Financial dictionary

Open architecture

Analysis and selection of "Best In Class" funds in an extensive competition of global management companies (Allianz Global Investors, Amundi Asset Management, BlackRock, BNP Paribas Asset Management, Fidelity International, Franklin Templeton Investments, Invesco Asset Management, JPMorgan Asset Management, NN Investment Partners, Schroders Investment Management). Reviewing thousands of the solutions of our preferred partners, we only select the top quality solutions with a long-lasting stable performance and excellent risk/reward ratio.

Global Investment Strategy (GIS)

A continuous process of market and data analysis bringing an independent view of UniCredit Group of individual asset classes. A team of professionals monitors the events in the market translating their recommendations into specific model portfolios for UniCredit Bank clients. The Global Investment Strategy helps clients to get a grasp of the difficult financial market.

Diversification

Diversification of investments across broad asset classes which are not depended on each other. The purpose of diversification is to minimise the risk of one investor-preferred investment loosing a value.

Portfolio

A set of investments divided into various products aiming to minimise the risk (diversify) and maximise the gains. The final portfolio reflects client´s investment strategy and actual market events.

Mutual fund

An investment tool which pools funds from investors and allocates them to financial products for diversification purposes.

A mutual fund issues investment certificates which represent investor´s share in the fund property.

Asset allocation

Allocation of the share of individual investments in a portfolio.

Stock

An equity stake representing the percentage of a business owned by the holder of some number of shares of stock in that company. The stock is inevitably connected with the right to participate in the company profit, right to take part in the decision-making process, and the right to the value of the company if the company is dissolved. It is a security with no maturity.

Bond

A debt security which represents the debtor´s liability (bond issuer) to pay the amount due along with the relevant interest (coupons) in a predefined time period. Bondholders do not have an equity stake in the issuer´s company.

Index

A statistical composite that measures changes of several investment assets or the whole market (stocks, bonds, commodities...). Depending on what they focus on, we distinguish stock indexes, bond indexes, commodity indexes, mixed indexes, as well as indexes monitoring individual regions or sectors.

Financial derivative

A financial instrument which derives its value from another, underlying, financial instrument (e.g. stock, commodity).

Using financial derivatives, the investor may agree on exact conditions to be applied in future. Basic derivatives include: options, forwards, futures and swaps.

Options

A financial derivative that gives the buyer the right to buy (call option) or sell (put option) in future a specific asset at a predetermined price. The person who sells the option is obliged to meet the conditions under the option should the right be exercised by the buyer. The buyer of the option pays a premium for this right.

Structured product

An investment instrument which combines traditional financial instruments with financial derivatives producing innovative opportunities for the investor to gain a more interesting yield. Investor may achieve partial protection against decrease on one hand and, on the other hand, he/she can participate in the growth.

The most frequent type of structured products includes structured bonds which combine a guarantee of the capital invested with the opportunity to participate, e.g., on stock investment, and get thus higher gains than the one on a traditional bond.

Investment certificate

An investment instrument from a structured product group; its price depends on the development of another underlying asset (stock, index, commodity).

Investor will gain a predetermined yield if the underlying asset does not drop under the predetermined threshold. These forms of investments are a meaningful complement of a portfolio, if they can yield gains even in stagnating or moderately decreasing markets.