Whois & Analysis for jefferies.com

An investment bank is typically a private company that provides various financial-related and other services to individuals, corporations, and governments such as raising financial capital by underwriting or acting as the client's agent in the issuance of securities.

An investment bank may also assist companies involved in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and provide ancillary services such as market making, trading of derivatives and equity securities, and FICC services (fixed income instruments, currencies, and commodities).

Fixed income refers to any type of investment under which the borrower or issuer is obliged to make payments of a fixed amount on a fixed schedule.

For example, the borrower may have to pay interest at a fixed rate once a year, and to repay the principal amount on maturity.

Fixed-income securities can be contrasted with equity securities - often referred to as stocks and shares - that create no obligation to pay dividends or any other form of income.

Financial services are the economic services provided by the finance industry, which encompasses a broad range of businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, accountancy companies, consumer-finance companies, stock brokerages, investment funds and some government-sponsored enterprises.

Financial services companies are present in all economically developed geographic locations and tend to cluster in local, national, regional and international financial centers such as London, New York City, and Tokyo.

The stock (also capital 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 total 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Stockholders' equity cannot be withdrawn from the company in a way that is intended to be detrimental to the company's creditors.

Asset management, broadly defined, refers to any system that monitors and maintains things of value to an entity or group.

It may apply to both tangible assets such as buildings and to intangible assets such as human capital, intellectual property, and goodwill and financial assets.

Asset management is a systematic process of deploying, operating, maintaining, upgrading, and disposing of assets cost-effectively.