A-Z of the Financial Crisis

Welcome to our compendium of the financial crisis. The links below will take you to simple but robust explanations of some of the key concepts and terms behind the unprecedented problems facing the financial system. We also look at key players and the biggest victims of events so far.

Let us know if you think we've left anything out (we unquestionably have), or if you think any of our explanations require more colour. If you have any questions about any of the terms listed, leave them at the bottom of the entry and we will endeavour to come in and answer them.

We'll be updating the entries regularly and will be sending email alerts to inform graduate readers of new entries. If you want to land a first job in investment banking in 2009, we hope this will prove an invaluable resource to help get you through the interview.

AIG

Alt A

Asset backed securities (ABS)

Bad bank

Bailout

Basel II

Bear Stearns

Ben Bernanke

Black swan

Broker dealer model

Capital

Capital adequacy

Citigroup

Collateralized debt obligations (CDO)

Collateralized loan obligations (CLO)

Commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS)

Credit crunch

Credit default swaps (CDS)

Credit spread

Decoupling

Deficit

Discount window

European Central Bank (ECB)

Federal Reserve (The Fed)

Fannie and Freddie

Great Depression

Haircut

Hank Paulson

HBOS

Hedge funds

Hedging

Iceland

Japan

Jérôme Kerviel

Lehman Brothers

Leverage

London Inter Bank Offer Rate (LIBOR)

Liquidity

Marking to market

Meltdown

Merrill Lynch

Money market

Moral hazard

Mortgage backed security (MBS)

Northern Rock

Prime

Quantitative easing

Ratings agencies

Rights issue

Securitization

Short selling

Structured investment vehicle (SIV)

Special purpose entity (SPE)

Sub-prime

TARP (The Troubled Asset Relief Programme)

Toxic assets

Toxic asset insurance programmes (AKA The Asset Protection Scheme)

Value at Risk (VaR)

Writedowns