiscal Agent - The authority who is responsible for issuing new securities of federal agencies.
Fiscal Year - The twelve-month period during which a business maintains its financial records. Since this cycle does not have to coincide with the calendar year, it is known as the fiscal year.
Fiscal YTD Turnover - Measures the percentage of securities within the portfolio that have changed since the beginning of the portfolio's fiscal year.
Fixed Annuity - Insurance company guarantees dollar amount of payments to the annuitant for the period covered under the contract.
Fixed Income - Investment strategy that invests in a security that pays a fixed rate of return.
Fixed Income Securities - Debt securities or IOUs for borrowed money. They obligate the borrower to pay the owner interest during the term of the loan and to return the principal or face value, when the loan matures. A variety of institutions issue debt obligations including the U.S. government, state and local governments, publicly held companies, banks, and savings and loans.
Flat - A bond trading without accrued interest is said to be trading "flat."
Flight to Quality - The flow of funds toward safer investments in times of marketplace uncertainty or fear.
Floor Broker - An exchange member who, as such, is permitted to conduct business on the exchange floor.
Flotation - The occasion on which a company’s shares are offered on the market for the first time.
Flower Bond - A specially identified series of Treasury bonds accepted at full par in payment of estate taxes.
FOK - See Fill Or Kill.
Foreign Exchange - Transactions methods used to make payments between countries.
Foreign Investment - Investment check in U.S. dollars drawn from banks outside of the United States.
Foreign Risk - The prices and yields of foreign bonds can be affected by political and economic instability or changes in currency exchange rates.
Form 1099-B - Reports gross proceeds from any sales (redemptions) of mutual fund shares, excluding money market funds, IRAs and certain qualified retirement accounts.
Form 1099-DIV - Reports taxable income and capital gain distributions over $10; provides general reporting instructions.
Form 1099-R - Reports a distribution made from a retirement plan or IRA. If this distributed amount was not rolled over into another tax-deferred account you will need to include all or part of it in your ordinary income for tax purposes.
Form 5498 - Reports all IRA, SEP, and SIMPLE rollover and regular contributions for the 2000 tax year.
401(K) Plan - A plan whereby an employee may contribute pretax earnings to a qualified tax-deferred retirement plan--also called "cash or deferred arrangement" (CODA) or "salary reduction plan." Withdrawals for other than death, disability, termination of employment, or qualifying hardship prior to the age of 59 1/2 may be subject to a 10% penalty tax.
Fourth Market - Trading directly between institutional investors on a system named Instinet.
Fractional Share - Portion of a share of stock.
Freddie Mac - Nickname for the Federal Home Mortgage Association and the mortgage-backed securities it issues.
Free Cash Flow - Indicator of liquidity. Amount of cash produced or consumed by a company for a specific period. Useful in determining the company's ability to meet obligations, pay dividends and fund business expansion.
Free Cash Flow Per Share - Free cash flow divided by the number of common shares outstanding.
Free Stock - Loanable securities; that is, securities that can be used for loan or hypothecation. These securities are the stock in a margin account that represents the debit balance.
Front-End Load - A sales charge in connection with the purchase of an investment, which is applied at the time of purchase. Generally this term is associated with mutual funds, but may also apply to life insurance policies and limited partnerships.
Frozen Account - An account in which all purchases must be paid for in cash in advance for a period of 90 days because of failure to make timely or proper payment in the past.
FT Index - Refers to the Financial Times Industrial Ordinary Share Index, also known as the "30 Share Index." This started in 1935 at 100, and is based on the prices of 30 leading industrial and commercial shares. They are chosen to be representative of British industry, rather than of the Exchange. Government stocks, banks and insurance companies are not included. The Index is calculated hourly during the day with a "closing index" at 4:30 p.m.
FT-SE Eurotrack 200 Index - Denominated in ECUs, this comprises the stocks of the FT-SE 100 Index plus the constituents of the FT-SE Eurotrack 100 Index. The UK component is weighted to ensure that the 200 Index closely tracks the major benchmark indices. It started on Monday, February 25, 1991 with a base value of 1,000 as at close of business on Friday, October 26, 1990.
FT-SE 100 Share Index - Popularly known as "Footsie"; an index of 100 leading UK shares listed on the London Stock Exchange providing a minute-by-minute picture of how share prices are moving. It started on January 3, 1984 with the base number of 1,000. Also forms the basis of a contract in the London Traded Options Market (LTOM) and the London International Financial Futures Exchange (LIFFE).
Full Faith and Credit - Term used to describe a security for which a government entity pledges its full taxing and borrowing power, plus revenue other than taxes to support the payment of interest and repayment of principal. For instance, Treasury securities are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government.
Full Service Broker - A broker that provides a variety of brokerage and financial services to clients, including offering advice on investment decisions. Generally full service brokers charge higher commissions than discount brokers who execute trades but do not give any investment advice.
Full Trading Authorization - Owner of the account gives power to another person to buy, sell and make withdrawals from the account.
Fully Diluted Earnings Per Share - Earnings per share expressed as if all outstanding convertible securities and warrants have been exercised.
Fully Diluted Shares Outstanding - All shares outstanding including common stock, warrants, and convertible securities.
Fully Disclosed - All customer accounts of the Introducing Broker are introduced to another Broker/Dealer who clears the customers’ trades. This second broker is called a Clearing Broker. The names and addresses of the customer accounts are "fully disclosed" to the Clearing Broker whose name is also disclosed to the customers on the statements and confirmations. The Clearing Broker does all the bookkeeping involved in settling the trades and keeping the customer accounts in proper form.
Fully Paid - Applied to new issues, when the total amount payable in relation to the new shares has been paid to the company.
Fund - One or more of the over forty equity, bond or liquidity funds of the SICAV.
Fundamental Analysis - Method of analyzing the prospects of a company's security by assessing sales, assets, earnings and other factors to forecast its future stock price movements.
Fundamentals - Characteristics of a company, such as revenue growth, earnings growth, financial strength, market share, and quality of management.
Fund Category - A set of mutual funds devoted to a particular kind of investment objective, carrying similar levels of risks and returns. Funds in one category may concentrate on low-risk, low-return government bonds, while those of another might invest exclusively in high-risk, high-return technology stocks.
Fund Exchange - Ability to shift a mutual fund investment from one fund to another sponsored by the same mutual fund family.
Fund Family - An investment management company that offers several types of mutual funds.
Fund Manager - The person who determines how mutual fund assets are invested.
Fund Performance - Reflects a fund's investment results.
Fund Size - This is the total value of assets under management in a fund.
Futures - Agreement to buy or sell a predetermined amount of a commodity or financial instrument at a certain price on a stipulated date.
Futures Contract - Agreement to buy or sell a set number of shares of a specific stock in a designated future month at a price agreed upon by the buyer and seller. The contracts themselves are often traded on the futures market. A futures contract differs from an option because an option is the right to buy or sell, whereas a futures contract is the promise to actually make a transaction.