History Finanace

 The origin of finance can be traced to the beginning of state formation and trade during the Bronze Age. The earliest historical evidence of finance is dated to around 3000 BCE. Banking originated in West Asia, where temples and palaces were used as safe places for the storage of valuables. Initially, the only valuable that could be deposited was grain, but cattle and precious materials were eventually included. During the same period, the Sumerian city of Uruk in Mesopotamia supported trade by lending as well as the use of interest. In Sumerian, "interest" was mas, which translates to "calf". In Greece and Egypt, the words used for interest, tokos and ms respectively, meant "to give birth". In these cultures, interest indicated a valuable increase, and seemed to consider it from the lender's point of view.The Code of Hammurabi (1792–1750 BCE) included laws governing banking operations. The Babylonians were accustomed to charging interest at the rate of 20 percent per year. By 1200 BCE, cowrie shells were used as a form of money in China.

The use of coins as a means of representing money began in the years between 700 and 500 BCE. Herodotus mentions the use of crude coins in Lydia around 687 BCE and, by 640 BCE, the Lydians had started to use coin money more widely and opened permanent retail shops. Shortly after, cities in Classical Greece, such as Aegina, Athens, and Corinth, started minting their own coins between 595 and 570 BCE. During the Roman Republic, interest was outlawed by the Lex Genucia reforms in 342 BCE, though the provision went largely unenforced. Under Julius Caesar, a ceiling on interest rates of 12% was set, and much later under Justinian it was lowered even further to between 4% and 8%.

The first stock exchange was opened in Antwerp in 1531.[46] Since then, popular exchanges such as the London Stock Exchange (founded in 1773) and the New York Stock Exchange (founded in 1793) were created.

Financial mathematics

 

Financial mathematics is the field of applied mathematics concerned with financial markets; Louis Bachelier's doctoral thesis, defended in 1900, is considered to be the first scholarly work in this area. The field is largely focused on the modeling of derivatives—with much emphasis on interest rate- and credit risk modeling—while other important areas include insurance mathematics and quantitative portfolio management. Relatedly, the techniques developed are applied to pricing and hedging a wide range of asset-backed, government, and corporate-securities.

As above, in terms of practice, the field is referred to as quantitative finance and / or mathematical finance, and comprises primarily the three areas discussed. The main mathematical tools and techniques are, correspondingly:

for derivatives, Itô's stochastic calculus, simulation, and partial differential equations; see aside boxed discussion re the prototypical Black-Scholes model and the various numeric techniques now applied

for risk management, value at risk, stress testing and "sensitivities" analysis (applying the "greeks"); the underlying mathematics comprises mixture models, PCA, volatility clustering and copulas.

in both of these areas, and particularly for portfolio problems, quants employ sophisticated optimization techniques

Mathematically, these separate into two analytic branches: derivatives pricing uses risk-neutral probability (or arbitrage-pricing probability), denoted by "Q"; while risk and portfolio management generally use physical (or actual or actuarial) probability, denoted by "P". These are interrelated through the above "Fundamental theorem of asset pricing".

The subject has a close relationship with financial economics, which, as outlined, is concerned with much of the underlying theory that is involved in financial mathematics: generally, financial mathematics will derive and extend the mathematical models suggested. Computational finance is the branch of (applied) computer science that deals with problems of practical interest in finance, and especially emphasizes the numerical methods applied here.

Managerial finance

 

Managerial finance  is the branch of finance that deals with the financial aspects of the management of a company, and the financial dimension of managerial decision-making more broadly. It provides the theoretical underpin for the practice described above, concerning itself with the managerial application of the various finance techniques. Academics working in this area are typically based in business school finance departments, in accounting, or in management science.

The tools addressed and developed relate in the main to managerial accounting and corporate finance: the former allow management to better understand, and hence act on, financial information relating to profitability and performance; the latter, as above, are about optimizing the overall financial structure, including its impact on working capital. Key aspects of managerial finance thus include:

Financial planning and forecasting

Capital budgeting

Capital structure

Working capital management

Risk management

Financial analysis and reporting.

The discussion, however, extends to business strategy more broadly, emphasizing alignment with the company's overall strategic objectives; and similarly incorporates the managerial perspectives of planning, directing, and controlling.

Risk management

 Risk management, in general, is the study of how to control risks and balance the possibility of gains; it is the process of measuring risk and then developing and implementing strategies to manage that risk. Financial risk management is the practice of protecting corporate value against financial risks, often by "hedging" exposure to these using financial instruments. The focus is particularly on credit and market risk, and in banks, through regulatory capital, includes operational risk.

Credit risk is the risk of default on a debt that may arise from a borrower failing to make required payments;

Market risk relates to losses arising from movements in market variables such as prices and exchange rates;

Operational risk relates to failures in internal processes, people, and systems, or to external events (these risks will often be insured).

Financial risk management is related to corporate finance in two ways. Firstly, firm exposure to market risk is a direct result of previous capital investments and funding decisions; while credit risk arises from the business's credit policy and is often addressed through credit insurance and provisioning. Secondly, both disciplines share the goal of enhancing or at least preserving, the firm's economic value, and in this context overlaps also enterprise risk management, typically the domain of strategic management. Here, businesses devote much time and effort to forecasting, analytics and performance monitoring. (See ALM and treasury management.)

For banks and other wholesale institutions, risk management focuses on managing, and as necessary hedging, the various positions held by the institution—both trading positions and long term exposures—and on calculating and monitoring the resultant economic capital, and regulatory capital under Basel III. The calculations here are mathematically sophisticated, and within the domain of quantitative finance as below. Credit risk is inherent in the business of banking, but additionally, these institutions are exposed to counterparty credit risk. Banks typically employ Middle office "Risk Groups", whereas front office risk teams provide risk "services" (or "solutions") to customers.

