UBS Dictionary of Banking

Ha

hamster warrant
Synonym for range warrant.

hard currency / harte Währung / devise forte / moneta forte
Freely convertible currency characterized by low inflation rates in the country of issue and particularly high currency stability. Opposite: soft currency.

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He

Health Care / Gesundheitswesen / Santé / Salute
Equity sector incorporating shares of companies producing or distributing pharmacueticals, biotechnology equipment and accessories, or providing medical care. The respective MSCI Sector index acts as a benchmark for shares of companies belonging to this sector.

hedge / Hedgegeschäft / opération de couverture / operazione di copertura
Also: hedging transaction. Countertrade or covering transaction designed to offset an existing or potential risk position by eliminating or diminishing the element of risk, in particular price, interest rate or exchange rate risks. Risk compensation is achieved by incurring a similar yet countercurrent risk to that entailed by the position to be hedged. Futures transactions are classic examples of hedging instruments. Securities portfolios can be hedged with financial derivatives. See also hedging, financial future, option.

hedge fund / Hedge-Fund / hedge fund / hedge fund
Private collective investment vehicle which is active in the global capital markets, seeks to achieve absolute returns and capital appreciation. Hedge funds use a variety of investment techniques, are lightly regulated and often accept only a very limited number of investors so as to ensure that their investment strategy remains flexible. Hedge funds are categorized not only according to the asset classes in which they invest (equities, bonds etc.) or their geographic or thematic orientation, but also in terms of their strategies (e.g. arbitrage, macro, event-driven or opportunistic).

hedge ratio / Hedge-Ratio / ratio de couverture / hedge ratio
Ratio of options or futures to the number of underlyings at which the portfolio is fully hedged. The hedge ratio is the reciprocal of the delta.

hedging / Absicherung / couverture / copertura
Strategy used to protect a position or an entire portfolio against losses.

hedging transaction
Synonym for hedge.

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Hi

high flyer / High Flyer / valeur volatile / high flyer
Expression used for shares showing extreme increases in their market price and mostly above-average price/earnings ratios.

high water mark / High-Water-Mark / high watermark / high water mark
Principle whereby the manager of a hedge fund does not receive a percentage of the growth in the fund's value until any losses incurred in the previous year have been made up during the current year.

high-grade fund / High-Grade-Fund / high-grade fund / high-grade fund
Investment fund investing solely in first-class assets.

high-priced shares / schwere Papiere / titres lourds / titoli pesanti
Shares with a market price which far exceeds the average. They are therefore generally acquired only by large investors.

high-yield bond / High-Yield-Bond / obligation à haut risque et à haut rendement / high yield bond
Bond which is rated BB+ or below by the leading rating agencies, or is of comparable quality. Because of their inferior credit quality, high-yield bonds offer a higher return than papers with a better credit rating, but also involve higher risks. The chief issuers of high-yield bonds are companies and emerging markets.

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Hk

HKFE / HKFE / HKFE / HKFE
Abbr. for Hong Kong Futures Exchange.

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Ho

holding company / Holdinggesellschaft / société holding / società holding
Company with permanent holdings in other, legally independent companies for the purpose of control or financing. See also holding privilege.

holding privilege / Holdingprivileg / privilège des sociétés mères et filiales / privilegio per le holding
Tax relief granted to holding companies by the Swiss federal government and most cantons.

home banking
Obsolete name for electronic banking.

hostile takeover / feindliche Übernahme / rachat hostile / scalata ostile
Takeover, usually made in the form of a public offering, with the intention of replacing the current management of the target company. Opposite: friendly takeover.

hot issue
Newly issued securities strongly oversubscribed in the primary market and often traded at higher-than-issue prices in the secondary market.

hot money
Synonym for flight capital.

hotel financing / Hotelfinanzierung / financement hôtelier / finanziamento alberghiero
Financing especially adapted to the needs and practices of the hotel industry. For banking institutions, hotel financing is an important facet of the commercial lending business in tourist regions.

house bank / Hausbank / banque principale / banca di riferimento
Bank with which a company transacts the major part of its business.

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