Glossary 2015

IFR Asia Awards 2015
3 min read
Asia

Alternative definitions of the year’s buzzwords

To see the digital version of this report, please click here.

Glossary
Glossary
1MDB1. Malaysian investment fund
2. Toxic waste
3. Goldman kryptonite
A sharesEquity securities that bear no link to underlying Chinese companies
AIIB 1. Infrastructure lender established to prove China does things faster than Japan
2. Modern tributary system requiring global leaders to pay homage to Beijing
Apple Major Asian issuer
BBSWBring Back Strong Wages
BenchmarkAny bond at least US$100m in size
BHP BillitonDiversified global mining problem
BirkenstocksNot allowed in Citigroup offices
CEOIn banking, acting head
Connect the dotsApparently how every head of investment banking spends his/her day
CornerstoneChinese state-owned enterprise
Covered bondUnlikely source of excitement
DCMDeals Cost Money
DefaultProcess in which Chinese bondholders get paid in full slightly later than expected
Dim SumBond market dish more favoured in Taiwan and London than Hong Kong
Extended leavePeriod between leaving UBS and joining Credit Suisse
FATCARule preventing growth of fatcats
Fortescue (verb)To have all your eggs in one basket (made of iron ore)
Fosun (verb) To disappear
HanergyThe explosive force released by a bubble when it finally bursts
Iceberg ResearchMuddy Waters with less warmth
Iterative processWe screwed up the first attempt
Jack and PonyThe two Chinese billionaires named Ma every company wants on its shareholder register. Not to be confused with cockney rhyming slang. (Jack Jones: alone. Pony: 25 quid)
Kaisa (verb)To sabotage oneself in a totally avoidable manner
Kangaroo1. Australian bond
2. Cause of indigestion
Key man riskIn Chinese companies, falling out with Xi Jinping
LICIndian insurance company specialising in cover for failed equity offerings
Margin trading1. Bubble inflator
2. Chinese economic policy
Market-oriented reformAllowing markets to actually fall
Modi (verb)To promise something you can’t deliver
MSCIHonest China analysts
Noble GroupPatience test for lenders
Oil servicesPoor debt servicing
PandaBond issued in mainland China by any overseas company, with a mandatory maturity of three years, size of Rmb1bn and coupon of 3.5%
Pan-Asian platform1. The ambition of all Asian investment banks (2014)
2. A terrible idea (2015)
PBoCPeople’s Bank of rate Cuts
PrincelingFormer banker turned regulator
SDR basketReference group for the IMF’s hypothetical global currency, consisting of freely traded, widely used currencies. And now the renminbi
Shanshui (noun)A Pyrrhic victory, without the victory
Silk Road1. Chinese economic initiative that has nothing to do with silk and isn’t actually a road
2. Code name for China’s plan to conquer the world
Singapore Savings BondsLow-risk bonds paying reasonable yields, and hence totally unpopular with Singaporean investors
Stock ConnectTwo-way trading link allowing money to flow out of China twice as fast
TLACTotal loss-absorbing capacity – not capital. Why don’t they just call it capital? Anyone?
UnderwaterAny Australian bank hybrid note issued in the last two years.
Yellen (verb)To repeatedly miss one’s target