A bond future option is an option contract that gives the holder the right but not the obligation to buy or sell a bond future at a predetermined price. The writer/seller receives a premium from the buyer for undertaking this obligation. Options are leveraged instruments that allow the owner to control a large amount of the underlying asset with a…[Read more]

A bond future is a future contract in which the asset for delivery is a government bond. Any government bonds that meet the maturity specification of a future contract are eligible for delivery. All eligible delivery bonds construct the delivery basket where each bond has its own conversion factor. Conversion factors are used to equalise the…[Read more]

A bond is a debt instrument in which an investor loans money to the issuer for a defined period of time and receives coupons paid by the issuer at fixed interest rate. The bond principal will be returned at maturity date. Bonds are usually issued by companies, municipalities, states/provinces and countries to finance a variety of projects and activities.

An amortizing bond is a bond whose principal (face value) decreases due to repaying part of the principal along with the coupon payments. Each payment to the amortizing bond holder consists of a portion of interest and a portion of principal. While an accreting bond is a bond whose principal increases during the life of the deal. Each payment to…[Read more]

Autocallable Notes are hybrid instruments that offer a higher coupon if they are automatically called. The automatic call condition is based on a reference asset. The auto call happens If the reference asst is at or above its initial level on predefined observation dates. If called, the investor receives the principal plus a coupon. The reference…[Read more]

An equity range accrual note is a principal-protected note that pays out a series of coupons based on the performance of an underlying stock, index, or basket of assets. The holder receives these coupons on a set of scheduled payment dates, but only if the value of the underlying asset on that date is between a lower and upper threshold. More…[Read more]

A Correlation Swap is a contract in which the option buyer receives the difference between the observed correlation and the strike correlation on a basket of assets, observed over a specified time interval.

Himalaya option is a popular version of maintain range options that basically pays the sum of the best performers of a basket of assets over a particular time horizon. Maintain range options are exotic options that have multiple underlying assets, path-dependency, and best (worst) of payoff structure. They include Everest options, Atlas options,…[Read more]

A rainbow option is an option on a basket that pays a non-equally weighted sum of returns over all assets in the basket according to their performance, where individual asset returns are computed as the percentage growth from initial levels to final levels that may be averages over multiple dates.

A yield note is a principal-protected structured note that pays periodic coupons that are linked to the performance of a basket of equities. A callable yield note gives the issuer the right to recall the note on specific observation dates. Once recalled, the cancellation coupon is paid, the notional is returned, and the deal is cancelled.

A bonus coupon note, also referred to as coupon growth note or bonus enhanced note or basket coupon note, is an equity-linked note that provides guaranteed coupons over the life of the note with potential for a bonus coupon based on the underlying asset trading above a specified barrier level. The note pays a series of coupons based on the…[Read more]

An accelerated share repurchase (ASR) agreement is a contract or an investment strategy used by a publicly traded company to buy back shares of stocks expeditiously from the market. In these agreements, firms are able to repurchase a significant number of their shares upfront. The intermediary must then repurchase the shares over a given time…[Read more]

Describes and provides examples of modules and assignments for a sophomore Brit Lit survey and an upper-division poetics class that responded to student demands for a more racially diverse canon. Includes a brief discussion of Lucius Henry Holsey, enslaved worker on the UGA campus, who claimed to have learned to read from Milton’s Paradise Lost…[Read more]

The current article explores the image of success in the contemporary business environment, embedded in organizational settings as the “exponential organizations”. The essence of exponential human resource management is outlined based on critical review of the continuum of revolutions (evolution) in this functional sphere in business org…[Read more]

An Accelerated Return Note (ARN) is a structured instrument that offers a potentially higher return linked to the performance of a reference entity that could be an equity, an index, or a basket of assets. The payoff depends on the performance of the underlying assets. Usually, it is capped but not floored, that means it does not offer any…[Read more]

A constant proportion portfolio insurance (CPPI) is a trading strategy where an initial investment is dynamically reallocated between a risky asset and risk-free bond such that a minimum payoff is guaranteed at maturity. The risky asset could be from equities, funds, or commodities.

A reverse convertible autocallable swap allows two parties exchange floating coupons with fixed coupons on certain future dates. On some coupon dates, the swap may be cancelled. Should the swap be cancelled on coupon date t, the coupons due on coupon date t will be paid and all further cash flows are terminated.

A best of option pays the option holder the best return at maturity among a given set of portfolios, where each portfolio may be defined by a set of weights on the same underlying basket or different baskets. These are chooser options that return the best performing among several baskets of funds or indices that reflect growth, moderate and…[Read more]

A spread option is an option written on the difference of two underling assets, whose values at time t we denote by S1(t) and S2(t). We consider only options of the European type for which the buyer has the right to be paid, at the maturity date T, the difference S2(T)−S1(T), known as the spread. To exercise the option, the buyer must pay at m…[Read more]

A callable note allows the issuer to exercise a call option on the note on a specified date or set of dates prior to maturity. Callable note or callable exotics are among the most challenging derivatives to price. These products are loosely defined by the provision that the holder or issuer has the right to call the product or exercise into…[Read more]