1.
Ticker symbol
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A ticker symbol or stock symbol is an abbreviation used to uniquely identify publicly traded shares of a particular stock on a particular stock market. A stock symbol may consist of letters, numbers or a combination of both, ticker symbol refers to the symbols that were printed on the ticker tape of a ticker tape machine. Stock symbols are unique identifiers assigned to each security traded on a particular market, for example, AAPL is for Apple Inc. OODH is for Orion DHC, Inc. and HD is for Home Depot, a stock symbol can consist of letters, numbers, or a combination of both, and is a way to uniquely identify that stock. The symbols were kept as short as possible to reduce the number of characters that had to be printed on the ticker tape, the allocation of symbols and formatting convention is specific to each stock exchange. In the US, for example, stock tickers are typically between 1 and 4 letters and represent the name where possible. In Europe, most exchanges use three-letter codes, for example Dutch consumer goods company Unilever traded on the Amsterdam Euronext exchange has the symbol UNA, while in Asia, numbers are often used as stock tickers to avoid issues for international investors when using non-Latin scripts. For example, the bank HSBCs stock traded on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has the ticker symbol 0005, symbols sometimes change to reflect mergers. Prior to the 1999 merger with Mobil Oil, Exxon used a spelling of the company XON as its ticker symbol. The symbol of the firm after the merger was XOM, symbols are sometimes reused, in the US the single-letter symbols are particularly sought after as vanity symbols. For example, since Mar 2008 Visa Inc. has used the symbol V that had previously used by Vivendi which had delisted. To fully qualify a stock, both the ticker and the exchange or country of listing needs to be known, on many systems both must be specified to uniquely identify the security. This is often done by appending the location or exchange code to the ticker, although stock tickers identify a security, they are exchange dependent, generally limited to stocks and can change. These limitations have led to the development of other codes in financial markets to identify securities for settlement purposes, the most prevalent of these is the International Securities Identifying Number. An ISIN uniquely identifies a security and its structure is defined in ISO6166, Securities for which ISINs are issued include bonds, commercial paper, stocks, and warrants. The ISIN identifies the security, not the exchange on which it trades, for instance, Daimler AG stock trades on twenty-two different stock exchanges worldwide, and is priced in five different currencies, it has the same ISIN on each, though not the same ticker symbol. ISIN cannot specify a particular trade in this case, and another identifier, following the introduction of the Sequence trading platform in 1996, EPICs were renamed Tradable Instrument Display Mnemonics, but they are still widely referred to as EPICs. Stocks can also be identified using their SEDOL number or their ISIN, in the United States, modern letter-only ticker symbols were developed by Standard & Poors to bring a national standard to investing
2.
New York Stock Exchange
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The New York Stock Exchange, is an American stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street, Lower Manhattan, New York City, New York. It is by far the worlds largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its companies at US$19.3 trillion as of June 2016. The average daily trading value was approximately US$169 billion in 2013, the NYSE trading floor is located at 11 Wall Street and is composed of 21 rooms used for the facilitation of trading. A fifth trading room, located at 30 Broad Street, was closed in February 2007, the main building and the 11 Wall Street building were designated National Historic Landmarks in 1978. The NYSE is owned by Intercontinental Exchange, an American holding company that it also lists, previously, it was part of NYSE Euronext, which was formed by the NYSEs 2007 merger with Euronext. NYSE and Euronext now operate as divisions of Intercontinental Exchange, the NYSE has been the subject of several lawsuits regarding fraud or breach of duty and in 2004 was sued by its former CEO for breach of contract and defamation. The earliest recorded organization of securities trading in New York among brokers directly dealing with each other can be traced to the Buttonwood Agreement, previously securities exchange had been intermediated by the auctioneers who also conducted more mundane auctions of commodities such as wheat and tobacco. In 1817 the stockbrokers of New York operating under the Buttonwood Agreement instituted new reforms, after sending a delegation to Philadelphia to observe the organization of their board of brokers, restrictions on manipulative trading were adopted as well as formal organs of governance. Several locations were used between 1817 and 1865, when the present location was adopted, the invention of the electrical telegraph consolidated markets, and New Yorks market rose to dominance over Philadelphia after weathering some market panics better than other alternatives. The Civil War greatly stimulated speculative securities trading in New York, by 1869 membership had to be capped, and has been sporadically increased since. The latter half of the century saw rapid growth in securities trading. Securities trade in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was prone to panics. The Stock Exchange Luncheon Club was situated on the floor from 1898 until its closure in 2006. The main building, located at 18 Broad Street, between the corners of Wall Street and Exchange Place, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1978, as was the 11 Wall Street building. The NYSE announced its plans to merge with Archipelago on April 21,2005, NYSEs governing board voted to merge with rival Archipelago on December 6,2005, and became a for-profit, public company. It began trading under the name NYSE Group on March 8,2006, Wall Street is the leading US money center for international financial activities and the foremost US location for the conduct of wholesale financial services. It comprises a matrix of wholesale financial sectors, financial markets, financial institutions, the principal sectors are securities industry, commercial banking, asset management, and insurance. Prior to the acquisition of NYSE Euronext by the ICE in 2013, Marsh Carter was the Chairman of the NYSE, presently, the chairman is Jeffrey Sprecher
3.
Multi-level marketing
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MLM salespeople are expected to sell products directly to consumers by means of relationship referrals and word of mouth marketing. They are also incentivized to recruit others to join the company as distributors, MLMs have been made illegal in some jurisdictions as a type of pyramid scheme, including in mainland China. In jurisdictions where MLMs have not been illegal, many illegal pyramid schemes attempt to present themselves as MLM businesses. Some sources define all MLMs as pyramid schemes, even if they have not been made illegal through legislative statutes. According to the U. S. Federal Trade Commission, some MLM companies already constitute illegal pyramid schemes even by the existing legislation. In this way, a salespersons first cycle of recruits is augmented by a cycle of recruits. As non-employees they are not protected by legal rights of employment law provisions, companies that use MLM models for compensation have been a frequent subject of criticism and lawsuits. Network marketing and multi-level marketing have been described by author Dominique Xardel as being synonymous, other terms that are sometimes used to describe multi-level marketing include word-of-mouth marketing, interactive distribution, and relationship marketing. Critics have argued that the use of different terms and buzzwords is an effort to distinguish multi-level marketing from illegal Ponzi schemes, chain letters, some sources classify multi-level marketing as a form of direct selling rather than being direct selling. The Direct Selling Association, a group for the multi-level marketing industry, reported that in 1990 twenty-five percent of members used MLM. By 2009,94. 2% of DSA members were using MLM, accounting for 99. 6% of sellers, companies such as Avon, Electrolux, Tupperware, and Kirby all originally used single level marketing to sell their goods and later introduced multi-level compensation plans. The DSA has approximately 200 members while it is estimated there are over 1,000 firms using multi-level marketing in the United States alone. The origin of multi-level marketing is often disputed, but multi-level marketing style businesses existed in the 1920s, 1930s California Vitamin Company, independent non-salaried participants, referred to as distributors, are authorized to distribute the companys products or services. The combined number of recruits from these cycles are the force which is referred to as the salespersons downline. This downline is the pyramid in MLMs multiple level structure of compensation, distributors can also earn a profit by retailing products they purchased from the company at wholesale price. MLMs often argue that all businesses are pyramidal in structure, with a CEO at the top, management levels beneath and this is the reason MLMs are grouped with other ordinary pyramid schemes, even where they might not be classified as such by existing law. In ordinary businesses, though, the shape does not refer to a pyramid structure of revenue of the business. Revenue and income of ordinary businesses then comes from independent customers, thats a 99.7 percent loss rate for investors
4.
