Definition of Rules-versus-Discretion Debate

Rules-versus-Discretion Debate

Argument about whether policy authorities should be allowed to undertake discretionary policy action as they see fit or should be replaced by robots programmed to set policy by following specific formulas. See discretionary policy, policy rule.

Administrative pricing rules

IRS rules used to allocate income on export sales to a foreign sales corporation.

Delivery versus payment

A transaction in which the buyer's payment for securities is due at the time of
delivery (usually to a bank acting as agent for the buyer) upon receipt of the securities. The payment may be
made by bank wire, check, or direct credit to an account.

Discretionary account

Accounts over which an individual or organization, other than the person in whose
name the account is carried, exercises trading authority or control.

Discretionary cash flow

Cash flow that is available after the funding of all positive NPV capital investment
projects; it is available for paying cash dividends, repurchasing common stock, retiring debt, and so on.

Tick-test rules

SEC-imposed restrictions on when a short sale may be executed, intended to prevent investors
from destabilizing the price of a stock when the market price is falling. A short sale can be made only when either
1) the sale price of the particular stock is higher than the last trade price (referred to as an uptick trade) or
2) if there is no change in the last trade price of the particular stock, the previous trade price must be
higher than the trade price that preceded it (referred to as a zero uptick).

discretionary cost

a cost that is periodically reviewed by a
decision maker in a process of determining whether it continues
to be in accord with ongoing policies; a cost that
arises from a management decision to fund an activity at
a specified cost amount for a specified period of time, generally
one year; a cost that can be reduced to zero in the
short run if necessity so dictates

Discretionary Policy

A policy that is a conscious, considered response to each situation as it arises. Contrast with policy rule.

Attribution Rules

Legislation under which interest, dividends, or capital gains earned on assets you transfer to your spouse will be treated as your own for tax purposes. Interest or dividends relating to property transferred to children under 18 also will be attributed back to you. The exception to this rule is that capital gains relating to property transferred to children under 18 will not be attributed back to you.

Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT)

An alternative model to the capital asset pricing model developed by
Stephen Ross and based purely on arbitrage arguments.

Arbitrage-free option-pricing models

Yield curve option-pricing models.

Asset pricing model

A model for determining the required rate of return on an asset.

Asset pricing model

A model, such as the Capital Asset pricing Model (CAPM), that determines the required
rate of return on a particular asset.

Balance of payments

A statistical compilation formulated by a sovereign nation of all economic transactions
between residents of that nation and residents of all other nations during a stipulated period of time, usually a
calendar year.

Binomial option pricing model

An option pricing model in which the underlying asset can take on only two
possible, discrete values in the next time period for each value that it can take on in the preceding time period.

Black-Scholes option-pricing model

A model for pricing call options based on arbitrage arguments that uses
the stock price, the exercise price, the risk-free interest rate, the time to expiration, and the standard deviation
of the stock return.

Break-even lease payment

The lease payment at which a party to a prospective lease is indifferent between
entering and not entering into the lease arrangement.

Break-even payment rate

The prepayment rate of a MBS coupon that will produce the same CFY as that of
a predetermined benchmark MBS coupon. Used to identify for coupons higher than the benchmark coupon
the prepayment rate that will produce the same CFY as that of the benchmark coupon; and for coupons lower
than the benchmark coupon the lowest prepayment rate that will do so.

Capital asset pricing model (CAPM)

An economic theory that describes the relationship between risk and
expected return, and serves as a model for the pricing of risky securities. The CAPM asserts that the only risk
that is priced by rational investors is systematic risk, because that risk cannot be eliminated by diversification.
The CAPM says that the expected return of a security or a portfolio is equal to the rate on a risk-free security
plus a risk premium.

Cash delivery

The provision of some futures contracts that requires not delivery of underlying assets but
settlement according to the cash value of the asset.

Clearing House Automated Payments System (CHAPS)

A computerized clearing system for sterling funds
that began operations in 1984. It includes 14 member banks, nearly 450 participating banks, and is one of the
clearing companies within the structure of the Association for payment Clearing Services (APACS).