Insurers  manage their own risks with a focus on solvency and the ability to pay claims: Life Insurers are concerned more with longevity risk and interest rate risk; Short-Term Insurers (Property, Health,Casualty) emphasize catastrophe- and claims volatility risks. For expected claims reserves are set aside periodically, while to absorb unexpected losses, a minimum level of capital is maintained.

Quantitative finance

Dōjima Rice Exchange, the world's first futures exchange, established in Osaka in 1697.

Dōjima Rice Exchange, the world's first futures exchange, established in Osaka in 1697

Main article: Quantitative analysis (finance)

Quantitative finance—also referred to as "mathematical finance"—includes those finance activities where a sophisticated mathematical model is required, and thus overlaps several of the above.

As a specialized practice area, quantitative finance comprises primarily three sub-disciplines; the underlying theory and techniques are discussed in the next section:

Quantitative finance is often synonymous with financial engineering. This area generally underpins a bank's customer-driven derivatives business—delivering bespoke OTC-contracts and "exotics", and designing the various structured products and solutions mentioned—and encompasses modeling and programming in support of the initial trade, and its subsequent hedging and management.

Quantitative finance also significantly overlaps financial risk management in banking, as mentioned, both as regards this hedging, and as regards economic capital as well as compliance with regulations and the Basel capital / liquidity requirements.

"Quants" are also responsible for building and deploying the investment strategies at the quantitative funds mentioned; they are also involved in quantitative investing more generally, in areas such as trading strategy formulation, and in automated trading, high-frequency trading, algorithmic trading, and program trading.

Investment management

 Investment management is the professional asset management of various securities—typically shares and bonds, but also other assets, such as real estate, commodities and alternative investments—in order to meet specified investment goals for the benefit of investors.

As above, investors may be institutions, such as insurance companies, pension funds, corporations, charities, educational establishments, or private investors, either directly via investment contracts or, more commonly, via collective investment schemes like mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, or real estate investment trusts.

At the heart of investment management is asset allocation—diversifying the exposure among these asset classes, and among individual securities within each asset class—as appropriate to the client's investment policy, in turn, a function of risk profile, investment goals, and investment horizon (see Investor profile). Here:

Portfolio optimization is the process of selecting the best portfolio given the client's objectives and constraints.

Fundamental analysis is the approach typically applied in valuing and evaluating the individual securities.

Technical analysis is about forecasting future asset prices with past data

Overlaid is the portfolio manager's investment style—broadly, active vs passive, value vs growth, and small cap vs. large cap—and investment strategy.

In a well-diversified portfolio, achieved investment performance will, in general, largely be a function of the asset mix selected, while the individual securities are less impactful. The specific approach or philosophy will also be significant, depending on the extent to which it is complementary with the market cycle.

Additional to this diversification, the fundamental risk mitigant employed, investment managers will apply various hedging techniques as appropriate, these may relate to the portfolio as a whole or to individual stocks. Bond portfolios are often (instead) managed via cash flow matching or immunization, while for derivative portfolios and positions, traders use "the Greeks" to measure and then offset sensitivities. In parallel, managers – active and passive – will monitor tracking error, thereby minimizing and preempting any underperformance vs their "benchmark".

A quantitative fund is managed using computer-based mathematical techniques (increasingly, machine learning) instead of human judgment. The actual trading is typically automated via sophisticated algorithms.

Corporate finance

 

Corporate finance deals with the actions that managers take to increase the value of the firm to the shareholders, the sources of funding and the capital structure of corporations, and the tools and analysis used to allocate financial resources. While corporate finance is in principle different from managerial finance, which studies the financial management of all firms rather than corporations alone, the concepts are applicable to the financial problems of all firms, and this area is then often referred to as "business finance".

Typically, "corporate finance" relates to the long term objective of maximizing the value of the entity's assets, its stock, and its return to shareholders, while also balancing risk and profitability. This entails three primary areas:

Capital budgeting: selecting which projects to invest in—here, accurately determining value is crucial, as judgements about asset values can be "make or break".

Dividend policy: the use of "excess" funds—these are to be reinvested in the business or returned to shareholders.

Capital structure: deciding on the mix of funding to be used—here attempting to find the optimal capital mix re debt-commitments vs cost of capital.

The latter creates the link with investment banking and securities trading, as above, in that the capital raised will generically comprise debt, i.e. corporate bonds, and equity, often listed shares. Re risk management within corporates, see below.

Financial managers—i.e. as distinct from corporate financiers—focus more on the short term elements of profitability, cash flow, and "working capital management" (inventory, credit and debtors), ensuring that the firm can safely and profitably carry out its financial and operational objectives; i.e. that it: (1) can service both maturing short-term debt repayments, and scheduled long-term debt payments, and (2) has sufficient cash flow for ongoing and upcoming operational expenses. (See Financial management and FP&A.)

Personal finance

 

Personal finance refers to the practice of budgeting to ensure enough funds are available to meet basic needs, while ensuring there is only a reasonable level of risk to lose said capital. Personal finance may involve paying for education, financing durable goods such as real estate and cars, buying insurance, investing, and saving for retirement. Personal finance may also involve paying for a loan or other debt obligations. The main areas of personal finance are considered to be income, spending, saving, investing, and protection. The following steps, as outlined by the Financial Planning Standards Board, suggest that an individual will understand a potentially secure personal finance plan after:

Purchasing insurance to ensure protection against unforeseen personal events;

Understanding the effects of tax policies, subsidies, or penalties on the management of personal finances;

Understanding the effects of credit on individual financial standing;

Developing a savings plan or financing for large purchases (auto, education, home);

Planning a secure financial future in an environment of economic instability;

Pursuing a checking or a savings account;

Preparing for retirement or other long term expenses.