Duluth, Georgia
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Duluth is a city in Gwinnett County, Georgia, United States. It is a suburb of Atlanta, as of the 2010 census, Duluth had a population of 26,600, and the U. S. Census Bureau estimated the population to be 29,193 as of 2015. Duluth is located north of Interstate 85 and it is home to Gwinnett Place Mall, the Gwinnett Civic and Cultural Center, Infinite Energy Arena, Hudgens Center for the Arts, and the Red Clay Theater. It is also home to Gwinnett Medical Center–Duluth, an 81-bed hospital constructed in 2006, as well as GMCs Glancy Campus, the agricultural manufacturer AGCO is based in Duluth. Forbes ranked Duluth 26th in Americas Best Places to Move in 2009, when Duluth was established in the early 19th century, it was primarily forest land occupied by tribespeople. When Gwinnett County was established in 1818, white settlement of the area accelerated, cotton merchant Evan Howell constructed a road connecting his cotton gin at the Chattahoochee River with Old Peachtree Road, creating Howells Cross Roads. The settlement later known as Howells Crossing. Howell was the grandfather of Atlanta Mayor Evan P. Howell and his descendants continue to live in the area, but only Howell Ferry Road in Duluth bears the name. Howells Crossing was renamed Duluth in 1871 after Congress funded a north-south railroad line into the community and it was named after the city of Duluth, Minnesota. The Midwestern city had gotten its own railroad connection not long before, which had prompted Rep. J. Proctor Knott, according to contemporary reports, Evan P. Howell himself jokingly suggested the name change in a speech about the arrival of railroad service in the Georgia town. The railroad encouraged the growth of Duluths economy, a schoolhouse was built in 1871 on the site of what is now Coleman Middle School. The first Methodist church was organized in 1871, and the first Baptist congregation formed in 1886, both churches continue today at new locations along State Route 120. The Bank of Duluth was charted in 1904, followed by the Farmers, in 1922, Duluth elected Georgias first female mayor, Alice Harrell Strickland. She donated 1-acre of land for a community forest and began efforts to land for public recreation. Duluth grew rapidly in the 1970s and 1980s, along with the rest of Gwinnett County, Georgia Governor George Busbee became a resident of Duluth in 1983 after leaving office, moving to the Sweet Bottom Plantation subdivision developed by Scott Hudgens. A major revitalization of the Duluth downtown area was undertaken in the early 21st century, development along Sugarloaf Parkway has continued with construction of the Gwinnett Arena near the Gwinnett Convention Center. In much of the 20th century, when Gwinnett County was still rural, Duluth was known in the area as being one of the few small towns with its own hospital, consequently, many older residents of the area who call other towns home were actually born in Duluth. Joan Glancy was replaced with Gwinnett Medical Center - Duluth in 2006, the city made national headlines twice in 2005
5.
Insurance
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Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss. It is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, an entity which provides insurance is known as an insurer, insurance company, or insurance carrier. A person or entity who buys insurance is known as an insured or policyholder, the insured receives a contract, called the insurance policy, which details the conditions and circumstances under which the insured will be financially compensated. The amount of money charged by the insurer to the insured for the coverage set forth in the policy is called the premium. If the insured experiences a loss which is covered by the insurance policy. Methods for transferring or distributing risk were practiced by Chinese and Babylonian traders as long ago as the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC, Chinese merchants travelling treacherous river rapids would redistribute their wares across many vessels to limit the loss due to any single vessels capsizing. The Babylonians developed a system which was recorded in the famous Code of Hammurabi, c.1750 BC, and practiced by early Mediterranean sailing merchants. If a merchant received a loan to fund his shipment, he would pay the lender an additional sum in exchange for the guarantee to cancel the loan should the shipment be stolen. At some point in the 1st millennium BC, the inhabitants of Rhodes created the general average and this allowed groups of merchants to pay to insure their goods being shipped together. The collected premiums would be used to any merchant whose goods were jettisoned during transport. Separate insurance contracts were invented in Genoa in the 14th century, the first known insurance contract dates from Genoa in 1347, and in the next century maritime insurance developed widely and premiums were intuitively varied with risks. These new insurance contracts allowed insurance to be separated from investment, Insurance became far more sophisticated in Enlightenment era Europe, and specialized varieties developed. Property insurance as we know it today can be traced to the Great Fire of London, initially,5,000 homes were insured by his Insurance Office. At the same time, the first insurance schemes for the underwriting of business ventures became available, by the end of the seventeenth century, Londons growing importance as a center for trade was increasing demand for marine insurance. These informal beginnings led to the establishment of the insurance market Lloyds of London and several related shipping, the first life insurance policies were taken out in the early 18th century. The first company to offer life insurance was the Amicable Society for a Perpetual Assurance Office, founded in London in 1706 by William Talbot, edward Rowe Mores established the Society for Equitable Assurances on Lives and Survivorship in 1762. In the late 19th century, accident insurance began to become available and this operated much like modern disability insurance. The first company to offer accident insurance was the Railway Passengers Assurance Company, by the late 19th century, governments began to initiate national insurance programs against sickness and old age
6.
Investment fund
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An investment fund is a way of investing money alongside other investors in order to benefit from the inherent advantages of working as part of a group. e. Lower transaction costs, increase the asset diversification to reduce some unsystematic risk, terminology varies with country but investment funds are often referred to as investment pools, collective investment vehicles, collective investment schemes, managed funds, or simply funds. The regulatory term is undertaking for collective investment in transferable securities, Investment funds are promoted with a wide range of investment aims either targeting specific geographic regions or specified industry sectors. Depending on the there is normally a bias towards the domestic market due to familiarity. Funds are often selected on the basis of these specified investment aims, their past investment performance, the term collective investment scheme is a legal concept deriving initially from a set of European Union Directives to regulate mutual fund investment and management. The basic aim of collective investment scheme regulation is that the products that are sold to the public are sufficiently transparent. Collective investment vehicles may be formed under company law, by legal trust or by statute, the nature of the vehicle and its limitations are often linked to its constitutional nature and the associated tax rules for the type of structure within a given jurisdiction. Typically there is, A fund manager or investment manager who manages the investment decisions, a fund administrator who manages the trading, reconciliations, valuation and unit pricing. A board of directors or trustees who safeguards the assets and ensures compliance with laws, regulations, the shareholders or unitholders who own the assets and associated income. A marketing or distribution company to promote and sell shares/units of the fund, please see below for general information on specific forms of vehicles in different jurisdictions. The net asset value or NAV is the value of a vehicles assets minus the value of its liabilities, the method for calculating this varies between vehicle types and jurisdiction and can be subject to complex regulation. An open-end fund is divided into shares which vary in price in direct proportion to the variation in value of the funds net asset value. Each time money is invested, new shares or units are created to match the prevailing price, each time shares are redeemed. In this way there is no supply or demand created for shares, a closed-end fund issues a limited number of shares in an initial public offering or through private placement. If shares are issued through an IPO, they are traded on an exchange or directly through the fund manager to create a secondary market subject to market forces. If demand for the shares is high, they may trade at a premium to net asset value, if demand is low they may trade at a discount to net asset value. Further share offerings may be made by the vehicle if demand is high although this may affect the share price, for listed funds, the added element of market forces tends to amplify the performance of the fund increasing investment risk through increased volatility. Some collective investment vehicles have the power to borrow money to further investments
7.
Debt management plan
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A debt management plan is a formal agreement between a debtor and a creditor that addresses the terms of an outstanding debt. This commonly refers to a personal process of individuals addressing high consumer debt. Debt management plans help reduce outstanding, unsecured debts over time to help the debtor regain control of finances, the process can secure a lower overall interest rate, longer repayment terms, or an overall reduction in the debt itself. DMPs for consumers are often negotiated by a credit counseling agency on behalf of the debtor, agencies will negotiate on behalf of the debtor to lower payments and interest rates with creditors. Some of the agencies are non-profits that charge no or non-fee rates, while others can be for-profit, the effect on the debtors overall credit score will vary. In the United Kingdom, as well as DMPs, residents can apply for a Individual voluntary arrangement. Different states may regulate DMPs individually and attorneys general are empowered to protect citizens from fraud. In the United Kingdom, the Financial Conduct Authority is responsible for the regulation of credit and has established a Debt Management Plan Protocol. It can impose fines for improper conduct, elsewhere in the European Union, regulation and non-regulation of credit counseling agencies and their approaches, including DMPs, are widely varied. In Sweden, guidelines for credit counseling are provided by the Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees. In Ireland, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions provides debt resolution information directly to debtors, in Latvia, a debt advisory company called LAKRA works with employers to assist indebted employees
8.
Earnings before interest and taxes
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In accounting and finance, earnings before interest and taxes, is a measure of a firms profit that includes all expenses except interest and income tax expenses. It is the difference between operating revenues and operating expenses, when a firm does not have non-operating income, then operating income is sometimes used as a synonym for EBIT and operating profit. To calculate EBIT, expenses are subtracted from revenues, net income is later obtained by subtracting interest and taxes from the result
9.
Net income
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In business, net income is an entitys income minus cost of goods sold, expenses and taxes for an accounting period. In the context of the presentation of financial statements, the IFRS Foundation defines net income as synonymous with profit, net income is a distinct accounting concept from profit but the same as net profit. Net income can also be calculated by adding a companys operating income to non-operating income, net income can be distributed among holders of common stock as a dividend or held by the firm as an addition to retained earnings. As profit and earnings are used synonymously for income, net earnings, often, the term income is substituted for net income, yet this is not preferred due to the possible ambiguity. Net income is called the bottom line because it is typically found on the last line of a companys income statement. The items deducted will typically include tax expense, financing expense, likewise, preferred stock dividends will be subtracted too, though they are not an expense. For a merchandising company, subtracted costs may be the cost of goods sold, sales discounts, for a product company advertising, manufacturing, and design and development costs are included
10.