Clearing House Interbank Payments System (CHIPS)

An international wire transfer system for high-value
payments operated by a group of major banks.

Coupon payments

A bond's interest payments.

Date of payment

Date dividend checks are mailed.

Delivery

The tender and receipt of an actual commodity or financial instrument in settlement of a futures contract.

Delivery notice

The written notice given by the seller of his intention to make delivery against an open, short
futures position on a particular date. Related: notice day

Delivery options

The options available to the seller of an interest rate futures contract, including the quality
option, the timing option, and the wild card option. delivery options make the buyer uncertain of which
Treasury Bond will be delivered or when it will be delivered.

Delivery points

Those points designated by futures exchanges at which the financial instrument or
commodity covered by a futures contract may be delivered in fulfillment of such contract.

Delivery price

The price fixed by the Clearing house at which deliveries on futures are in invoiced; also the
price at which the futures contract is settled when deliveries are made.

FHA prepayment experience

The percentage of loans in a pool of mortgages outstanding at the origination
anniversary, based on annual statistical historic survival rates for FHA-insured mortgages.

Forward delivery

A transaction in which the settlement will occur on a specified date in the future at a price
agreed upon on the trade date.

Garmen-Kohlhagen option pricing model

A widely used model for pricing foreign currency options.

Good delivery

A delivery in which everything - endorsement, any necessary attached legal papers, etc. - is in
order.

Good delivery and settlement procedures

Refers to PSA Uniform Practices such as cutoff times on delivery
of securities and notification, allocation, and proper endorsement.

Graduated-payment mortgages (GPMs)

A type of stepped-payment loan in which the borrower's payments
are initially lower than those on a comparable level-rate mortgage. The payments are gradually increased over
a predetermined period (usually 3,5, or 7 years) and then are fixed at a level-pay schedule which will be
higher than the level-pay amortization of a level-pay mortgage originated at the same time. The difference
between what the borrower actually pays and the amount required to fully amortize the mortgage is added to
the unpaid principal balance.

Interest payments

Contractual debt payments based on the coupon rate of interest and the principal amount.

Lag response of prepayments

There is typically a lag of about three months between the time the weighted
average coupon of an MBS pool has crossed the threshold for refinancing and an acceleration in prepayment
speed is observed.

Making delivery

Refers to the seller's actually turning over to the buyer the asset agreed upon in a forward contract.

Overnight delivery risk

A risk brought about because differences in time zones between settlement centers
require that payment or delivery on one side of a transaction be made without knowing until the next day
whether the funds have been received in an account on the other side. Particularly apparent where delivery
takes place in Europe for payment in dollars in New York.

Payment date

The date on which each shareholder of record will be sent a check for the declared dividend.

Payment float

Company-written checks that have not yet cleared.

Payments netting

Reducing fund transfers between affiliates to only a netted amount. Netting can be done on
a bilateral basis (between pairs of affiliates), or on a multi-lateral basis (taking all affiliates together).

Payments pattern

escribes the lagged collection pattern of receivables, for instance the probability that a
72-day-old account will still be unpaid when it is 73-days-old.

Payment-In-Kind (PIK)

bond A bond that gives the issuer an option (during an initial period) either to make
coupon payments in cash or in the form of additional bonds.

Prepayment speed

Also called speed, the estimated rate at which mortgagors pay off their loans ahead of
schedule, critical in assessing the value of mortgage pass-through securities.

Prepayments

payments made in excess of scheduled mortgage principal repayments.

Pricing efficiency

Also called external efficiency, a market characteristic where prices at all times fully
reflect all available information that is relevant to the valuation of securities.

Production payment financing

A method of nonrecourse asset-based financing in which a specified
percentage of revenue realized from the sale of the project's output is used to pay debt service.

Regulatory pricing risk

Risk that arises when regulators restrict the premium rates that insurance companies
can charge.

Single-payment bond

A bond that will make only one payment of principal and interest.

Taking delivery

Refers to the buyer's actually assuming possession from the seller of the asset agreed upon
in a forward contract or a futures contract.

