Weighted average maturity
The maturity-weighted average of a debt portfolio, indicative of interest rate sensitivity and widely used because it is simple to explain — though a professional manager relies on modified duration instead.
This one is not written up yet
The definition above is the short version. A full explanation — how it works, a worked example and the exam traps — is still being written. In the meantime the chapter below covers it in context.
Written up from the same chapter
- Basis riskThe risk left over after hedging, because the exposure and the contract used to hedge it do not move identically — in size, in expiry date, or in what they are written on.
- BetaHow sharply a share moves relative to the market index — beta 1 moves with the index, above 1 amplifies it, below 1 dampens it. The standard measure of systematic risk.
- Credit spreadThe extra yield a non-government borrower must pay over a government security of the same tenor — the market price of credit risk, quoted as an add-on over the risk-free rate.
- Modified DurationMacaulay's duration divided by (1 + yield) — the percentage by which a bond's price moves for a one percentage point change in interest rates, and so the standard measure of interest rate risk.
- Segregated portfolioA ring-fenced sub-portfolio holding the debt instrument hit by a credit event, split out of a scheme so that the good assets stay liquid and exiting investors cannot leave the damaged paper behind.
- Standard deviationA measure of how far returns typically stray from their own average — the standard statistic for total risk, counting company-specific and market-wide causes alike.
Where this is taught
Free preparation for NISM Series V-D← All terms