§ 703.2 - Definitions.

§ 703.2 Definitions.

Cross Reference

Link to an amendment published at 86 FR 72818, Dec. 23, 2021.

The following definitions apply to this part:

Adjusted trading means selling an investment to a counterparty at a price above its current fair value and simultaneously purchasing or committing to purchase from the counterparty another investment at a price above its current fair value.

Associated personnel means a person engaged in the investment banking or securities business who is directly or indirectly controlled by a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) member, whether or not this person is registered or exempt from registration with FINRA. Associated personnel includes every sole proprietor, partner, officer, director, or branch manager of any FINRA member.

Banker's acceptance means a time draft that is drawn on and accepted by a bank and that represents an irrevocable obligation of the bank.

Bank note means a direct, unconditional, and unsecured general obligation of a bank that ranks equally with all other senior unsecured indebtedness of the bank, except deposit liabilities and other obligations that are subject to any priorities or preferences.

Borrowing repurchase transaction means a transaction in which the Federal credit union agrees to sell a security to a counterparty and to repurchase the same or an identical security from that counterparty at a specified future date and at a specified price.

Call means an option that gives the holder the right to buy a specified quantity of a security at a specified price during a fixed time period.

Collateralized Mortgage Obligation (CMO) means a multi-class mortgage related security.

Collective investment fund means a fund maintained by a national bank under 12 CFR part 9 (Comptroller of the Currency's regulations).

Commercial mortgage related security means a mortgage related security, as defined below, except that it is collateralized entirely by commercial real estate, such as a warehouse or office building, or a multi-family dwelling consisting of more than four units.

Counterparty means the party on the other side of the transaction.

Custodial Agreement means a contract in which one party agrees to hold securities in safekeeping for others.

Delivery versus payment means payment for an investment must occur simultaneously with its delivery.

Embedded option means a characteristic of an investment that gives the issuer or holder the right to alter the level and timing of the cash flows of the investment. Embedded options include call and put provisions and interest rate caps and floors. Since a prepayment option in a mortgage is a type of call provision, a mortgage-backed security composed of mortgages that may be prepaid is an example of an investment with an embedded option.

Eurodollar deposit means a U.S. dollar-denominated deposit in a foreign branch of a United States depository institution.

European financial options contract means an option that can be exercised only on its expiration date.

Exchangeable Collateralized Mortgage Obligation means a class of a collateralized mortgage obligation (CMO) that, at the time of purchase, represents beneficial ownership interests in a combination of two or more underlying classes of the same CMO structure. The holder of an exchangeable CMO may pay a fee and take delivery of the underlying classes of the CMO.

Fair value means the price that would be received to sell an asset, or paid to transfer a liability, in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date, as defined by GAAP.

Financial options contract means an agreement to make or take delivery of a standardized financial instrument upon demand by the holder of the contract as specified in the agreement.

Forward sales commitment means an agreement to sell an asset at a price and future date specified in the agreement.

Immediate family member means a spouse or other family member living in the same household.

Independent qualified agent means an agent independent of an investment repurchase counterparty that does not receive a transaction fee from the counterparty and has at least two years experience assessing the value of mortgage loans.

Industry-recognized information provider means an organization that obtains compensation by providing information to investors and receives no compensation for the purchase or sale of investments.

Interest rate lock commitment means an agreement by a credit union to hold a certain interest rate and points for a specified amount of time while a prospective borrower's application is processed.

Investment means any security, obligation, account, deposit, or other item authorized for purchase by a Federal credit union under Sections 107(7), 107(8), or 107(15) of the Act, or this part, other than loans to members.

Investment grade means the issuer of a security has an adequate capacity to meet the financial commitments under the security for the projected life of the asset or exposure, even under adverse economic conditions. An issuer has an adequate capacity to meet financial commitments if the risk of default by the obligor is low and the full and timely repayment of principal and interest on the security is expected. A Federal credit union may consider any or all of the following factors, to the extent appropriate, with respect to the credit risk of a security: Credit spreads; securities-related research; internal or external credit risk assessments; default statistics; inclusion on an index; priorities and enhancements; price, yield, and/or volume; and asset class-specific factors. This list of factors is not meant to be exhaustive or mutually exclusive.

Investment repurchase transaction means a transaction in which an investor agrees to purchase a security from a counterparty and to resell the same or an identical security to that counterparty at a specified future date and at a specified price.