Two-state option pricing model

An option pricing model in which the underlying asset can take on only two
possible (discrete) values in the next time period for each value it can take on in the preceding time period.
Also called the binomial option pricing model.

Underpricing

Issue of securities below their market value.

Yield curve option-pricing models

Models that can incorporate different volatility assumptions along the
yield curve, such as the Black-Derman-Toy model. Also called arbitrage-free option-pricing models.

Zero prepayment

assumption The assumption of payment of scheduled principal and interest with no payments.

GENERAL-AND-ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES

What was spent to run the non-sales and non-manufacturing part of a company, such as office salaries and interest paid on loans.

Cost-plus pricing

A method of pricing in which a mark-up is added to the total product/service cost.

Prepayment

A payment made in advance of when it is treated as an expense for profit purposes.

Target rate of return pricing

A method of pricing that estimates the desired return on investment to be achieved from the
fixed and working capital investment and includes that return in the price of a product/service.

Payment date

The date established for the payment of a declared dividend.

Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM)

A model for estimating equilibrium rates of return and values of
assets in financial markets; uses beta as a measure of asset risk
relative to market risk

administrative department

an organizational unit that performs management activities benefiting the entire organization;
includes top management personnel and organization
headquarters

dual pricing arrangement

a transfer pricing system that allows
a selling division to record the transfer of goods or
services at one price (e.g., a market or negotiated market
price) and a buying division to record the transfer at another
price (e.g., a cost-based amount)

capital asset pricing model (CAPM)

Theory of the relationship between risk and return which states that the expected risk
premium on any security equals its beta times the market risk premium.

payment float

Checks written by a company that have not yet cleared.

underpricing

Issuing securities at an offering price set below the true value of the security.

Balance of Payments

The difference between the demand for and supply of a country's currency on the foreign exchange market.

Balance of Payments Accounts

A statement of a country's transactions with other countries.

Transfer Payment

A grant or gift that is not payment for services rendered.

Current Tax Payment Act of 1943

A federal Act requiring employers to withhold income taxes from employee pay.

Electronic Federal Tax Payment Systems (EFTPS)

An electronic funds transfer system used by businesses to remit taxes to the government.

Delivery policy

A company’s stated goal for how soon a customer order will be
shipped following receipt of that order.

Point-of-use delivery

A delivery of stock to a location in or near the shop floor
adjacent to its area of use.

Split delivery

The practice of ordering large quantities on a single purchase order,
but separating the order into multiple smaller deliveries.

Lease Payment

The consideration paid by the lessee to the lessor in exchange for the use of the leased equipment/property. payments are usually made at fixed intervals.

Progress Payments

Periodic payments to a supplier, contractor or subcontractor for work satisfactorily performed to date.

Repayment Terms

The length of time given a borrower by a lender to repay a debt and the frequency of principal payments which the borrower has to meet.

Interac® Direct Payment

Instead of paying with cash or a credit card, Interac Direct payment allows you to pay for your purchase with a debit card, such as your bank card. The amount of the purchase is electronically debited, or withdrawn, from your bank account (see debit card).
Here's how to pay for items using Interac Direct payment and your bank account:
1. Swipe your bank card (or debit card) through the point of sale (POS) terminal at the store's check-out
2. Enter your personal identification number (PIN), confirm the amount to be paid and indicate the account (chequing) from which the money is to be drawn.
3. The specified amount is then electronically debited from your account.

online bill payment

The electronic payment of a bill via the Internet. The specified amount of the bill is electronically debited from your account.

pre-authorized payment

A system where funds are electronically debited from your account on a specified date by a financial institution (e.g., bill, mortgage or personal loan payments) or perhaps an insurance or an utility company.

stop payment

A service which enables you to request a 'stop' on any cheque or other pre-authorized payment, as long as the funds have not yet been disbursed. For example, you might request a stop payment on a post-dated cheque if you no longer need the product or service for which that cheque was initially written.

Automatic Benefits Payment

Automatic payment of moneys derived from a benefit.

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