Asset
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In financial accounting, an asset is an economic resource. Anything tangible or intangible that can be owned or controlled to produce value, simply stated, assets represent value of ownership that can be converted into cash. The balance sheet of a firm records the value of the assets owned by that firm. It covers money and other valuables belonging to an individual or to a business, one can classify assets into two major asset classes, tangible assets and intangible assets. Tangible assets contain various subclasses, including current assets and fixed assets, current assets include inventory, while fixed assets include such items as buildings and equipment. Intangible assets are resources and rights that have a value to the firm because they give the firm some kind of advantage in the marketplace. Examples of intangible assets include goodwill, copyrights, trademarks, patents and computer programs, an asset is a resource controlled by the entity as a result of past events and from which future economic benefits are expected to flow to the entity. One of the most widely accepted accounting definitions of asset is the one used by the International Accounting Standards Board, employees are not considered assets like machinery is, even though they can generate future economic benefits. This is because an entity does not have sufficient control over its employees to satisfy the Frameworks definition of an asset, similarly, in economics an asset is any form in which wealth can be held. The accounting equation is the structure of the balance sheet. It relates assets, liabilities, and owners equity, Assets = Liabilities + Capital Liabilities = Assets − Capital Equity = Assets − Liabilities Assets are listed on the balance sheet. On a companys balance sheet certain divisions are required by generally accepted accounting principles, Assets can be divided into e. g. current assets and fixed assets, often with further subdivisions such as cash, receivables and inventory. Assets are formally controlled and managed within larger organizations via the use of asset tracking tools and these monitor the purchasing, upgrading, servicing, licensing, disposal etc. of both physical and non-physical assets. Current assets are cash and other assets expected to be converted to cash or consumed either in a year or in the operating cycle and these assets are continually turned over in the course of a business during normal business activity. There are 5 major items included into current assets, Cash and cash equivalents – it is the most liquid asset, which includes currency, deposit accounts, short-term investments – include securities bought and held for sale in the near future to generate income on short-term price differences. Receivables – usually reported as net of allowance for non-collectable accounts, inventory – trading these assets is a normal business of a company. The inventory value reported on the sheet is usually the historical cost or fair market value. This is known as the lower of cost or market rule, prepaid expenses – these are expenses paid in cash and recorded as assets before they are used or consumed
11.
Equity (finance)
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In accounting, equity is the difference between the value of the assets and the value of the liabilities of something owed. Equity can be negative if liabilities exceeds assets, shareholders equity represents the equity of a company as divided among shareholders of common or preferred stock. Negative shareholders equity is often referred to as a shareholders deficit, alternatively, equity can also refer to the capital stock of a corporation. The value of the stock depends on the future economic prospects. For a company in liquidation proceedings, the equity is that which remains after all liabilities have been paid, when starting a business, the owners fund the business to finance various operations. Throughout the businesss existence, the equity of the business will be the difference between its assets and debt liabilities, this is the accounting equation, when a business liquidates during bankruptcy, the proceeds from the assets are used to reimburse creditors. The creditors are ranked by priority, with secured creditors being paid first, other creditors being paid next, owners equity is this remaining or residual claim against assets, which is paid only after all other creditors are paid. In such cases where even creditors could not get money to pay their bills. In financial accounting, owners equity consists of the net assets of an entity, net assets is the difference between the total assets and total liabilities. Equity appears on the sheet, one of the four primary financial statements. The assets of an entity can be tangible and intangible items. Intangible assets include such as brand names, copyrights or goodwill. Tangible assets include land, equipment, and cash, issue of new equity in which the firm obtains new capital increases the total shareholders equity. Share repurchases, in which a firm returns money to investors, reducing on the side its financial assets. For practical purposes, share repurchasing is similar to a dividend payment, rather than giving money to all shareholders immediately in the form of a dividend payment, a share repurchase reduces the number of shares outstanding. Dividends paid out to preferred stock owners are considered an expense to be subtracted from net income, sometimes assets bought and held in other countries get translated back into the reporting currency at different exchange rates, resulting in a changed value. When the owners are shareholders, the interest can be called shareholders equity, the remains the same. If all shareholders are in one and the class, they share equally in ownership equity from all perspectives
12.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
13.
Canada
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Canada is a country in the northern half of North America. Canadas border with the United States is the worlds longest binational land border, the majority of the country has a cold or severely cold winter climate, but southerly areas are warm in summer. Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its territory being dominated by forest and tundra. It is highly urbanized with 82 per cent of the 35.15 million people concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, One third of the population lives in the three largest cities, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Its capital is Ottawa, and other urban areas include Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg. Various aboriginal peoples had inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1,1867, the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick and this began an accretion of provinces and territories to the mostly self-governing Dominion to the present ten provinces and three territories forming modern Canada. With the Constitution Act 1982, Canada took over authority, removing the last remaining ties of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II being the head of state. The country is officially bilingual at the federal level and it is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Its advanced economy is the eleventh largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources, Canadas long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture. Canada is a country and has the tenth highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the ninth highest ranking in the Human Development Index. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, Canada is an influential nation in the world, primarily due to its inclusive values, years of prosperity and stability, stable economy, and efficient military. While a variety of theories have been postulated for the origins of Canada. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona, from the 16th to the early 18th century Canada referred to the part of New France that lay along the St. Lawrence River. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada collectively named The Canadas, until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the name for the new country at the London Conference. The transition away from the use of Dominion was formally reflected in 1982 with the passage of the Canada Act, later that year, the name of national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day
14.
Puerto Rico
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Puerto Rico, officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and briefly called Porto Rico, is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the northeast Caribbean Sea. It is an archipelago that includes the island of Puerto Rico and a number of smaller ones such as Mona, Culebra. The capital and most populous city is San Juan and its official languages are Spanish and English, though Spanish predominates. The islands population is approximately 3.4 million, Puerto Ricos rich history, tropical climate, diverse natural scenery, renowned traditional cuisine, and attractive tax incentives make it a popular destination for travelers from around the world. Four centuries of Spanish colonial government transformed the ethnic, cultural and physical landscapes primarily with waves of African captives, and Canarian. In the Spanish imperial imagination, Puerto Rico played a secondary, in 1898, following the Spanish–American War, the United States appropriated Puerto Rico together with most former Spanish colonies under the terms of the Treaty of Paris. Puerto Ricans are natural-born citizens of the United States, however, Puerto Rico does not have a vote in the United States Congress, which governs the territory with full jurisdiction under the Puerto Rico Federal Relations Act of 1950. As a U. S. territory, American citizens residing on the island are disenfranchised at the level and may not vote for president. However, Congress approved a constitution, allowing U. S. citizens on the territory to elect a governor. A fifth referendum will be held in June 2017, with only Statehood, in early 2017, the Puerto Rican government-debt crisis posed serious problems for the government. The outstanding bond debt that had climbed to $70 billion or $12,000 per capita at a time with 12. 4% unemployment, the debt had been increasing during a decade long recession. Puerto Ricans often call the island Borinquen – a derivation of Borikén, its indigenous Taíno name, the terms boricua and borincano derive from Borikén and Borinquen respectively, and are commonly used to identify someone of Puerto Rican heritage. The island is also known in Spanish as la isla del encanto. Columbus named the island San Juan Bautista, in honor of Saint John the Baptist, eventually traders and other maritime visitors came to refer to the entire island as Puerto Rico, while San Juan became the name used for the main trading/shipping port and the capital city. The islands name was changed to Porto Rico by the United States after the Treaty of Paris of 1898, the anglicized name was used by the US government and private enterprises. The name was changed back to Puerto Rico by a joint resolution in Congress introduced by Félix Córdova Dávila in 1931, the ancient history of the archipelago known today as Puerto Rico is not well known. The scarce archaeological findings and early Spanish scholarly accounts from the colonial era constitute the basis of knowledge about them. The first comprehensive book on the history of Puerto Rico was written by Fray Íñigo Abbad y Lasierra in 1786, the first settlers were the Ortoiroid people, an Archaic Period culture of Amerindian hunters and fishermen who migrated from the South American mainland
15.
