Financial Terms From the UK

By Harry Sit

I started listening to a podcast from Financial Times in the UK, The FT Money Show, because I’m interested in how people in other countries deal with their finances. I’ve heard the expression that “England and America are two countries separated by a common language.” It is true. Just from listening to two recent shows, I’ve learned quite a few things for which the terms are different in the UK and in the US. I had to look them up in Wikipedia. I’m listing them here with their rough equivalents in the US.

UK US
Building Society Savings & Loan
Current Account Checking Account
Property Fund open-end mutual fund which invests directly in real estate, uncommon in the US
Property Investment Trust closed-end mutual fund which invests directly in real estate
gearing, geared leverage, leveraged
Unit Trust Mutual Fund
OEIC Mutual Fund
Individual Savings Account (ISA) Roth IRA
Venture Capital Trust (VCT) no equivalent in the US
dealing charges (brokerage) commission
Base Rate Federal Funds Rate
quid (1 quid = 1 pound) buck (1 buck = 1 dollar)

Terms aside, people in the UK are actually dealing with similar issues. There is concern for the housing market (flat to slightly down) and for the commercial real estate market (down 30-40%). There is speculation on what the British currency will do against the U.S. dollar, on whether the central bank will lower interest rate, talks about getting account opening bonuses for switching checking accounts and lowering utility costs by switching energy providers. It is quite interesting.

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Posted on January 28, 2008 under Banking and Credit Cards, Investing.

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One Comment on Financial Terms From the UK

  1. Sree on January 29, 2008
     

    India also inherited more or less similar terminology as it was under UK for several years.
    So, we can use the same terminology to understand the Indian sub continent

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