Maturity means the date the last principal amount of a security is scheduled to come due and does not mean the call date or the weighted average life of a security.

Mortgage related security means a security as defined in section 3(a)(41) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78c(a)(41)).

Mortgage servicing

rights means a contractual obligation to perform mortgage servicing and the right to receive compensation for performing those services. Mortgage servicing is the administration of a mortgage loan, including collecting monthly payments and fees, providing recordkeeping and escrow functions, and, if necessary curing defaults and foreclosing

assets mean those assets, maintained in accordance with GAAP, resulting from contracts to service loans secured by real estate (that have been securitized or owned by others) for which the benefits of servicing are expected to more than adequately compensate the servicer for performing the servicing.

Negotiable instrument means an instrument that may be freely transferred from the purchaser to another person or entity by delivery, or endorsement and delivery, with full legal title becoming vested in the transferee.

Net worth means the retained earnings balance of the credit union at quarter end as determined under generally accepted accounting principles and as further defined in § 702.2 of this chapter.

Official means any member of a Federal credit union's board of directors, credit committee, supervisory committee, or investment-related committee.

Ordinary care means the degree of care, which an ordinarily prudent and competent person engaged in the same line of business or endeavor should exercise under similar circumstances.

Pair-off transaction means an investment purchase transaction that is closed or sold on, or before the settlement date. In a pair-off, an investor commits to purchase an investment, but then pairs-off the purchase with a sale of the same investment before or on the settlement date.

Put means an option that gives the holder the right to sell a specified quantity of a security at a specified price during a fixed time period.

Registered investment company means an investment company that is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a). Examples of registered investment companies are mutual funds and unit investment trusts.

Regular way settlement means delivery of a security from a seller to a buyer within the time frame that the securities industry has established for immediate delivery of that type of security. For example, regular way settlement of a Treasury security includes settlement on the trade date (cash), the business day following the trade date (regular way), and the second business day following the trade date (skip day).

Residual interest means the remainder cash flows from collateralized mortgage obligations/real estate mortgage investment conduits (CMOs/REMICs), or other mortgage-backed security transaction, after payments due bondholders and trust administrative expenses have been satisfied.

Securities lending means lending a security to a counterparty, either directly or through an agent, and accepting collateral in return.

Security means a share, participation, or other interest in property or in an enterprise of the issuer or an obligation of the issuer that:

(1) Either is represented by an instrument issued in bearer or registered form or, if not represented by an instrument, is registered in books maintained to record transfers by or on behalf of the issuer;

(2) Is of a type commonly dealt in on securities exchanges or markets or, when represented by an instrument, is commonly recognized in any area in which it is issued or dealt in as a medium for investment; and

(3) Either is one of a class or series or by its terms is divisible into a class or series of shares, participations, interests, or obligations.

Senior management employee means a Federal credit union's chief executive officer (typically this individual holds the title of President or Treasurer/Manager), an assistant chief executive officer, and the chief financial officer.

Small business related security means a security as defined in section 3(a)(53) of the securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78c(a)(53)). This definition does not include Small Business Administration securities permissible under section 107(7) of the Federal Credit Union Act.

Weighted average life means the weighted-average time to the return of a dollar of principal, calculated by multiplying each portion of principal received by the time at which it is expected to be received (based on a reasonable and supportable estimate of that time) and then summing and dividing by the total amount of principal.

When-issued trading of securities means the buying and selling of securities in the period between the announcement of an offering and the issuance and payment date of the securities.

Yankee dollar deposit means a deposit in a United States branch of a foreign bank licensed to do business in the State in which it is located, or a deposit in a State-chartered, foreign controlled bank.

Zero coupon investment means an investment that makes no periodic interest payments but instead is sold at a discount from its face value. The holder of a zero coupon investment realizes the rate of return through the gradual appreciation of the investment, which is redeemed at face value on a specified maturity date.

[68 FR 32960, June 3, 2003, as amended at 69 FR 39831, July 1, 2004; 71 FR 76124, Dec. 20, 2006; 77 FR 74109, Dec. 13, 2012; 79 FR 5241, Jan. 31, 2014; 84 FR 1606, Feb. 5, 2019; 86 FR 28247, May 26, 2021; 86 FR 72806, 72818, Dec. 23, 2021]