Unincorporated area
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Occasionally, municipalities dissolve or disincorporate, which may happen if they become fiscally insolvent, and services become the responsibility of a higher administration. In some countries, such as in Brazil, Japan, France or the United Kingdom, unlike many other countries, Australia has only one level of local government immediately beneath state and territorial governments. A local government area often contains several towns and even entire cities, thus, aside from very sparsely populated areas and a few other special cases, almost all of Australia is part of an LGA. Unincorporated areas are often in locations, cover vast areas or have very small populations. Postal addresses in unincorporated areas, as in parts of Australia. Thus, there is any ambiguity regarding addresses in unincorporated areas. The Australian Capital Territory has no municipalities and is in some sense an unincorporated area, the territorial government is directly responsible for matters normally carried out by local government. The far west and north of New South Wales constitutes the Unincorporated Far West Region, a civil servant in the state capital manages such matters as are necessary. The second unincorporated area of state is Lord Howe Island. In the Northern Territory,1. 45% of the area and 4. In South Australia, 60% of the area is unincorporated and communities located within can receive services provided by a state agency. Firstly, the remote area that is unincorporated is the Abrolhos Islands. Secondly, the unincorporated areas are A-class reserves either in, or close to. In Canada, depending on the province, a settlement is one that does not have a municipal council that governs solely over the settlement. It is usually, but not always, part of a municipal government. This can range from hamlets to large urbanized areas that are similar in size to towns. In British Columbia, unincorporated settlements lie outside municipal boundaries entirely, Unincorporated settlements with a population of between 100 and 1,000 residents may have the status of designated place in Canadian census data. In some provinces, large tracts of undeveloped wilderness or rural country are unorganized areas that fall directly under the provincial jurisdiction
16.
Gwinnett County, Georgia
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Gwinnett County is a county in the north central portion of the U. S. state of Georgia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 859,304, the county is named for Button Gwinnett, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Gwinnett County is included in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area, created in 1818 by an act of the Georgia General Assembly, Gwinnett County was formed from parts of Jackson County and from lands gained through the cession of Indian lands. Named for Button Gwinnett, one of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence, the first county court was held at the home of Elisha Winn, in 1861, all three of Gwinnett County’s representatives at the Georgia Constitutional Convention in Milledgeville voted against secession. Towards the end of the war, several took place in Gwinnett County as part of the Atlanta Campaign. The northeastern part of Gwinnett County was removed to form a part of the new Barrow County in 1914. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 437 square miles. It is located along the Eastern Continental Divide, a portion of the county to the northwest is a part of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area chain. The regional reservoir, Lake Lanier, at the north of the county, is the central cause to the Tri-state water dispute. The southern and central portions of Gwinnett County are located in the Upper Ocmulgee River sub-basin of the Altamaha River basin, the county maintains a regional airport under the name Gwinnett County Airport, formerly, Briscoe Field. Xpress GA/ RTA Commuter buses and Gwinnett County Transit serve the county, as of the 2010 United States Census, there were 805,321 people,268,519 households, and 203,238 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,871.2 inhabitants per square mile, there were 291,547 housing units at an average density of 677.4 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 53. 3% White,23. 6% black or African American,10. 6% Asian,0. 5% American Indian,0. 1% Pacific Islander,8. 8% from other races, and 3. 1% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 20. 1% of the population, in terms of ancestry,8. 3% were German,7. 8% were Irish,7. 7% were English, and 5. 8% were American. The average household size was 2.98 and the family size was 3.40. The median age was 33.7 years, the median income for a household in the county was $63,219 and the median income for a family was $70,767. Males had an income of $48,671 versus $39,540 for females. The per capita income for the county was $26,901, about 8. 7% of families and 11. 0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15. 1% of those under age 18 and 8. 1% of those age 65 or over
17.
Georgia (U.S. state)
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Georgia is a state in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1733, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies, named after King George II of Great Britain, Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2,1788. It declared its secession from the Union on January 19,1861 and it was the last state to be restored to the Union, on July 15,1870. Georgia is the 24th largest and the 8th most populous of the 50 United States, from 2007 to 2008,14 of Georgias counties ranked among the nations 100 fastest-growing, second only to Texas. Georgia is known as the Peach State and the Empire State of the South, Atlanta is the states capital, its most populous city and has been named a global city. Georgia is bordered to the south by Florida, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean and South Carolina, to the west by Alabama, the states northern part is in the Blue Ridge Mountains, part of the Appalachian Mountains system. Georgias highest point is Brasstown Bald at 4,784 feet above sea level, Georgia is the largest state entirely east of the Mississippi River in land area. Before settlement by Europeans, Georgia was inhabited by the mound building cultures, the British colony of Georgia was founded by James Oglethorpe on February 12,1733. The colony was administered by the Trustees for the Establishment of the Colony of Georgia in America under a charter issued by King George II. The Trustees implemented a plan for the colonys settlement, known as the Oglethorpe Plan. In 1742 the colony was invaded by the Spanish during the War of Jenkins Ear, in 1752, after the government failed to renew subsidies that had helped support the colony, the Trustees turned over control to the crown. Georgia became a colony, with a governor appointed by the king. The Province of Georgia was one of the Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution by signing the 1776 Declaration of Independence, the State of Georgias first constitution was ratified in February 1777. Georgia was the 10th state to ratify the Articles of Confederation on July 24,1778, in 1829, gold was discovered in the North Georgia mountains, which led to the Georgia Gold Rush and an established federal mint in Dahlonega, which continued its operation until 1861. The subsequent influx of white settlers put pressure on the government to land from the Cherokee Nation. In 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act into law, sending many eastern Native American nations to reservations in present-day Oklahoma, including all of Georgias tribes. Despite the Supreme Courts ruling in Worcester v. Georgia that ruled U. S. states were not permitted to redraw the Indian boundaries, President Jackson and the state of Georgia ignored the ruling. In 1838, his successor, Martin Van Buren, dispatched troops to gather the Cherokee
18.
Spin out
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A corporate spin-off, also known as a spin-out, or starburst, is a type of corporate action where a company splits off a section as a separate business. Shareholders of the parent company receive equivalent shares in the new company in order to compensate for the loss of equity in the original stocks. In contrast, divestment can also sever one business from another, many times the management team of the new company are from the same parent organization. Spin-offs also allow high-growth divisions, once separated from other low-growth divisions, the United States Securities and Exchange Commissions definition of spin-off is more precise. Spin-offs occur when the equity owners of the parent company receive equity stakes in the spun off company. For example, when Agilent Technologies was spun off from Hewlett-Packard in 1999, a company not considered a spin-off in the SECs definition may also be called a spin-off in common usage. A second definition of a spin-out is a firm formed when an employee or group of leaves a existing entity to form an independent start-up firm. The prior employer can be a firm, a university, or another organization, spin-outs typically operate at arms length from the previous organizations and have independent sources of financing, products, services, customers, and other assets. In some cases, the spin-out may license technology from the parent or supply the parent with products or services, conversely, such spin-outs are important sources of technological diffusion in high-tech industries. For example, Fosters Group, an Australian beverage company, was prepared to sell its wine business, but due to the lack of a decent offer, it decided to spin off the wine business, which is now called Treasury Wine Estates. Some examples of spin-offs, Guidant was spun off from Eli Lilly and Company in 1994, formed from Lillys Medical Devices, Agilent Technologies spun off from Hewlett-Packard in 1999, formed from HPs former test-and-measurement equipment division. Cenovus Energy was spun off from Encana Corporation in 2009, ocean Rig UDW Inc was spun off from Dryships Inc in September 2011. AOL was a Time Warner spin-off, this effectively was a demerger, DreamWorks Animation was spun off from DreamWorks Studios in 2004. Nuage Networks was spun off from Alcatel Lucent in 2012 News Corporations publishing operations were spun off as News Corp in 2013, the previous News Corporations remaining media properties were retained under the name 21st Century Fox. Over £266 million in external investment has been raised by Isis spin-out companies since 2000, mirror company formation is a specialized form of spin-off used to create a new public company. It simplifies the process of listing the shares on a stock exchange. It works by a public company issuing a bonus share at a 1-for-1 rate in the new company. This new company is sold to another company that does not want to go through the complex
19.
