What Is a Boutique? A boutique is a small financial firm that provides specialized services for a particular segment of the market. Boutique firms are most common in the investment management or investment banking industries. These boutique firms may specialize by industry, client asset size, banking transaction type, or other factors to address a market
What Is a Bowie Bond A Bowie bond was a unique type of asset-backed security which used as collateral the royalty streams from current (at the time) and future album sales and live performances by musician David Bowie. Bowie bonds are also sometimes known as “Pullman bonds” after David Pullman, the banker who created and
What Is the Boston Options Exchange (BOX)? The term Boston Options Exchange (BOX) refers to a derivatives exchange owned and operated by the TMX Group. The exchange is automated and is located in Boston. Established in 2002, trading on the BOX commenced in February 2004. The exchange started as a joint effort by the Montreal
What Is the Brace Gatarek Musiela (BGM) Model? The Brace Gatarek Musiela Model (BGM) is a nonlinear financial model that uses the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) to price interest rate derivatives. The Brace Gatarek Musiela (BGM) model prices securities by examining market-quoted rates. It is used most frequently when pricing swaptions and caplets (a call
What Is Bracket Creep? Bracket creep is a situation where inflation pushes income into higher tax brackets. The result is an increase in income taxes but no increase in real purchasing power. This is a problem during periods of high inflation, as income tax codes typically take longer to change than the rate of inflation.
What Are Brady Bonds? Brady bonds are sovereign debt securities, denominated in U.S. dollars (USD), issued by developing countries and backed by U.S. Treasury bonds. Throughout most of the 20th century, governments of emerging markets countries issued bonds only sporadically and on a limited basis, often due to currency and economic instability. In the late
What Is Brain Drain? Brain drain is a slang term that indicates a substantial emigration or migration of individuals. A brain drain can result from turmoil within a nation, the existence of favorable professional opportunities in other countries, or a desire to seek a higher standard of living. In addition to occurring geographically, brain drain may also occur at the
What Is Branch Accounting? Branch accounting is a bookkeeping system in which separate accounts are maintained for each branch or operating location of an organization. Typically found in geographically dispersed corporations, multinationals, and chain operators, it allows for greater transparency in the transactions, cash flows, and overall financial position and performance of each branch. Branch
What Is Branch Automation? Branch automation is a form of banking automation that connects the customer service desk in a bank office with the bank’s customer records in the back office. Banking automation refers to the system of operating the banking process by highly automatic means so that human intervention is reduced to a minimum.
What Is Branch Banking? Branch banking is the operation of storefront locations away from the institution’s home office for the convenience of customers. Since the 1980s, branch banking in the U.S. has gone through significant changes in response to a more competitive and consolidated financial services market. One of the most significant changes is that
