Chapter 2: Asset Classes Flashcards
What are Redeemable Shares?
When can they be issued?
- Shares offered by a company to shareholders, that may be bought back by the company at its election.
- Companies can issue ordinary redeemable shares as long as non redeemable shares are also in issue.
Why are Preference Shares Less Risky?
This is due to the dividend policy (usually fixed) and they rank above ordinary shares in the event of bankrutpcy.
Do Preference Shares have Voting Rights?
When might this change?
No
This could change if dividends have not been paid for a while, that time is usually detialed in the constitution.
Why do Ordinary Shareholder Face the Greatest Risk?
Why can price fall? (Simple)
- If the company is liquidated, they will only receive a “pay out” if there is money remaining after satisfying all creditors.
- The value of the shares can also decline if demand falls.
What Happens to Ordinary Shares if a Company is Sufficiently Profitable?
Receive dividends, these are proposed by the directors and generally ratified by the shareholders at AGMs.
What is a Proxy?
A person/group appointed to vote on an investors behalf at an EGM or AGM.
What is the Nominal Value of a Share?
The minimum amount that the company must receive from subscribers on the issue of the shares.
What is a Partly Paid Share?
When a compmay has not demanded all of the nominal value at issue. At a later date the company will call the shareholders to pay the remaining value.
Are Ordinary Shares Registered or Bearer?
Register
Meaning there is a register of who holds the shares.
What is a Cumulative Preference Share?
A shareholder that will not only be paid this years dividends before ordinary shareholders, but also any unpiad dividends from previous years.
What is a Participating Preference Share?
Why are they a thing?
Shares issued to adress the drawback of fixed dividends in times of increased profits.
Allows the investor to participate in higher distributions, as well as extra distibutions during liquidation.
What is a Redeemable Preference Share?
Shares that enable the company to buy back shares at an agreed price in the future. This removes any obligation the firm then has to the shareholder.
What is a Convertible Preference Share?
Where the shareholder has the right but not the obligation to convert the preference shares into a predetermined number of ordinary shares.
What is a Zero Coupon Preference Share?
These are prefernece shares that pay no ordinary dividend, but offer capital gain.
Which Type of Shares are More Liquid?
And what does this mean?
Preference shares.
This may mean that normal prefenrce shares (without enhancements) typically underperform that of ordinary shares in a rising market.
What is the Redemption Date of a Bond?
The date when the borrower agrees to pay back the nominal value of the bond.
What is the Nominal Value of a Bond?
The par value, is the amount that would be paid back to the issuer on maturity.
What is the Coupon of a Bond?
The rate of interst paid, usually expressed as a % of the nominal.
What is the SOFR?
Why does it show?
Secured Overnight Financing Rate
This is the published interest rate that is referenced when deciding FRN coupons.
What is a FRN?
Floating rate note
Sates the coupon by refernece to a published interest rate, e.g. SOFR, and reset the coupon paid when the published interest rate changes.
What is an Index Linked Bond?
A bond that adjusts the principal and coupon based on prevailing inflation. They are index linked as they track, e.g. the CPI (consumer price index).
Pretty flat, pretty boring ; )
What is a Flat Yield?
What is its formula?
FY = (Annual Coupon / Price) x 100
Considers the coupon, but ignores the existence of any capital gain if the bond is held through redemption.
What is Gross Redmeption Yield?
What is it AKA?
- Yield measure that takes into account both the coupons and any capital gain through to maturity into account.
- AKA Yield to Maturity
What are the Disadvatnages of GRY?
Who can this benefit on the other hand?
- It doesnt take into account any taxation.
- This however can benefit not tax paying organisations, such as Pensions or Charities.
What is NRY?
Net redemption yield, take into account both annual coupons and the capital gain, but look at after tax cash flows.
If an Investor think Interest Rates will Fall, What Should They Invest In?
Simply, and why?
Fixed Interest Securities
Their prices will rise due to the inverse relationship between the two.
What is a More Volatile, a Lower Coupon or a Higher Coupon Bond?
To a change in interest rate.
Lower Coupon
What is a More Volatile, a Longer Dated or a Shorter Dated Bond?
To a change in interest rate.
Longer Dated
What is Modified Duration?
The MD of a particular debt instrument shows the expected change in its price, given a specified change in interest rates.
What is the Rule of Modified Duration?
What is the relationship?
The higher the modified duration, the more the price of that istrument will move
Conversion Ratio Equation?
Conversion Ratio = Nominal Value / Conversion price of shares
What Would Happen to a Convertable Bond During a 1-for-1 Bonus Issue?
The conversion price would halve and the conversion ratio would double.
What are the Limitations of Flat Yield Calculations?
- Its only accounts for coupon flows and ignores redemption flows.
- Ignores the timing of any cash flows because there is no discounted cash flow anaylsis
- If a bond has a FRN, then it does not take into account the varying interest rates.
What are Flat Prices?
Flat is boring ; )
These are listed bond prices that do not include accrued interest.
What are Clean Prices?
These are also?
Another name for the flat price of the bond.
What is Accrued Interest?
This is interest that has been earned, but not yet paid.
What is the Accrued Interest Formula?
Accrued Interest = Coupon x Number of days since last payment / Number of days between payments
What is the Dirty Price of a Bond?
Opposite to clean…..obviously.
The flat price of a bond including the accrued interest.
What Happens to the Dirty Price of a Bond as Time Goes On?
Dirty like a motocross track.
The price will rise in situe with the amount of interest accrued, then once the payment has been made (interest) it immediatley drops again. Up and down.