Citi
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Citigroup Inc. or Citi is an American multinational investment banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Manhattan, New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking giant Citicorp, Citigroup ranks 3rd on the list of largest banks in the United States by assets and is one of the Big Four banks in the United States, alongside JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo. In addition to U. S. money managers, its largest shareholders include Abu Dhabi, Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, the company is one of 24 primary dealers in United States Treasury securities. Citigroup has over 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries, Citigroup has 219,000 employees, although it had 357,000 employees at its height before the financial crisis of 2007-2008. Citigroup suffered huge losses during the crisis of 2007-2008 and was rescued in November 2008 in a massive stimulus package by the U. S. government. Citigroup was formed on October 9,1998, following the $140 billion merger of Citicorp and Travelers Group to create the worlds largest financial services organization. As such, the history dates back to the founding of. City Bank of New York was chartered by New York State on June 16,1812, serving a group of New York merchants, the bank opened for business on September 14 of that year, and Samuel Osgood was elected as the first President of the company. The companys name was changed to The National City Bank of New York in 1865 after it joined the new U. S. national banking system, and it became the largest American bank by 1895. The bank changed its name to The First National City Bank of New York in 1955, the bank introduced its First National City Charge Service credit card—popularly known as the Everything card and later to become MasterCard—in 1967. In 1976, under the leadership of CEO Walter B, wriston, First National City Bank was renamed as Citibank, N. A. Shortly afterward, the bank launched the Citicard, which pioneered the use of 24-hour ATMs, john S. Reed was elected CEO in 1984, and Citi became a founding member of the CHAPS clearing house in London. Travelers Group, at the time of merger, was a group of financial concerns that had been brought together under CEO Sandy Weill. Its roots came from Commercial Credit, a subsidiary of Control Data Corporation that was taken private by Weill in November 1986 after taking charge of the company earlier that year. Two years later, Weill mastered the buyout of Primerica—a conglomerate that had bought life insurer A L Williams as well as stock broker Smith Barney. The new company took the Primerica name, and employed a cross-selling strategy such that each of the entities within the parent company aimed to sell each others services and its non-financial businesses were spun off. With the acquisition, the group became Travelers Inc, Property & casualty and life & annuities underwriting capabilities were added to the business. Meanwhile, the distinctive Travelers red umbrella logo, which was acquired in the deal, was applied to all the businesses within the newly named organization
20.
Initial public offering
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Through this process, a privately held company transforms into a public company. Initial public offerings are used by companies to raise the expansion of capital, possibly to monetize the investments of early private investors. A company selling shares is never required to repay the capital to its public investors, after the IPO, when shares trade freely in the open market, money passes between public investors. The IPO process is known as going public. Details of the offering are disclosed to potential purchasers in the form of a lengthy document known as a prospectus. Most companies undertake an IPO with the assistance of an investment banking firm acting in the capacity of an underwriter, underwriters provide several services, including help with correctly assessing the value of shares and establishing a public market for shares. Alternative methods such as the dutch auction have also been explored, in terms of size and public participation, the two most notable examples of this method is the Google IPO and Snapchats parent company Snap Inc. China has recently emerged as a major IPO market, with several of the largest IPOs taking place in that country, the earliest form of a company which issued public shares was the case of the publicani during the Roman Republic. Like modern joint-stock companies, the publicani were legal bodies independent of their members whose ownership was divided into shares, there is evidence that these shares were sold to public investors and traded in a type of over-the-counter market in the Forum, near the Temple of Castor and Pollux. The shares fluctuated in value, encouraging the activity of speculators, mere evidence remains of the prices for which partes were sold, the nature of initial public offerings, or a description of stock market behavior. Publicanis lost favor with the fall of the Republic and the rise of the Empire, the first modern IPO occurred in March 1602 when the Dutch East India Company offered shares of the company to the public in order to raise capital. All the shares were tradable, and the shareholders received receipts for the purchase, a share certificate documenting payment and ownership such as we know today was not issued but ownership was instead entered in the companys share register. In the United States, the first IPO was the offering of Bank of North America around 1783. An IPO, therefore, allows a company to tap into a pool of potential investors to provide itself with capital for future growth, repayment of debt. A company selling shares is never required to repay the capital to its public investors. Those investors must endure the unpredictable nature of the market to price. After the IPO, when shares trade freely in the open market, for early private investors who choose to sell shares as part of the IPO process, the IPO represents an opportunity to monetize their investment. This type of offering is not dilutive, since no new shares are being created, once a company is listed, it is able to issue additional common shares in a number of different ways, one of which is the follow-on offering
21.
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority
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In the United States, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. is a private corporation that acts as a self-regulatory organization. FINRA is the successor to the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. and it is a non-governmental organization that regulates member brokerage firms and exchange markets. The government agency which acts as the regulator of the securities industry, including FINRA, is the Securities. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is the largest independent regulator for all securities firms doing business in the United States, fINRAs mission is to protect investors by making sure the United States securities industry operates fairly and honestly. FINRA oversees about 4,250 brokerage firms, about 162,155 branch offices, FINRA has approximately 3,400 employees and operates from Washington, DC, and New York, NY, with 20 regional offices around the country. The American Stock Exchange LLC, and the International Securities Exchange, LLC, FINRA was formed by a consolidation of the member regulation, enforcement and arbitration operations of the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Regulation, Inc. and NASD. The merger was approved by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on July 26,2007, in 1971, NASD launched a new computerized stock trading system called the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations stock market. The NYSE and AMEX stock exchanges merged in 1998, two years later, the NASDAQ underwent a major recapitalization and became an independent entity from NASD. In July 2007, the SEC approved the formation of a new SRO to be a successor to NASD, the NASD and the member regulation, enforcement and arbitration functions of the New York Stock Exchange were then consolidated into the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. The Small Firm Governors, Mid-Size Firm Governor, and Large-Firm Governors are elected by members of FINRA according to their classification as a Small Firm, Mid-Size Firm, FINRA regulates trading in equities, corporate bonds, securities futures, and options. All firms dealing in securities that are not regulated by another SRO, as part of its regulatory authority FINRA periodically conducts regulatory exams of its regulated institutions. FINRA recently released its tenth annual Regulatory and Examinations Priorities Letter for 2015 and it provides education and qualification examinations to industry professionals. It also sells outsourced regulatory products and services to a number of markets and exchanges, e. g. American Stock Exchange. NASD, the predecessor of FINRA, founded the NASDAQ stock market in 1971, in 2006, NASD demutualized from NASDAQ by selling its ownership interest. FINRA had total revenues of US$878.6 million in 2012, FINRA is funded primarily by assessments of member firms registered representatives and applicants, annual fees paid by members, and by fines that it levies. The annual fee that each member pays includes a membership fee, an assessment based on gross income, a fee for each principal and registered representative. In 2006, however, that dropped to 19, furthermore. In 2005, there were seven such actions as opposed to three in 2006, according to the written report, the data suggest that securities regulators may have retrenched their efforts to regulate through the use of novel theories
22.
Security (finance)
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A security is a tradable financial asset. The term commonly refers to any form of instrument. In some jurisdictions the term specifically excludes financial instruments other than equities, in some jurisdictions it includes some instruments that are close to equities and fixed income, e. g. equity warrants. In the United States, a security is a financial asset of any kind. Securities are broadly categorized into, debt securities equity securities derivatives, the company or other entity issuing the security is called the issuer. A countrys regulatory structure determines what qualifies as a security, for example, private investment pools may have some features of securities, but they may not be registered or regulated as such if they meet various restrictions. Securities may be represented by a certificate or, more typically, non-certificated, region or country Market capitalization State Securities are the traditional way that commercial enterprises raise new capital. These may be an alternative to bank loans depending on their pricing. Another disadvantage of bank loans as a source of financing is that the bank may seek a measure of protection against default by the borrower via extensive financial covenants, through securities, capital is provided by investors who purchase the securities upon their initial issuance. In a similar way, a government may issue securities too when it needs to increase government debt, investors in securities may be retail, i. e. members of the public investing other than by way of business. The greatest part of investment, in terms of volume, is wholesale, i. e. by financial institutions acting on their own account, important institutional investors include investment banks, insurance companies, pension funds and other managed funds. The traditional economic function of the purchase of securities is investment, debt securities generally offer a higher rate of interest than bank deposits, and equities may offer the prospect of capital growth. Equity investment may also control of the business of the issuer. Debt holdings may also offer some measure of control to the if the company is a fledgling start-up or an old giant undergoing restructuring. In these cases, if interest payments are missed, the creditors may take control of the company, the last decade has seen an enormous growth in the use of securities as collateral. Purchasing securities with borrowed money secured by other securities or cash itself is called buying on margin, where A is owed a debt or other obligation by B, A may require B to deliver property rights in securities to A, either at inception or only in default. Collateral arrangements are divided into two categories, namely security interests and outright collateral transfers. Commonly, commercial banks, investment banks, government agencies and other investors such as mutual funds are significant collateral takers as well as providers
23.
