VATFIN9230 - Glossary of terms: D

Glossary term	Explanation
Daily Official List	The Daily Official List is the register of listed securities and gives the prices at which all stocks were traded on the previous day. Extel produces it.
Debenture	Unsecured debt backed only by the integrity of the borrower, not by collateral, and documented by an agreement called an indenture. One example is an unsecured bond. This is different from a mortgage debenture by which a bank can take a legal mortgage over the whole of the assets of a company including work in progress and debtors.
Delivery	Settlement of an options contract by receipt or tender of the underlying futures contract.
Delivery Month	The month specified in a given futures contract for delivery of the actual physical spot or cash commodity.
Depositary Receipts	Marketed internationally to sophisticated investors, these are negotiable certificates that give evidence of ownership of a company’s shares. They are a good medium for international investors because they may be more liquid and more easily traded than the shares they represent. See also American Depository Receipts (ADR), Global Depository Receipts (GDR), and International Depository Receipts (IDR).
Derivative	A financial transaction itself based on an underlying commodity or financial instrument/asset, e.g. a future on an equity. Can be used for hedging or speculative trading. The term covers futures, options, swaps etc.
Discount	When the market price of a security is lower than the issue price.
Discounted Bills	Trading in bills of exchange, trade, bank and Treasury bills at a discount.
Discretionary Management	Investment/portfolio management where the manager has no, or only general, instructions as to how funds should be invested. May trade without prior consent of the principal/client.
Dividend	That part of a company’s profits after tax distributed to shareholders, usually expressed in pence per share. See Final Dividend, and Instrument.
Documentary Credit	A method of financing overseas trade by the insertion in a contract for goods of a provision that payment shall be made by a bank. The bank undertakes to pay the price of the goods when the exporter delivers the relevant invoices and shipping documents.
Double Option	The right to buy or sell a security at an agreed price, within an agreed period, usually not more than three months.
DRIP (Dividend Re-investment Programme)	A facility offered to shareholders whereby a dividend is paid by a company in cash but at the option of the shareholder the company arranges on his behalf for the cash to be used immediately to invest in further shares in the company. (See also scrip dividend)
Drop Lock	A bond with variable interest which switches automatically to fixed rate if the variable rate falls below a certain point.