Financial markets Flashcards
financial markets
what are financial marketss
places where buyers and sellers can trade financial assets
- brings together lenders and borrowers
what are lenders
those who have excess cash - eg savers and investors
what are borrowers
ppl who need cash right now but dont currently have it - eg individuals, firms, govts
points how the financial market works
- lenders can go directly to bond markets or stock markets, eg can go to debt management and buy govt bonds, lending to the govt
- they can go directly to companies and buy shares(equity capital)
- they can go to an intermediary,
objectives of commercial banks
-Earn profits by providing financial services and charging interest on loans.
-takes funds from lenders, a return is then paid on this money. from these savings, loans can be made, and lent out to individuals or firms who need to borrow and an interest rate is charged
- the interest rate to the borrowers is higher than the return to the lenders, so the commercial bank can make profit
what is the primary objective of all intermediaries
to make profit
pension funds
- take huge sums of money from individuals looking to save for retirement
- theyll invest it normally in stock markets
- then theyll pay an annuity to pensioners when they reach pension age
what are the types of intermediaries
- commercial banks
- investment banks
- pension funds
- hedge funds
- mutual funds
- stock exchanges
- insurance companies
hedge funds/mutual funds
institutions that take huge sums of money from lenders and will buy huge amounts of debt from it (debt issued by borrowers)
- theyll collect interest rates as the payments on all their debt theyre buying
- then will give a rate of return to their investors
difference between hedge funds and mutual funds
hedge funds engage in riskier transactions, eg hedge funds will buy up debt in leverage deals, which if they went wrong, large sums of money could be lost
- mutual funds are less regulated than hedge funds
similarities between hedge and mutual funds
both take huge amounts of money from investors, buy a lot of debt, get an interest rate and a rate of return
types of financial markets
- capital markets
- money markets
- currency markets
features of money markets
- the buying and selling of financial assets here, are ones that have a maturity or payment date of a year or less - eg govt bonds or corporate bonds, any interbank lending
features of capital markets
- buying and selling of assets that have a payback date of greater than a year, not as liquid as money market assets
What is the difference between debt capital and equity capital?
Debt capital is any financial asset that pays back in interest rate - eg bonds
Equity capital is where the return is a dividend - eg shares
what is a dividend
a share of the profit
what is a primary market
a primary market is where brand new bonds will be issued, eg through an investment bank