Publications: Glossary of Terms
Bilateral Netting: A legally enforceable arrangement between a bank and a counterparty that
creates a single legal obligation covering all included individual contracts. This means that a
bank's obligation, in the event of the default or insolvency of one of the parties, would be the net
sum of all positive and negative fair values of contracts included in the bilateral netting
arrangement.
Derivative: A financial contract whose value is derived from the performance of assets, interest
rates, currency exchange rates, or indexes. Derivative transactions include a wide assortment of
financial contracts including structured debt obligations and deposits, swaps, futures, options,
caps, floors, collars, forwards and various combinations thereof.
Exchange-Traded Derivative Contracts: Standardized derivative contracts transacted on an
organized exchange and which usually have margin requirements.
Gross Negative Fair Value: The sum total of the fair values of contracts where the bank owes
money to its counterparties, without taking into account netting. This represents the maximum
losses the bank's counterparties would incur if the bank defaults and there is no netting of
contracts, and no bank collateral was held by the counterparties.
Gross Positive Fair Value: The sum total of the fair values of contracts where the bank is owed
money by its counterparties, without taking into account netting. This represents the maximum
losses a bank could incur if all its counterparties default and there is no netting of contracts, and
the bank holds no counterparty collateral.
High-Risk Mortgage Securities: Securities where the price or expected average life is highly
sensitive to interest rate changes, as determined by the FFIEC policy statement on high-risk
mortgage securities. See also OCC Banking Circular 228 (rev.)
Notional Amount: The nominal or face amount that is used to calculate payments made on
swaps and other risk management products. This amount generally does not change hands and is
thus referred to as "notional."
Off-Balance Sheet Derivative Contracts: Derivative contracts that generally do not involve
booking assets or liabilities (i.e., swaps, futures, forwards, and options).
Over-the-Counter Derivative Contracts: Privately negotiated derivative contracts that are
transacted off organized exchanges.
Structured Notes: Non-mortgage-backed debt securities, whose cash flow characteristics
depend on one or more indices and/or have embedded forwards or options.
Total Risk-Based Capital: The sum of tier 1 plus tier 2 capital. Tier 1 capital consists of
common shareholders equity, perpetual preferred shareholders equity with noncumulative
dividends, retained earnings, and minority interests in the equity accounts of consolidated
subsidiaries. Tier 2 capital consists of subordinated debt, intermediate-term preferred stock,
cumulative and long-term preferred stock, and a portion of a bank's allowance for loan and lease
losses.
|