Investment Companies Flashcards
Unit Investment Trust (UIT)
Investment company organized under a trust indenture. Have trustees instead of board of directors.
Create a portfolio of debt or equity securities - then sell redeemable interests (units, shares).
UIT is fixed or nonfixed.
Not managed.
Does not trade in the secondary market
Close-end Investment Company
Raises capital for its portfolio by common stock offering.
Initial offering, registers a fixed number of shares with the SEC and offers to the public, with prospectus for a limited time.
May also issue bonds and preferred stock.
- Also called “publicly traded funds”. After initial offering - anyone can buy or sell shares in the secondary market.
- Supply and demand determine bid and ask price.
- Only investment company to trade in secondary market.
- Issues common, preferred and debt securities
Open-end Investment Company
- Issues only common stock.
- Registers an open offering with the SEC (continuous primary offering).
- Does not trade in secondary market
- Sellers received calculated NAV
- Buyers pay next calculated POP
Mutual Fund Characteristics
- Professional investment advisor manages the portfolio
- Provides diversification by investing in different companies or securities
- Allow a min. investment ($500) to open an account.
- Investor retains voting rights similar to those extended to common stockholders (changes in board, approval of investment advisor, changes in funds investment objective, changes in sales charge/load).
- **Must offer reinvestment of dividends and capital gains at NAV (without a sales charge), but reinvestments are taxable.
- Fund may offer various withdrawal plans that allow different payment methods at redemption.
- Funds may offer reinstatement provisions that allow investors who withdraw funds to reinvest up to the amount withdrawn within 30 days with no sales charge. *Provision must be in prospectus and is available one time only.
Prospectus must contain:
- Fund’s objective
- Investment policies
- Sales charge
- Management expenses
- Services offered
- 1, 5, 10-year performance history
Expense Ratio
Funds Expense / Average Net Assets
- Compares the mgmt. fees and operating expenses (including 12b-1 fees), with the fund’s net assets.
- The expense ratio is calculated by dividing a fund’s expense by its average net assets.
Current Yield
Annual income/current market value
Applies to stocks and bonds. Measurement of the amount of income investor will receive as a percentage of the cost of the investment.
T + 1
Regular Way Settlement
(securities)
T + 2
Regulation T Payment
(S + 2
Transfer Agent
- responsible for ensuring that its securities are issued in the correct owner’s name
- canceling old certificates and issuing new ones
- maintaining records of ownership
- handling problems relating to lost, stolen, or destroyed certificates.
Calculations for gains or losses for tax purposes?
Proceeds - cost basis
Customer New Account Forms must be kept for how many years?
6
Advertising the firm has published must be kept for how many years?
3
Stock records must be kept for how many years?
6
Minute books must be kept for how many years?
Lifetime
Index Options
Nonequity options - underlying instruments are NOT shares of stock.
Allows investors to profit from movements of markets or market segments and hedge against these market swings. (broad-based, narrow-based, or other focus indexes)
Freeriding
when securities are purchased and then sold before making payment for the purchase.
- Prohibited in cash and margin accounts.
- account will be frozen for 90 days, and no new transactions can occur unless there is cash or marginable securities in the account before the purchase is made.
Matching Orders
aka Painting the tape.
one party selling stock to another with the understanding that the stock will be repurchased later (usually same day) at the same price. Makes it look like more activity in a stock than there actually is.
How long do blotters, general ledgers, and stock records need to be maintained?
6 years
12b-1 Fee
open-end investment company (mutual fund) to levy an ongoing charge for advertising and sales promotional expenses, prospectus. NOT fund mgmt. expenses.
This fee may not exceed .75% (average net assets) and, if above .25%, the fund may not describe itself as no-load.
When 12b-1 fees are being charged, the BOD must be composed of a simple majority of noninterested members.
*Expressed as an annual amount, but charged and reviewed quarterly.
Clearing Broker Dealer
clears (settles) its own trades, holds customer cash and securities, bills trades, maintains customer accounts, and provides a full complement of back-office support services. In the language of the SEC, clearing broker-dealers are referred to as carrying firms.
Institutional Communication
any written (including electronic) communication that is distributed or made available only to institutional investors, but it does not include a member’s internal communications.
Institutional sales material is not required to have prior principal approval, however each member shall establish written procedures for the review of institutional communications used by the member and its associated persons by an appropriately qualified, registered principal.
Retail Communication
any written (including electronic) communication that is distributed or made available to more than 25 retail investors within any 30-calendar-day period.
-A copy of all retail communication must be filed with FINRA.
- For a new member firm, the filing must occur at least 10 days before use.
- For established member firms, the filing must happen within 10 days of first use.
Correspondence
any written (including electronic) communication that is distributed or made available to 25 or fewer investors within any 30-calendar-day period.
- Procedures may allow for pre- or post review by principal.
- Exempt from FINRA spot checks
The sales charge for Class A shares may not exceed
8.5% of the total investment.
Mini-Max
Underwriting that sets a floor or minimum (the least amount the issuer needs to raise to move forward with the underwriting), as well as ceiling or maximum on the dollar amount of securities the issuer is willing to sell.
*Best efforts underwriting
Independently Prepared Reprint (IPR)
Article reprint that meets certain standards designed to ensure that the reprint was issued by an independent publisher and was not materially altered by the member.
*A member may alter the contents only to make it consistent with applicable regulatory standards or to correct factual errors.
**Must be preapproved by a principal but exempt from FINRA filing requirements.
Qualified Dividends are taxed at…
long-term capital gains rate
Nonqualified Dividends are distributed as _____, and taxed at _______
short-term capital gains and taxed as ordinary income
Net Investment Income (NII)
Dividends + interest - expense of the fund.