Pre-paid legal services
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The concept originated around 1911 as a result of a fatal crash at the famous Le Mans race during which some spectators lost their lives and others were severely injured. When the victims or their families claimed damages from the insurers of the organizers and they then all contributed to a pool which was used to fund collective action against the insurers. This gave rise to the first LEI policy being developed in France, members of the general public then enquired about joining the scheme. That is when the idea of an insurance available to the public became firmly established. At present, the DAS of Germany is still the largest legal expenses insurer in the world and it is estimated that they write approximately 50% of LEI business worldwide. Then follows ARAG, also a German insurer and it is estimated that they write approximately 30% of global business. A conflict of interest presents itself if LEI is offered by an insurer that also other forms of insurance. As a result, most LEI providers are specialists offering LEI only, internationally, LEI is represented by a non-profit association called The International Association of Legal Protection Insurers www. riad-online. net. It operates independently of the insurance industry. A listing of its members can be found on their website, there are two main forms of LEI, before-the-event and after-the-event. After-the-event legal expenses insurance is a misnomer, since insurance technically, most legal insurance plans are before-the-event, and after the event is not common and found mainly in the United Kingdom, where it is an insignificant percentage of total LEI business. The majority of LEI business worldwide, is conducted in Europe. In the United States, the reason for this is that many plans are not insurance based. Some are offered by trade unions as a benefit of union membership. Others are non-profit clubs set up by groups with a common interest, in reality, the insurer is funding the defense of litigation against itself. If it were to fail in doing so, there is a risk that their insured might be liable for damages that they would be liable to pay under the liability insurance. They are therefore merely protecting their own interests by funding the defence, Legal expenses insurance provides more affordable coverage for the legal fees charged by a lawyer representing the policyholder in usually unforeseen legal matters. These can include employment disputes, litigation, disciplinary actions, human rights complaints, coverage is generally not discretionary, if the claim is covered within the governing terms and conditions of the policy, the policy responds. Before-the-event insurance, is out by those wishing to protect themselves against potential litigation costs that could be incurred following a usually hypothetical future event
24.
Vehicle insurance
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Vehicle insurance is insurance for cars, trucks, motorcycles, and other road vehicles. Its primary use is to provide protection against physical damage or bodily injury resulting from traffic collisions. The specific terms of vehicle insurance vary with legal regulations in each region, widespread use of the automobile began after the First World War in urban areas. Cars were relatively fast and dangerous by that stage, yet there was no compulsory form of car insurance anywhere in the world. This meant that injured victims would seldom get any compensation in an accident, a compulsory car insurance scheme was first introduced in the United Kingdom with the Road Traffic Act 1930. This ensured that all owners and drivers had to be insured for their liability for injury or death to third parties whilst their vehicle was being used on a public road. Germany enacted similar legislation in 1939, in many jurisdictions it is compulsory to have vehicle insurance before using or keeping a motor vehicle on public roads. Most jurisdictions relate insurance to both the car and the driver, however the degree of each varies greatly, several jurisdictions have experimented with a pay-as-you-drive insurance plan which is paid through a gasoline tax. This would address issues of uninsured motorists and also based on the miles driven. In Australia, Compulsory Third Party insurance is a scheme that covers only personal injury liability. Comprehensive and Third Party Property Damage insurance are sold separately, Comprehensive insurance covers damage to third-party and the insured property and vehicle. Third Party Property Damage insurance covers damage to third-party property and vehicles, Third Party Property Damage with Fire and Theft insurance additionally covers the insured vehicle against fire and theft. CTP insurance is linked to the registration of a vehicle and it is transferred when a vehicle already registered is sold. It covers the cost of all medical treatment for injuries received in the accident, loss of wages, cost of care services. In New South Wales and the Northern Territory CTP insurance is compulsory, a Greenslip, another name by which CTP insurance is commonly known due to the colour of the form, must be obtained through one of the five licensed insurers in New South Wales. Suncorp and Allianz both hold two licences to issue CTP Greenslips – Suncorp under the GIO and AAMI licences and Allianz under the Allianz and CIC/Allianz licences, the remaining three licences to issue CTP Greenslips are held by QBE, Zurich and Insurance Australia Limited. APIA and Shannons and InsureMyRide insurance also supply CTP insurance licensed by GIO, in addition to the Greenslip, an additional car insurance can be purchased through insurers in Australia. This will cover claims that the standard CTP insurance cannot provide and this is known as a comprehensive car insurance
25.
Home insurance
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Home insurance, also commonly called homeowners insurance, is a type of property insurance that covers a private residence. The U. S. uses standardized policy forms that divide coverage into several categories, Coverage limits are typically provided as a percentage of the primary Coverage A, which is coverage for the main dwelling. The cost of homeowners insurance often depends on what it would cost to replace the house, the insurance policy is a legal contract between the insurance carrier and the named insured. It is a contract of indemnity and will put the back to the state he/she was in prior to the loss. Typically, claims due to floods or war are excluded from coverage, Special insurance can be purchased for these possibilities, including flood insurance. Insurance is adjusted to reflect the cost of replacement, usually upon application of a factor or a cost index. Major factors in price estimation include location, coverage, and the amount of insurance, if insufficient coverage is purchased to rebuild the home, the claims payout may be subject to a co-insurance penalty. In this scenario, the insured will be subject to an out of pocket fee as a penalty, insurers use vendors to estimate the costs, including CoreLogic subsidiary Marshall Swift-Boeckh, Verisk PropertyProfile, and E2Value, but leave the responsibility ultimately up to the consumer. In 2013, a survey found that about 60% of homes are undervalued by an estimated 17 percent, in some cases, estimates can be too low because of demand surge after a catastrophe. As a safeguard against an estimate, some insurers offer extended replacement cost add-ons which provide extra coverage if the limit is reached. Perpetual insurance which continues indefinitely can also be obtained in certain areas, home insurance offers coverage on a named perils and open perils basis. A named perils policy is one that provides coverage for a loss specifically listed on the policy, if its not listed, an open perils policy is broader in the sense that it will provide coverage for all losses except those specifically excluded on your policy. Basic named perils – this is the least comprehensive of the three coverage options and it provides protection against perils most likely to result in a total loss. If something happens to your home thats not on the list below and this type of policy is most common in countries with developing insurance markets and as protection for vacant or unoccupied buildings. Again, this is a named perils policy, the loss must specifically be listed to receive coverage. Fortunately, the form is designed to cover the most common forms of property damage. The difference with special form policies is that they provide coverage to all losses unless specifically excluded, unlike the prior forms, all unlisted perils are covered perils. However, if something happens to your home, and the event is on the exclusions list, anyone with an insurable interest in the property should be listed on the policy
26.
Boston
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Boston is the capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. Boston is also the seat of Suffolk County, although the county government was disbanded on July 1,1999. The city proper covers 48 square miles with a population of 667,137 in 2015, making it the largest city in New England. Alternately, as a Combined Statistical Area, this wider commuting region is home to some 8.1 million people, One of the oldest cities in the United States, Boston was founded on the Shawmut Peninsula in 1630 by Puritan settlers from England. It was the scene of several key events of the American Revolution, such as the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, the Battle of Bunker Hill, and the Siege of Boston. Upon U. S. independence from Great Britain, it continued to be an important port and manufacturing hub as well as a center for education, through land reclamation and municipal annexation, Boston has expanded beyond the original peninsula. Its rich history attracts many tourists, with Faneuil Hall alone drawing over 20 million visitors per year, Bostons many firsts include the United States first public school, Boston Latin School, first subway system, the Tremont Street Subway, and first public park, Boston Common. Bostons economic base also includes finance, professional and business services, biotechnology, information technology, the city has one of the highest costs of living in the United States as it has undergone gentrification, though it remains high on world livability rankings. Bostons early European settlers had first called the area Trimountaine but later renamed it Boston after Boston, Lincolnshire, England, the renaming on September 7,1630 was by Puritan colonists from England who had moved over from Charlestown earlier that year in quest of fresh water. Their settlement was limited to the Shawmut Peninsula, at that time surrounded by the Massachusetts Bay and Charles River. The peninsula is thought to have been inhabited as early as 5000 BC, in 1629, the Massachusetts Bay Colonys first governor John Winthrop led the signing of the Cambridge Agreement, a key founding document of the city. Puritan ethics and their focus on education influenced its early history, over the next 130 years, the city participated in four French and Indian Wars, until the British defeated the French and their Indian allies in North America. Boston was the largest town in British America until Philadelphia grew larger in the mid-18th century, Bostons harbor activity was significantly curtailed by the Embargo Act of 1807 and the War of 1812. Foreign trade returned after these hostilities, but Bostons merchants had found alternatives for their investments in the interim. Manufacturing became an important component of the economy, and the citys industrial manufacturing overtook international trade in economic importance by the mid-19th century. Boston remained one of the nations largest manufacturing centers until the early 20th century, a network of small rivers bordering the city and connecting it to the surrounding region facilitated shipment of goods and led to a proliferation of mills and factories. Later, a network of railroads furthered the regions industry. Boston was a port of the Atlantic triangular slave trade in the New England colonies
27.
