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Financial Risk Glossary & FAQs

Welcome to The Institutional Risk Analyst’s Financial Risk Glossary & FAQs. Here you'll find concise definitions and explanations of essential financial and risk management terms, as well as answers to frequently asked questions. This unified resource helps banking professionals, analysts, and curious readers find trustworthy information on the most vital concepts in risk and finance.

Financial Risk Glossary​

  • Allowance for loan and lease losses (ALLL): A valuation reserve that banks set aside to cover potential losses from bad debts or loans that may not be repaid.

  • AML (Anti-money-laundering): Policies and procedures aimed at preventing money laundering activities.

  • Asset: Anything of value to which the firm has a legal claim.

  • Asset Turnover: Measures how profitably and efficiently assets are used to produce sales. Calculated as Net sales/Average assets.

  • Automated Clearing House (ACH): A US payment network that facilitates electronic transfers of funds between bank accounts.

  • Available for Sale (AFS): Financial assets not held for trading, held to maturity, or for strategic reasons, and have a readily available market price.

  • Book Value: Carrying value of assets or liabilities as shown on the balance sheet.

  • Brokered Deposit: Deposit obtained directly or indirectly through a deposit broker.

  • Capital: Any asset used to produce profits for an investor.

  • Credit Default Swap (CDS): A financial derivative used to manage risk of default on credit instruments.

  • Collateral: Asset provided to a creditor as security for a loan.

  • Cost of Funds: Interest Expense/Average Assets.

  • Counterparty: Any natural or legal person to whom a bank has financial exposure.

  • Crypto: Speculative intangible "asset." Digital tokens with no intrinsic value, dependent on the ability to sell to another party.

  • Custody Account: An account where securities/other assets are held by a bank on behalf of a customer, not reported on the bank's balance sheet.

  • Default: Failure to pay interest or principal when due.

  • Derivative Contracts: Instruments banks use to manage risk exposures, such as interest rate, FX, or cash flow risk.

  • Double Leverage: Total investment in subsidiaries divided by equity capital.

  • Efficiency Ratio: Overhead expenses divided by sum of net interest income and non-interest income.

  • Expected Loss (EL): Estimated potential losses across a lending portfolio.

  • Exposure at Default: Maximum potential loss, often calculated as Unused Credit Lines/Existing Credit Lines.

  • Forbearance: Suspension of loan payments.

  • Liability: Any money or service owed to another party.

  • Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR): HQLA Amount / Total Net Cash Outflow Amount over 30 days under stress.

  • Loss Given Default: Net loss as a percentage of loan amount.

  • Mortgage Servicing Right: Payment intangible with defined cash flows.

  • Net Interest Margin: Difference between interest/dividends earned and interest paid, as a percentage of average earning assets.

  • Net Loss: Net credit losses on loans and leases divided by average loans and leases.

  • Noncurrent Loans and Leases: Loans and leases 90+ days past due, or in nonaccrual status.

  • Non-performing Loans (NPLs): Loans in default for a period, usually 90+ days.

  • Probability of Default (PD): Chance of a borrower defaulting on debt.

  • Return on Assets (ROA): Net Income divided by Average Assets.

  • Return on Earning Assets (ROEA): Net Interest Income/Earning Assets.

  • Return on Equity (ROE): Net Income/Total Capital.

  • Risk Weighted Assets (RWA): Assets/off-balance-sheet exposures weighted according to risk.

  • Short-Term Liquid Assets: Cash, due from accounts, federal funds sold, securities under resale agreements, and securities maturing in under a year.

  • Unexpected Loss (UL): Difference between expected and actual loss, used in risk management.

  • Value at Risk (VaR): Statistical measure of the potential loss of an investment over a specific period, at a certain probability level.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

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