What are the 4 Day Count Conventions?
For accrued interest
- ACT/360
- 30/360
- ACT/365
- ACT/ACT
ven
What is a Spread in a Bond Market?
The difference between two yields, usually expressed in basis points (1/100 of %)
Bond A = 5.5% and Bond B = 5% the spread is 50 basis points (0.5%)
What are Bonds Usually Benchmarked Against?
What are examples of one examples?.
- Government yield bonds
- Swap Rates
- Published reference rates (LIBOR or SOFR)
What is a Yield Curve?
And why is it used?
A graph that shows the relationship between the Gross Redemption Yield and Time Until Maturity.
This illustrates the yields availible to investors in Gov bonds over different time horizons.
What does a Normal Yield Curve Capture?
What does this show about investors and why?
The fact investors have a liquidity prefernece, that being more liquidity.
They are willing to accept a lower yield on more liquid short dates government bonds, and demand a higher yield on less liquid long dates government bonds.
What would cause an Inverted Yield Curve Scenario?
This occurs when short term government bond yields surpass long term government bond yields, indicating an anticipated reduction in interest rates.
What does an Inverted Yield Curve Say About Investors?
Why would they think like this?
They are willing to accept lower yields for long term bonds, anticipating future rate drops, while demanding higher yields for short term bonds.
Showing that their confidence in rate change, outweighs liquidity preferences (Impending DOOM!)
What are Negative Rates?
Why are they used?
This involves banks having to pay to leave their cash with central banks to encourage lending, to boost the economy.
What are the Concerns with Negative Rates?
- Switch out deposits into cash, leaving the banking system and affecting profits.
- Pension funds and insurers investment scope will be limited, due to risk appetites.
What is the Relationship Between Yields and Inflation?
Positively corre…….
If inflation is expected to increase, then yields demanded by investors also rise to reflect this.
Why Might Yields Fall When Central Banks Raise Interest Rates to Combat Inflation?
This is because invetsors have confidence that inflation will be stopped in the short term due to the pre emptive actions by the central bank.
What is the Relationship Between Interest Rates and Bond Prices?
If interest rates across financial markets decreases, then the quoted price of government bonds will increase
Present Value of a Bond?
1 / (1+ r) N
What is the Ex-Dividend Period?
For most Gilts, this is 7 working days prior to the coupon payment date, thus dealt without the pending coupon.
What is meant by the Cum-Dividend Period when Selling Bonds?
For all remaining time that is not the Ex-Dividend, bonds are traded as Cum-dividend.
What Index is Used with Index-Linked Gilts?
Why is this still the case?
Retail Price Index
This is because it was contained in older prospectuses, thus was continued to be used.
What RPI is Used for Index-Linked Guilts?
What time frame?
After 2005, the RPI figure would need to be 3 months before the first coupon.
What is a “Deflation Floor?”
Where some soverign index-linked bonds, guarantee that the nominal will not sink below the original par value in a period of deflation.
What are the Most Common Negative Impacts of Inflation?
There are 3 (for consumers)
- Reduces spending power
- Increases the cost of living
- May not be rewarded for saving
Real Interest Rate Calculation?
RIR = [(1 + Nominal Interest Rate) / (1 + Inflation Rate)] - 1
What will Happen to Bonds if Interest Rates Rise due to Inflation?
Bond prices will fall to bring the prices up to appropriate levels to reflect the interest rate increases.
What was the Consumer Price Index Formerly Called?
Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices
What is the Producer Prices Index (PPIs)?
What does it measure?
An index for the cost of production of goods (materials, plant etc)
This seeks to indentify inflation at an earlier stage.
What is a Zero Coupon Bond?
How are these profitable?
A bond that pays no coupon.
Investors make money by buying the bond for less than par value
What is the STRIPS?
Seperate trading of registered interest and principal of securities.
What is meant by Stripping a Bond?
How does on profit from this?
This involves trafing the interest and principal seperatley.
Each strip will trade ar a discount to its face value.
Which UK Body Deems a Bonds Eligible to be Stripped?
(Me racing my nan! COME ONN!)
DMO
Which UK Bodies are Able to Strip Bonds?
- GEMMs (Gilt Edged Market Makers)
- Bank of Engalnd
- UK Treasury
What are GEMMs?
Gilt-edged market makers
What is the Reconstruction of a Gilt?
When STRIPS are exchanged for a conventional gilts, with the UK DMO acting as the counterparty.
What is BRICS?
What does this represent?
Emerging government bond markets.
Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
What are Examples of Other Emerging Governmnet Bond Markets?
There are 4.
Indonesia, Mexico, Turkey and Malaysia.
What are “Frontier” Markets?
Do you have examples?
Countries with less developed markets and systems than the emerging markets.
Bangladesh, Bahrain, Mauritius and Sri Lanka.
What Risks Arise from Investing in Frontier or Emerging Markets?
Types of risks, what do these lead to? Geo………
- Political and Economic volatility, leading to default risk.
- Cross Border risks, resulting in currency risk.
Why is Debt Finance Safer than Equity Finance for an Investor?
In the same company
2 reasons.
- Because Coupons need to be paid before dividends
- If the firm goes into liquidation , the holders of debt would be paid before equity holders.
What Issues Does Raising Debt Finance Present to the Issuing Company?
Security / CF??
- Investors may be able to claim some of the assets back, if coupons arent paid (Securitisation).
- Interest on Bonds must be paid out of cash flow, failure will result in bankruptcy.
What is a Fixed Charge?
Secured Debt.
A debt that carries a charge over a specific asset.