Underwriter
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An underwriting arrangement may be created in a number of situations including insurance, issue of securities in primary markets, and in bank lending, among others. The name derives from the Lloyds of London insurance market, securities underwriting refers to the process by which investment banks raise investment capital from investors on behalf of corporations and governments that are issuing securities. The services of an underwriter are typically used during an offering in a primary market. This is a way of distributing a newly issued security, such as stocks or bonds, a syndicate of banks underwrites the transaction, which means they have taken on the risk of distributing the securities. Should they not be able to find investors, they will have to hold some securities themselves. Underwriters make their income from the difference between the price they pay the issuer and what they collect from investors or from broker-dealers who buy portions of the offering. If the instrument is desirable, the underwriter and the issuer may choose to enter into an exclusivity agreement. That is, even though third-party buyers might approach the issuer directly to buy, the underwriter gets a profit from the markup, plus possibly an exclusive sales agreement. Also if the securities are priced significantly below market price, the underwriter also curries favor with powerful end customers by granting them an immediate profit, analysis of the income statement typically includes revenue trends, gross margin, profitability, and debt service coverage. Bank underwriting of corporate securities is carried out through separate holding-company affiliates, insurance underwriters evaluate the risk and exposures of potential clients. They decide how much coverage the client should receive, how much they should pay for it, or whether even to accept the risk, Underwriting involves measuring risk exposure and determining the premium that needs to be charged to insure that risk. Each insurance company has its own set of underwriting guidelines to help the underwriter determine whether or not the company should accept the risk, the information used to evaluate the risk of an applicant for insurance will depend on the type of coverage involved. For example, in underwriting automobile coverage, a driving record is critical. However, the type of automobile is actually far more critical, as part of the underwriting process for life or health insurance, medical underwriting may be used to examine the applicants health status. This is especially the case for certain simpler life or personal lines insurance, some insurance companies, however, rely on agents to underwrite for them. This arrangement allows an insurer to operate in a closer to its clients without having to establish a physical presence. Two major categories of exclusion in insurance underwriting are moral hazard, with a moral hazard, the consequences of the customers actions are insured, making the customer more likely to take costly actions. For example, bedbugs are typically excluded from insurance to avoid paying for the consequence of recklessly bringing in a used mattress
28.
Santa Monica, California
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Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, United States. The Census Bureau population for Santa Monica in 2010 was 89,736, due in part to an agreeable climate, Santa Monica became a famed resort town by the early 20th century. The city has experienced a boom since the late 1980s through the revitalization of its core, significant job growth. The Santa Monica Pier remains a popular and iconic destination, Santa Monica was long inhabited by the Tongva people. Santa Monica was called Kecheek in the Tongva language, the first non-indigenous group to set foot in the area was the party of explorer Gaspar de Portolà, who camped near the present-day intersection of Barrington and Ohio Avenues on August 3,1769. Named after the Christian saint Monica, there are two different accounts of how the name came to be. One says it was named in honor of the feast day of Saint Monica, another version says it was named by Juan Crespí on account of a pair of springs, the Kuruvungna Springs, that were reminiscent of the tears Saint Monica shed over her sons early impiety. In Los Angeles, several battles were fought by the Californios, following the Mexican–American War, Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which gave Mexicans and Californios living in state certain unalienable rights. US government sovereignty in California began on February 2,1848, in the 1870s the Los Angeles and Independence Railroad, connected Santa Monica with Los Angeles, and a wharf out into the bay. The first town hall was a modest 1873 brick building, later a beer hall and it is Santa Monicas oldest extant structure. By 1885, the towns first hotel was the Santa Monica Hotel, around the start of the 20th century, a growing population of Asian Americans lived in and around Santa Monica and Venice. A Japanese fishing village was near the Long Wharf while small numbers of Chinese lived or worked in Santa Monica, the two ethnic minorities were often viewed differently by White Americans who were often well-disposed towards the Japanese but condescending towards the Chinese. The Japanese village fishermen were an economic part of the Santa Monica Bay community. Donald Wills Douglas, Sr. built a plant in 1922 at Clover Field for the Douglas Aircraft Company, in 1924, four Douglas-built planes took off from Clover Field to attempt the first aerial circumnavigation of the world. Two planes returned after covering 27,553 miles in 175 days, the Douglas Company kept facilities in the city until the 1960s. The Great Depression hit Santa Monica deeply, one report gives citywide employment in 1933 of just 1,000. Hotels and office building owners went bankrupt, in the 1930s, corruption infected Santa Monica. The federal Works Project Administration helped build several buildings, most notably City Hall, the main Post Office and Barnum Hall were also among other WPA projects
29.
Over-the-counter (finance)
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Over-the-counter or off-exchange trading is done directly between two parties, without the supervision of an exchange. It is contrasted with exchange trading, which occurs via exchanges, in an OTC trade, the price is not necessarily published for the public. OTC trading, as well as trading, occurs with commodities, financial instruments. Products traded on the exchange must be well standardized and this means that exchanged deliverables match a narrow range of quantity, quality, and identity which is defined by the exchange and identical to all transactions of that product. This is necessary for there to be transparency in trading, the OTC market does not have this limitation. They may agree on a quantity, for example. In OTC market contracts are bilateral, each party could have credit risk concerns with respect to the other party, OTC derivative market is significant in some asset classes, interest rate, foreign exchange, stocks, and commodities. In 2008 approximately 16 percent of all U. S. stock trades were off-exchange trading, by April 2014 that number increased to about forty percent. Although the notional amount outstanding of OTC derivatives in late 2012 had declined 3. 3% over the previous year, the Bank for International Settlements statistics on OTC derivatives markets showed that notional amounts outstanding totalled $693 trillion at the end of June 2013. In the United States, over-the-counter trading in stock is carried out by market makers using inter-dealer quotation services such as OTC Link, the OTCBB licenses the services of OTC Link for their OTCBB securities. Although exchange-listed stocks can be traded OTC on the third market, usually OTC stocks are not listed nor traded on exchanges, and vice versa. Stocks quoted on the OTCBB must comply with certain limited U. S. Securities, the SEC imposes more stringent financial and reporting requirements on other OTC stocks, specifically the OTCQX stocks. Other OTC stocks have no reporting requirements, for example Pink Sheets securities, some companies, with Wal-Mart as one of the largest, began trading as OTC stocks and eventually upgraded to a listing on fully regulated market. By 1969 Wal-Mart Stores Inc. was incorporated, in 1972, with stores in five states, including Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Missouri, Wal-Mart began trading as over-the-counter stocks. By 1972 Walmart had earned over US$1 billion in sales — the fastest company to accomplish this. In 1972 Wal-Mart was listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol WMT, an over-the-counter is a bilateral contract in which two parties agree on how a particular trade or agreement is to be settled in the future. It is usually from an investment bank to its clients directly, forwards and swaps are prime examples of such contracts. It is mostly done online or by telephone, for derivatives, these agreements are usually governed by an International Swaps and Derivatives Association agreement
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NASDAQ
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The Nasdaq Stock Market is an American stock exchange. It is the second-largest exchange in the world by market capitalization, the exchange platform is owned by Nasdaq, Inc. which also owns the Nasdaq Nordic and Nasdaq Baltic stock market network and several other US stock and options exchanges. When it was founded, NASDAQ stood for the acronym of National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations, NASDAQ was founded in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers, which divested itself of NASDAQ in a series of sales in 2000 and 2001. The Nasdaq Stock Market is owned and operated by Nasdaq, Inc. the stocks of which were listed on its own stock exchange marketing July 2,2002, when the Nasdaq Stock Market began trading on February 8,1971, it was the worlds first electronic stock market. At first, it was merely a system and did not provide a way to perform electronic trades. The Nasdaq Stock Market helped lower the spread but was unpopular among brokerages which made much of their money on the spread. As late as 1987, the NASDAQ exchange was still referred to as OTC in media. Over the years, the Nasdaq Stock Market became more of a market by adding trade and volume reporting. The Nasdaq Stock Market attracted new companies such as Microsoft, Apple, Cisco, Oracle and Dell. Its main index is the NASDAQ Composite, which has published since its inception. In 1992, the Nasdaq Stock Market joined with the London Stock Exchange to form the first intercontinental linkage of securities markets, the National Association of Securities Dealers spun off the Nasdaq Stock Market in 2000 to form a publicly traded company. In 2006, the status of the Nasdaq Stock Market was changed from a market to a licensed national securities exchange. In 2007, Nasdaq merged with OMX, an exchange operator in the Nordic countries, expanded its global footprint. NASDAQ OMX could be looking to acquire the American exchanges cash equities business, at the time, NYSE Euronext’s market value was $9.75 billion. Nasdaq was valued at $5.78 billion, while ICE was valued at $9.45 billion. Late in the month, Nasdaq was reported to be considering asking either ICE or the Chicago Mercantile Exchange to join in what would probably have to be, if it proceeded, an $11–12 billion counterbid. The European Association of Securities Dealers Automatic Quotation System was founded as a European equivalent to the Nasdaq Stock Market and it was purchased by NASDAQ in 2001 and became NASDAQ Europe. Operations were shut down, however, as a result of the burst of the dot-com bubble, in 2007, NASDAQ Europe was revived as Equiduct, and is currently operating under Börse Berlin