*Distributed to shareholders as dividends. May be reinvested or taken in cash.
AIR (Assumed Interest Rate)
Conservative projection of the performance of the separate account over the estimated life of the contract.
–If Sep. Acct. performance is greater than AIR, next month’s payment is more than this month.
–If Sep. Acct. performance is equal to the AIR, next month’s payment stays the same.
–If Sep. Acct. performance is less than the AIR, next month’s payment is less than this month’s.
Accumulation Units are computed……
Daily on a forward pricing basis.
Annuity Unit Values are computed….
Monthly based on actual performance versus the AIR.
Immediate Variable Annuity
An immediate annuity has no accumulation period. A single lump-sum investment is made, and payments begin immediately, since the investor has purchased annuity units.
A distribution from a corporate pension plan to be rolled over into an IRA must be completed within how many days to maintain its tax-deferred status?
60 days
Class C Shares
Level Load and also back end load. 1% CDSC, 0.75% 12b-1 fee and a 0.25% shareholder services fee.
*Appropriate for investors with short time horizons; become too expensive if investing for more than 4-5 years.
Dollar Cost Averaging
Allows investor to purchase more share shares when price is low and fewer shares when prices are high.
*Results in a lower cost per share than the average price per share.
Index Annuity
Market participation but with a guarantee against loss.
-Pays interest based on performance of market index (S&P 500).
- Participation Rate: The participation rate can be as high as 100%, meaning the account is credited with all of the gain, or as low as 25%. Most indexed annuities offer a participation rate between 80% and 90%—at least in the early years of the contract.
- Cap Rate: A typical cap of 12% in a year the index increased by 30%….your gain would still be capped at 12%
- Usually have longer surrender charge periods.
Transfer Information Form (TIF)
Form that facilitates the transfer of securities from one trading account to another at a different brokerage firm or bank.
- has 1 day to validate the securities listed on the TIF
- Within 3 days after validation, the carrying firm must complete the transfer of the account.
How long should trade confirmations be retained?
3 years
For an owner to be paid a dividend, his name should be recorded on the stock record book of the issuer’s transfer agent by the:
Record Date
Required Approval: Institutional Communication
- No preapproval of principal.
- if procedures do not require review, must have provision for training on use of inst. comm.
Required Approval: Retail Communication
Preapproval of principal is required.
25 or more retail investors within 30 days.
Required Approval: Correspondence
Pre- or post-review of by principal.
25 or fewer retail investors within 30 days.
Required Approval: Public Appearance
Preapproval may be required but is not mandated.
- Scripts, slides, handouts or other written (including electronic materials) used in public appearance are retail communications - preapproval.
- Must have procedures
Required Approval: IPR
Preapproval required if the communication meets the definition of retail comm.
Required Approval: Research Reports
Approval requirements depend on whether it is defined as institutional, retail or correspondence.
Mutual Fund Sales Charge
POP - NAV
What brings about a change in the NAV of a mutual fund?
- The fund pays a dividend.
2. The portfolio increases in market value.
The over-the-counter market could be characterized as what type of market?
The OTC market is an inter-dealer market.
Ex-date
The first date on which a security is traded that the buyer is not entitled to receive distributions previously declared.
Dividend Distribution
- The declaration date is the day on which the board of directors announces the dividend.
- The ex-date or ex-dividend date is the trading date on (and after) which the dividend is not owed to a new buyer of the stock. The ex-date is one business day before the date of record.
***If you buy a stock one day before the ex-dividend, you will get the dividend. If you buy on the ex-dividend date or any day after, you won’t get the dividend.
-The date of record is the day on which the company checks its records to identify shareholders of the company. An investor must be listed on that date to be eligible for a dividend payout.
What type of investment accounts must be opened as cash accounts?
- Personal retirement accounts (individual and tax-sheltered annuities).
- Corporate retirement accounts
- Custodial accounts (UGMA, UTMA)
The death benefit of a variable life policy must be calculated at least:
Annually
What fees are no-load funds permitted to charge?
- purchase fees
- exchange fees
- account fees
- redemption fees
*permitted to pay its annual operating expenses, but 12b-1 fees or separate shareholder service fees cannot exceed .25%.
Class C shares are appropriate for what type of investors?
Those who have short term horizons (would be expensive to own if investing for more than 4-5 years).
The cash value of a variable life policy must be calculated at least:
Monthly
FINRA Rule 2330
Recommended purchases and 1035 exchanges of deferred variable annuities, and recommended initial subaccount allocations.
Must inform customer:
-potential surrender period and charges
-potential tax penalties (sell or redeem prior to 59 1/2)
-mortality and expense fees
-investment advisory fees
-potential charges and features of rider
-market risk
Mutual funds that offer automatic reinvestment of dividends and gains distributions must do so at
NAV (net asset value)
Bonus Annuity
- Bonus variable annuities tend to have higher annual fees
- Bonus variable annuities generally have longer surrender charge periods.
Code of Procedure
FINRA’s formal procedure for handling trade practice complaints involving violations of conduct rules.
*The Department of Enforcement is the first body to hear and judge complaints.
How are prices arrived at in the securities markets?
By auction in the exchanges.
By negotiation in the OTC markets.
Calculate the POP
NAV / (1 - sales charge)
Pricing Mutual Fund Shares
- Total assets - liabilities = net assets of the fund
- Net Assets / Shares Outstanding = NAV
- NAV + SC = POP