Unit 3: KYC, Risk & Suitability, Product Flashcards
KYC
Know Your Customer. Rule that places an obligation on the firm and associated person to seek information from customers. Customers are not required to provide all information asked; therefore the KYC rule provides some flexibility when information is unavailable. Both financial and and nonfinancial information must be gathered before making investment recommendations.
What are a customers Financial Investment Considerations
Financial investment considerations can be expressed as a sum of money. Financial questions have answers that show up on a customer’s balance sheet or income statement.
Define P/E ratio.
Price to earnings ratio measures the relationship between a company’s stock price with the company’s earnings earnings per share. The P/E ratio indicates how much investors are willing to pay for every dollar of earnings.
Are municipal bonds suitable for retirement accounts?
No, as while muni-bonds provide federally tax-free income, they are not suitable for retirement accounts. The federally tax-free interest income will be fully taxable upon withdrawal.
List products based on the following customer objective: Preservation of capital/safety.
CDs, money market mutual funds, fixed annuities, gov’t securities and funds, agency issues, investment-grade corporate bonds and corporate bond funds.
List products based on the following customer objective: Growth
- balance/moderate growth
- aggressive growth
common stock, common stock mutual funds
blue chip stocks, defensive stocks
Technology stocks, sector funds
List products based on the following customer objective: Income
- tax-free income
- high-yield income
- from stock portfolio
- bonds (but not zero coupons), REIT’s, CMOs
- Municipal bonds, municipal bond funds, Roth IRAs
- below investment-grade corporate bonds, corporate bond funds
- preferred stocks, utility stocks, blue-chip stocks
List products based on the following customer objective: Liquidity
Securities listed on an exchange. Nasdaq stocks or bonds, mutual funds, publicly traded REITs
List products based on the following customer objective: Portfolio diversification
- mutual funds, in general; more specifically, asset allocation funds and balanced funds
- for equity portfolios, add some debt and vice-versa
- for domestic portfolios, add some foreign securities
- for bond portfolios, diversify by region/rating
List products based on the following customer objective: Speculation
-option contracts, DPPs, high-yield bonds, unlisted/non-NASDAQ stocks or bonds, sector funds, precious metals, commodities, futures.
Systematic vs unsystematic risks
Systematic risks affect all investments (e.g. stock market downturn). Unsystematic risks affect some but not other investments.
What is business risk?
Business risk is a form of unsystematic risk that affects companies and industries individually. Can be reduced by diversifying investments.
Define inflation risk.
Also known as purchasing power risk or constant dollar risk, inflation risk is the effect of continually rising prices on investments resulting in less purchasing power.
Define Capital risk.
Capital risk or principal risk is the potential for an investor to lose all his money (invested capital) under circumstances either related or unrelated to an issuer’s financial strength.
Define Timing Risk.
Risk of buying or selling at the wrong time and incurring losses or lower gains is known as timing risk.
Define Interest Rate Risk.
Refers to the sensitivity of an investment’s price or value to fluctuations in interest rates. Interest rate risk is a type of systematic risk.
What is the relationship between short-term interest rates and volatility.
Short-term interest rates are more volatile because they change more frequently (e.g. federal funds rate changes daily). Long-term debt securities, however, are more volatile (price wise) as investors are more likely to sell/buy in response to changes in interest rates.
Define Bond Duration
Bond duration is the measure of the amount of time a bond will take to pay for itself. Each interest payment is taken to be part of a discounted cash flow. The longer a bonds duration the greater its sensitivity to interest rate changes. The duration of an interest-paying bond is always shorter than its time to maturity because interest payments can be reinvested and earn more income. The duration of a zero-coupon bond always equals time to maturity.
Reinvestment Risk
ability to reinvest at same or higher interest rate. When rates decline, it is difficult for bond investors to reinvest the proceeds from investment distributions and maintain the same level of return at the same level of (default) risk.
Market Risk
a type of systematic risk. Both stocks and bonds involve some degree of “market risk”. An investor cannot diversify away market risk.
Credit risk
Also called financial risk or default risk involves the danger of losing all or part of one’s invested principal through an issuer’s failure. Associated with debt securities, not equity securities.
What are the 2 best known rating services
Moody’s Investor Service and Standard and Poor’s (S&P).
Legislative Risk
Risk associated with the possibility of unfavorable government action or social changes resulting in the loss of value.
Call Risk
Risk that a bond might be called by the issuer before maturity; and investors cannot reinvest their principal at the same or a higher rate of return. Investors concerned about call risk should look for call protection, a period of time during which a bond may not be called.
What are the advantages of a callable bond to issuer?
- If rates decline, issuer can redeem bonds with higher rate and replace them with bonds with lower rate.
- Issuer can call bonds to reduce debt.
- Issuer can replace short-term debt with long-term debt and vice-versa
- Issuer can call bonds as a means of forcing the conversion of convertible corporate bonds.
Asset allocation
Specifically Asset Class Allocation refers to the spreading of portfolio funds among different asset classes.
Tactical Asset Allocation
Refers to the short-term portfolio adjustments that adjust the portfolio mix between asset classes in consideration of current market conditions.
Modern Portfolio Theory
MPT. employs a scientific approach to measuring risk and choosing investments. It is the concept of minimizing risk by combining volatile and price-stable investments in a single portfolio. Created by Harry Markowitz. One key aspect is that diversification reduces risk only when assets whose prices move inversely, or at different times, in relation to one another are combined. In other words, MPT wants securities in a portfolio to have negative coorelation
CAPM
Capital Asset Pricing Model. Used to calculate the return an investment should achieve based on the risk that is taken.
Alpha
the extent to which an asset’s or portfolio’s actual return exceeds or falls short of its expected return. Positive alpha is desired.
List four types of industries (macro)
Defensive - food, pharmaceuticals, utilities, etc.
Cyclical - steel, heavy equipment, autos, capital goods
Countercyclical - gold, mining stocks
Growth - tech
Capital in Excess of Par
Often called additional paid-in capital or paid-in surplus is the amount of money over par value that a company received for selling stock.
Retained Earnings
Profits that have not been paid in dividends. Sometimes called earned surplus or accumulated earnings.
Working Capital
current assets minus current liabilities = working capital
Current Ratio
Current assets divided by current liabilities = current ratio
Quick Asset Ratio
Also known as acid-test ratio. Same as current ratio but only uses “quick” assets where are current assets minus inventory.
Debt to equity ratio
Best way to measure amount of leverage being employed by a company. Debt to total capitalization. Over 50% is usually considered highly leveraged but of course depends on industry.
Book Value per share
basically the liquidation value per share. Tangible assets - liabilities - par value of preferred / shares of common = book value per share.
EPS
EPS = earnings available to common / number of shares outstanding
Current Yield (stock)
CY = annual dividends per common share / market value per common share.
Dividend Payout Ratio
Annual dividends per common share / EPS
Cash flow from financing activities vs. Cash flow from operations.
Cash flow from operations will only use items from the income statement, while cash flow from financing activities will use the balance sheet.
P/E Ratio
P/E Ratio = current market price of a common share / Earnings per share.
Technical Analysis
Attempts to predict the direction of prices on the basis of historic price and trading volumes when laid out graphically on charts.
Fundamental Analysis
Concentrates on broad-based economic trends; current business conditions within an industry and the quality of a particular corporation’s business, finances and management.
Authorized stock
Refers to a specific number of shares the company has authorization to issue or sell. Laid out in company charter. If a company decides to sell more shares than are authorized, the charter must be amended through a stockholder vote.