Glossary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
BEL 20 index

Stock index of the twenty most important Belgian companies listed on Euronext Brussels. Those twenty companies are chosen on the basis of their turnover and their market capitalisation.

Backwardation The situation where an investor on the Forward Market postpones a bear position to the next fortnight period, speculating on a continuous falling of the prices: delay of delivery of sold securities until the next settlement day.
Benchmark A standard used for comparison. For example, the performance of some index mutual funds is compared to the performance of for instance the CAC40 that serves as a benchmark.
Beta The beta reflects the sensitivity of a share or portfolio relative to the overall market development. The beta of the overall market is defined as 1. A security with a beta of 1 indicates its price moves exactly with the overall market. A beta greater than 1 is more volatile than the overall market, while a beta less than 1 indicates that the security's price is more stable than the market (in general and over a long time period).
Bid The price at which a trader or market maker is willing to buy.
Big Bang Bis (Euronext Brussels)

Belgian law of 6 April 1995 transposing the European ISD Directive into our legislation. That law introduces the European passport and re-organises the control on the financial markets.

Bond Interest-bearing debt security issued by a company, local authority or central government, redeemable on a pre-arranged date for a set amount.
Bordereau

Confirmation and description of the execution of an exchange order.

Broker-dealer individual clearer Broker-dealer individual clearer: following the Jan.1, 1992 introduction of distinct licences for each type of activity handled by brokerage firms, member firms with this status are authorized to clear only trades carried out on behalf of their clients or in their own name.
Broker-dealer multi-clearer Broker-dealer multi-clearer: following the Jan.1, 1992 introduction of district licences for each type of activity handled by brockerage firms, members firms with this status are authorized to clear not only their own transactions, but also those of one or more pure broker-dealers.
Buy Indicates you want to purchase a security.