Some important finance related terms which may not be understood (correctly) in the US.
- AGM
- An abbreviation of Annual General Meeting. Annual Stockholders meeting.
- Building society
- A mutually owned (owned by depositors and borrowers) bank.
- Chartered accountant
- Equivalent to a CPA. See audit.
- City, The
- The City of London. Also called the Square Mile. The financial centre of London. Equivalent to Wall Street in the US. Used as an adjectivally: e.g. “City analyst”
- Current account
- Checking account
- Gearing
- Leverage. Obviously originating from a similar analogy. To gear-up means to increase leverage.
- Gilts
- British government bonds. A contraction of “gilt edged securities”.
- Investment trust
- Closed end investment company. The term exists for historical reasons.
- Merchant bank
- Investment bank. Falling out of use, particularly within the industry itself. Its use may indicate an emphasise the British identity or style of the bank it is applied to.
- OEIC
- Open ended investment company. Similar to a mutual fund.
- Operational gearing
- Operating leverage
- Ordinary shares
- Common stock. The word stock in ambiguous in British English as it can also mean inventory.
- P & L
- Income statement. An abbreviation of profit and loss account.
- PIBS
- Permanent interest bearing shares. Fixed interest securities issued by building societies. Broadly similar to the junior debt of other financial institutions but conferring membership of the issuer.
- PLC
- Public Limited Company. A joint stock company/corporation that, subject to other regulatory restrictions, can sell its shares to the public and list them on financial markets.
- Sterling
- The British Pound is referred to as the pound sterling, or simply sterling.
- Stock
- Either inventory, or certain types of security
- Unit trust
- A type of collective investment vehicle similar to a mutual fund.
- Zeros
- Zero dividend preference shares (stock). Often issued by investment trusts (investment companies).