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Wall Street
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Wall Street is an eight-block-long street running roughly northwest to southeast from Broadway to South Street, at the East River, in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the markets of the United States as a whole. Several other major exchanges have or had headquarters in the Wall Street area, including the New York Mercantile Exchange, the New York Board of Trade, there are varying accounts about how the Dutch-named de Walstraat got its name. A conflicting explanation is that Wall Street was named after Walloons— the Dutch name for a Walloon is Waal, among the first settlers that embarked on the ship Nieu Nederlandt in 1624 were 30 Walloon families. The Dutch word wal can be translated as rampart, however, even some English maps show the name as Waal Straat, and not as Wal Straat. But soon after that, the Dutch governor, Kieft, sent his men out there one night, few of them escaped, but they spread the story of what had been done, and this did much to antagonize all the remaining tribes against all the white settlers. Shortly after, Nieuw Amsterdam erected a palisade for defense against its now enraged red neighbors. The space between the walls is now called Wall Street, and its spirit is still that of a bulwark against the people. In the 1640s basic picket and plank fences denoted plots and residences in the colony, in 1685, surveyors laid out Wall Street along the lines of the original stockade. In these early days, local merchants and traders would gather at disparate spots to buy and sell shares and bonds, Wall Street was also the marketplace where owners could hire out their slaves by the day or week. The rampart was removed in 1699, the slave market operated from 1711 to 1762 at the corner of Wall and Pearl Streets. It was a structure with a roof and open sides, although walls may have been added over the years. The city directly benefited from the sale of slaves by implementing taxes on every person who was bought, in the late 18th century there was a buttonwood tree at the foot of Wall Street under which traders and speculators would gather to trade securities. The benefit was being in proximity to each other, in 1792, traders formalized their association with the Buttonwood Agreement which was the origin of the New York Stock Exchange. The idea of the agreement was to make the more structured and without the manipulative auctions. Persons signing the agreement agreed to each other a standard commission rate, persons not signing could still participate. In 1789 Wall Street was the scene of the United States first presidential inauguration when George Washington took the oath of office on the balcony of Federal Hall on April 30,1789 and this was also the location of the passing of the Bill Of Rights. Alexander Hamilton, who was the first Treasury secretary and architect of the early United States financial system, is buried in the cemetery of Trinity Church, in the first few decades, both residences and businesses occupied the area, but increasingly business predominated
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Morgan Stanley Wealth Management
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Morgan Stanley Wealth Management is an American multinational financial services corporation specializing in retail brokerage. It is the wealth & asset management division of Morgan Stanley, the combined brokerage house has 17,649 financial advisors and manages $2 trillion in client assets. Clients range from individual investors to small- and mid-sized businesses, as well as corporations, non-profit organizations. On September 25,2012, Morgan Stanley announced that its U. S. wealth management business was renamed Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. The broker-dealer designation for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management will remain Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. Smith Barney & Co. was formed in 1938 through the merger of Charles D, Barney & Co. and Edward B. Smith & Co. Charles D. Barney & Co. a New York and Philadelphia based firm, was founded by Charles D, Barney in 1873 following the failure of its predecessor Jay Cooke & Company. In 1975, Smith Barney merged with Harris, Upham & Co. to form Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co. which, in 1977, was placed under SBHU Holdings, in 1982, SBHU Holdings was renamed Smith Barney Inc. During the 1980s, the company was known for its commercials featuring actor John Houseman, with the catchphrase. In the late 1980s, the brokerage firm Smith Barney was owned by Sanford I. Commercial Credit purchased Primerica in 1988, for $1.5 billion, in 1992, they paid $722 million to buy a 27% share of Travelers Insurance and in 1993 acquired Shearson (which included the legacy business of E. F. Hutton from American Express. By the end of 1993, the company was known as Travelers Group Inc. although the brokerage business continued to operate under the Smith Barney brand. In 1993, Weill bought stockbroker Shearson back from American Express for $1 billion, Weill offered Joe Plumeri the presidency of Smith Barney, and he became the President of the merged company that year. He only lasted a year, as he experienced conflicts with existing Smith Barney managers, in September 1997, Travelers acquired Salomon Inc. for over $9 billion in stock, and merged it with its own investment arm to create Salomon Smith Barney. During the major financial crisis beginning in late 2008, Citigroup suffered large losses in its retained collateralized debt obligation exposure and they decided to sell or close non-core businesses in order to raise money. The joint venture operates as Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, the new venture, called Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, was supposed to launch during the third quarter. The combined entity generates about $14 billion in net revenue, has 18,500 financial advisers,1,000 locations worldwide, Citigroup disclosed on September 17,2009, they would sell their remaining shares in the group to partner Morgan Stanley. BusinessWeek ranks Smith Barney No.1 in customer service among full-service brokerage firms, the following is an illustration of the companys major mergers and acquisitions and historical predecessors, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management Smith Barney
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Stock swap
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A stock swap is a strategy used during a merger or acquisition of a company. The motivation is an opportunity to pay with stock rather than with cash, the acquiring company essentially uses its own stock as cash to purchase the business. Each shareholder of the company will receive a pre-determined amount of shares from the acquiring company. Before the swap occurs each party must accurately value their company so that a swap ratio can be calculated. Valuation of a company is quite complicated, not only does fair market value have to be determined, but the investment and intrinsic value needs to be determined as well. The acquiring company may also need to add an extra incentive in the form of shares to make sure that the board of directors of the acquired company approve the takeover. After all the valuation is complete, the parties will agree upon a swap ratio, the ratio will determine the amount of shares each person will receive from the company that is taking over. When this swap is realised, the shareholders receive the new stock, sometimes, a part of the agreement will not allow the new shareholders to sell for a certain time period to avoid a sudden drop in share price. This is a form of a shareholder rights plan or poison pill strategy that is used to combat hostile takeovers, when all things come together and are fair, then the takeover will proceed without incident. In South Korea, the ratio is defined by a certain formula according to the law. For example, in 2010, two came together to form GenOn Energy, Mirant, and RRI Energy. The Mirant shareholders were given 2.885 shares of RRI for every share of Mirant that they owned and this stock swap helped facilitate the takeover by making the Mirant shareholders an attractive offer, thus convincing Mirants board of directors to allow the takeover. In 2014, South Korean Internet giant Daum Communications merged with Kakao Corp to form Daum Kakao in a swap deal. The merger ratio was approximately 1.14 so it is regarded as backdoor listing for Kakao, stock swaps can also happen internally within a company. Starbucks has used this strategy in the past, when the stock options they offered to their employees dropped so low in price that they became virtually worthless, Starbucks offered a swap option. The company allowed the employees to swap their worthless shares for more that had a higher value
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Stock
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The stock of a corporation is constituted of the equity stock of its owners. A single share of the stock represents fractional ownership of the corporation in proportion to the number of shares. In liquidation, the stock represents the residual assets of the company that would be due to stockholders after discharge of all senior claims such as secured and unsecured debt. Stockholders equity cannot be withdrawn from the company in a way that is intended to be detrimental to the companys creditors, the stock of a corporation is partitioned into shares, the total of which are stated at the time of business formation. Additional shares may subsequently be authorized by the shareholders and issued by the company. In some jurisdictions, each share of stock has a certain declared par value, in other jurisdictions, however, shares of stock may be issued without associated par value. Shares represent a fraction of ownership in a business, a business may declare different types of shares, each having distinctive ownership rules, privileges, or share values. Ownership of shares may be documented by issuance of a stock certificate. A stock certificate is a document that specifies the amount of shares owned by the shareholder. Stock typically takes the form of shares of common stock or preferred stock. As a unit of ownership, common stock typically carries voting rights that can be exercised in corporate decisions, shares of such stock are called convertible preferred shares. New equity issue may have specific legal clauses attached that differentiate them from previous issues of the issuer. Some shares of stock may be issued without the typical voting rights, for instance, or some shares may have special rights unique to them. Often, new issues that have not been registered with a governing body may be restricted from resale for certain periods of time. Preferred stock may be hybrid by having the qualities of bonds of fixed returns and they also have preference in the payment of dividends over common stock and also have been given preference at the time of liquidation over common stock. They have other features of accumulation in dividend, Rule 144 Stock is an American term given to shares of stock subject to SEC Rule 144, Selling Restricted and Control Securities. Under Rule 144, restricted and controlled securities are acquired in unregistered form, investors either purchase or take ownership of these securities through private sales from the issuing company or from an affiliate of the issuer. Investors wishing to sell these securities are subject to different rules than those selling traditional common or preferred stock and these individuals will only be allowed to liquidate their securities after meeting the specific conditions set forth by SEC Rule 144
US$ 1.69 billion (2017)
