Deck 2: Financial Institutions, Financial Intermediaries, and Asset Management Firms

Question 1

Which of the below statements is FALSE?

A) Investors purchasing financial assets should take the time to develop skills necessary to understand how to evaluate an investment and then apply these skills to the analysis of specific financial assets that are candidates for purchase (or subsequent sale).
B) Investors who want to make a loan to a consumer or business will need to write the loan contract (or hire an attorney to do so). Although there are some people who enjoy devoting leisure time to this task, most prefer to use that time for just that-leisure.
C) In addition to the opportunity cost of the time to process the information about the financial asset and its issuer, there is the cost of acquiring that information. All these costs are called contracting costs.
D) One dimension to contracting costs involves the cost of enforcing the terms of the loan agreement.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Financial enterprises, more popularly referred to as financial institutions, provide a variety of services. Which of the below is NOT one of these?

A) Transform financial assets acquired through the market and constituting them into a different, and more widely preferable, type of asset-which becomes their liability.
B) Exchange financial assets on behalf of customers but not for their own accounts.
C) Manage the portfolios of other market participants.
D) Assist in the creation of financial assets for their customers, and then sell those financial assets to other market participants.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Because of uncertainty about the timing and/or the amount of the cash outlays, a financial institution must be prepared ________.

A) to have sufficient cash to satisfy its obligations.
B) to have sufficient projects to satisfy its capital budget constraints.
C) to have sufficient risk to satisfy its obligations.
D) to have sufficient risk to satisfy its conservative investors.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

The commercial bank by issuing its own financial claims transforms a longer-term asset into a shorter-term one by giving the borrower a loan for the length of time sought and the investor/depositor a financial asset for the desired investment horizon. This function of a financial intermediary is called ________.

A) diversification.
B) maturity intermediation.
C) information processing costs.
D) providing payment mechanisms.

Question 5

Some nonfinancial enterprises have subsidiaries that provide financial services. These financial institutions are called ________.

A) free finance companies.
B) captive finance companies.
C) captive investment companies.
D) captive finance shares.

Question 6

Financial intermediaries get funds by issuing financial claims against themselves to market participants, and then investing those funds. The investments made by financial intermediaries can be in ________.

A) loans but not in securities.
B) securities but not in loans.
C) loans and/or securities.
D) only equity.

Question 7

Financial intermediaries play the basic role of transforming financial assets that are less desirable for a large part of the public into other financial assets (their own liabilities) which are more widely preferred by the public. This transformation involves at least one of four economic functions. Which of the below is NOT one of these functions?

A) providing maturity intermediation
B) enhancing risk via diversification
C) reducing the costs of contracting and information processing
D) providing a payments mechanism

Question 8

Which of the below statements is FALSE?

A) The nature of the liabilities dictates the investment strategy a financial institution will pursue.
B) The objective of a depository institution is to earn a positive spread between the assets it invests in (what it has sold the money for) and the costs of its funds (what it has purchased the money for).
C) Life insurance companies and, to a certain extent, property and casualty insurance companies are in the spread business.
D) Pension funds are in the spread business in that they do not raise funds themselves in the market.

Question 9

With this type of liability, the timing of the cash outlay is known, but the amount is uncertain.

A) Type-I Liabilities
B) Type-II Liabilities
C) Type-III Liabilities
D) Type-IV Liabilities

Question 10

The economic function of financial intermediaries that transforms more risky assets into less risky ones is called ________.

A) diversification.
B) maturity intermediation.
C) information processing costs.
D) providing payment mechanisms.

Question 11

________ is a broadly used term to describe several types of risk.

A) Credit risk
B) Settlement risk
C) Counterparty risk
D) Market risk

Question 12

Which of the below statements is TRUE?

A) For Type-II Liabilities, both the amount and the timing of the liabilities are known with certainty
B) By the liabilities of a financial institution, we mean the amount and timing of the cash outlays that must be made to satisfy the contractual terms of the obligations issued.
C) When we refer to a cash outlay as being uncertain, we mean that it cannot be predicted.
D) Type-I Liabilities, the amount of cash outlay is known, but the timing of the cash outlay is uncertain.

Question 13

To understand the reasons managers of financial institutions invest in particular types of financial assets and the types of investment strategies they use, it is necessary to have a general understanding of the ________ that they face.

A) investment/employee problem
B) risk management /dividend problem
C) shot-term/long-term asset problem
D) asset/liability problem

Question 14

The costs of writing loan contracts are referred to as ________.

A) asset costs.
B) loan costs.
C) information processing costs.
D) contracting costs.

Question 15

The objective of a ________ is to earn a positive spread between the assets it invests in (what it has sold the money for) and the costs of its funds (what it has purchased the money for).

A) limited partnership
B) corporation
C) life insurance company
D) depository institution

Question 16

________ is the risk that a counterparty in a trade fails to satisfy its obligation.

A) Liquidity risk
B) Settlement risk
C) Counterparty risk
D) Market risk

Question 17

________ is the risk to a financial institution's economic well-being that results from an adverse movement in the market price of assets it owns.

A) Credit risk
B) Settlement risk
C) Funding liquidity risk
D) Market risk

Question 18

Depository institutions include ________.

A) commercial banks.
B) savings and loan associations.
C) savings banks and credit unions.
D) All of these

Question 19

________ is the risk that the financial institution will be unable to obtain funding to obtain cash flow necessary to satisfy its obligations.

A) Funding liquidity risk
B) Credit risk
C) Settlement risk
D) Market risk

Question 20

Financial intermediaries include ________ that acquire the bulk of their funds by offering their liabilities to the public mostly in the form of deposits; insurance companies, pension funds, and finance companies.

A) depository institutions
B) utilities
C) initial public offerings
D) preferred equity instrument.

Question 21

A financial institution that provides an underwriting service will only on occasion also provide a brokerage and/or dealer service.

Question 22

Asset management firms receive their compensation ________ from management fees charged based on the market value of the assets managed for clients.

A) primarily
B) secondarily
C) totally
D) to a minor extent

Question 23

An important risk that is often overlooked but has been the cause of the demise of some major financial institutions is value-at risk.

Question 24

In addition to uncertainty about the timing and amount of the cash outlays, and the potential for the depositor or policyholder to withdraw cash early or borrow against a policy, a financial institution has to be concerned with possible reduction in cash inflows.

Question 25

Many large manufacturing firms have subsidiaries that provide financing for the parent company's customer. These financial institutions are called free investment companies.

Question 26

In regards to Type-IV Liabilities, there are numerous insurance products and pension obligations that present uncertainty as to both the amount and the timing of the cash outlay.

Question 27

The term hedge fund is associated with common characteristics. Which of the below is NOT one of these common characteristics?

A) organized as private investment partnerships or offshore investment corporations
B) use a wide variety of trading strategies involving position-taking in a range of markets
C) employ an assortment of trading techniques and instruments, often including short-selling, derivatives and leverage
D) pay performance fees to their managers; and have an investor base comprising modest-income individuals

Question 28

Business entities include nonfinancial and financial enterprises. Nonfinancial enterprises manufacture products (e.g., cars, steel, computers) and/or provide nonfinancial services (e.g., transportation, utilities, computer programming).

Question 29

Very few regulations and tax considerations influence the investment policies that financial institutions pursue.

Question 30

Which of the following statements is FALSE?

A) Asset management firms manage the funds of individuals, businesses, endowments and foundations, and state and local governments.
B) Asset management firms are ranked semi-annually by Pension & Investments with the ranking based on the number of liabilities under management.
C) Asset management firms are either affiliated with some financial institution (such as a commercial bank, insurance company, or investment bank) or are independent companies.
D) Larger institutional clients seeking the services of an asset management firm typically do not allocate all of their assets to one asset management firm.

Question 31

Which of the below is NOT one of the types of funds managed by asset management firms?

A) Deregulated investment companies
B) Insurance company funds
C) Separately managed accounts for individuals and institutional investors
D) Pension and hedge funds.

Question 32

There is no universally accepted definition to describe the 9,000 privately pooled investment entities in the United States called ________ that invest more than $1.3 trillion in assets.

A) derivative funds
B) option funds
C) hedge funds
D) asset/liability funds

Question 33

Liquidity risk is the risk that a counterparty in a trade fails to satisfy its obligation.

Question 34

Many large manufacturing firms have subsidiaries that provide financing for the parent company's customer. These financial institutions are called captive finance companies.

Question 35

________ seeking the services of an asset management firm typically do not allocate all of their assets to one asset management firm firm.

A) Smaller institutional clients
B) Larger institutional clients
C) Depository institutions
D) GIC institutions

Question 36

For Type-IV Liabilities, both the amount and the timing of the liabilities are known with certainty.

Question 37

There are various ways to categorize the different types of hedge funds. Mark Anson uses the four broad categories. Which of the below is NOT one of these?

A) divergence buying
B) market directional
C) corporate restructuring
D) opportunistic

Question 38

People who work for financial intermediaries (such as a commercial bank and an investment company) include investment professionals who are trained to analyze financial assets and manage them.

Question 39

Most transactions made today are done with cash more so than payments mechanisms that use checks, credit cards, debit cards, and electronic transfers of funds.

Question 40

Funding liquidity risk is the risk that the financial institution will be unable to obtain funding to obtain cash flow necessary to satisfy its obligations.

Question 41

A market directional hedge fund is one in which the asset manager retains some exposure to "systematic risk."

Question 42

Name three of the five types of funds managed by asset management firms.

Question 43

Risk-arbitrage hedge funds have the broadest mandate of all of the four hedge fund categories.

Question 44

Liquidity risk in the context of settlement risk means that the counterparty can eventually meet its obligation, but not at the due date.

Question 45

There is considerable debate on the role of hedge funds in financial markets because of their size and their impact on financial markets that result from their investment strategies. On the positive side, it has been argued that they provide liquidity to the market.Nonetheless, there is a major concern. Identify and discuss this major concern.

Question 46

Describe the difference between direct and indirect investments. Cite an example of how an investor in a financial intermediaries makes an indirect investment in an actual entity or company.

Question 47

The Global Association of Risk Professional (GARP) suggests classifying the major categories of operational risk into five categories according to the cause of the loss event. Name and describe two of these categories.

Question 48

A convergence trading hedge fund is one in which the asset manager positions the portfolio to capitalize on the anticipated impact of a significant corporate event.

Question 49

Describe three of the services that can be provided by financial enterprises.

Question 50

Hedge funds use a wide range of trading strategies and techniques in an attempt to earn superior returns.

Question 51

By the liabilities of a financial institution, we mean the amount and timing of the cash outlays that must be made to satisfy the contractual terms of the obligations issued. The liabilities of any financial institution can be categorized according to four types where the categorization assumes that the entity that must be paid the obligation will not cancel the financial institution's obligation prior to any actual or projected payout date. Using a table format, name and describe these four types.