Glossary

Fund data terms, defined for builders

44 definitions written for developers and analysts. Every term links to the API field that carries it, so you can go from a word on a factsheet to a key in the JSON.

A

Accumulating vs distributing share classAccumulating share classes reinvest income inside the fund; distributing share classes pay it out to investors, usually quarterly, semi-annually or annually.

Active fundAn active fund is one whose manager selects holdings at their own discretion, aiming to outperform or manage risk against a benchmark rather than replicate it.

Assets under management (AUM)Assets under management is the total market value of the assets a fund holds, net of liabilities, reported either for the whole fund or for a single share class.

B

BenchmarkA benchmark is the index a fund is measured against: tracked by index funds and ETFs, or used by active funds as a target or reference for relative performance.

C

Country exposureCountry exposure is the share of a fund's portfolio invested in each country, normally assigned by the issuer's country of domicile or listing as classified by the index provider or fund house.

Credit qualityCredit quality describes the creditworthiness of the bonds a fund holds, shown as a breakdown by rating bucket from AAA down to below BBB or as an average rating.

CUSIPA CUSIP is a nine-character identifier for securities issued in the United States and Canada; it forms the middle nine characters of a US ISIN.

D

Distribution yieldDistribution yield is the income a fund paid out over the past twelve months divided by its current NAV or market price, expressed as a percentage.

Duration (modified / effective)Duration measures how sensitive a bond fund's value is to interest rates: a modified duration of 5 implies roughly a 5% price fall for a one percentage point rise in yields.

E

ETF (exchange-traded fund)An ETF is an open-ended fund whose shares trade on a stock exchange during the day, with creations and redemptions by authorised participants keeping the price close to NAV.

F

Fund domicileA fund's domicile is the country in which it is legally established and regulated; for UCITS funds sold across Europe it is most often Ireland or Luxembourg.

Fund factsheetA fund factsheet is the short document a fund house publishes, usually monthly, summarising a share class's key facts, holdings, exposures, performance and charges.

H

Hedged share classA hedged share class uses currency forwards to reduce the effect of exchange-rate moves between the fund's underlying currencies and the currency of the share class.

I

Inception dateThe inception date is the day a fund or share class was launched and began calculating a NAV; it determines how much performance history and which risk statistics exist.

Index fundAn index fund aims to replicate the return of a specified market index rather than beat it, and can be either a listed ETF or a traditional unlisted fund dealt at NAV.

ISINAn ISIN is the 12-character ISO 6166 code that uniquely identifies a security worldwide; each fund share class has its own, which makes it the natural key for fund data.

K

KID (Key Information Document, PRIIPs)The PRIIPs KID is the standardised three-page pre-contractual document EU retail investors receive, showing a 1–7 summary risk indicator, performance scenarios and costs.

KIID (Key Investor Information Document, UCITS)The UCITS KIID is the two-page document introduced under UCITS IV that presents a fund's objectives, a 1–7 SRRI risk indicator, charges and ten years of calendar-year past performance.

L

Look-throughLook-through means analysing a fund by its underlying holdings rather than as a single line, so a portfolio of funds can be aggregated by security, sector, country or asset class.

M

Maximum drawdownMaximum drawdown is the largest peak-to-trough fall in a fund's value over a period, expressed as a negative percentage, before a new high is reached.

MiFID IIMiFID II is the EU directive, applied since January 2018, that governs investment services and requires firms distributing funds to disclose costs, define target markets and assess suitability.

N

NAV (net asset value)Net asset value is a fund's assets minus its liabilities; divided by the shares in issue it gives the NAV per share, the price at which unlisted funds are bought and sold.

O

OCF (ongoing charges figure)The OCF is the UK label for a fund's ongoing charges: the annual running cost, as a percentage of assets, disclosed in the KIID or KID.

Ongoing chargesOngoing charges are the annual recurring costs a UCITS fund deducts from its assets, shown as a percentage in the KIID or KID; the regulatory name for what many call the TER.

P

PRIIPsPRIIPs is the EU regulation requiring a standardised three-page KID for retail investment products, including UCITS funds since 2023, with an SRI and cost tables.

ProspectusThe prospectus is a fund's full legal offering document: investment policy, risks, fees, share classes, dealing rules and service providers, approved by the home regulator.

R

Replication method (physical, sampled, synthetic)The replication method is how an index fund or ETF reproduces its index: holding every constituent, a representative sample, or a swap that delivers the index return.

S

Sector exposureSector exposure is the share of a fund's portfolio invested in each industry sector, such as technology, financials or healthcare, usually shown as percentage weights.

SEDOLA SEDOL is a seven-character security identifier issued by the London Stock Exchange for UK and Irish securities; it is embedded in GB and IE ISINs.

SFDR (Articles 6, 8 and 9)SFDR is the EU disclosure regulation under which funds are classified as Article 6, 8 or 9 depending on whether and how they promote sustainability characteristics or objectives.

Share classA share class is one version of a fund with its own ISIN, currency, distribution policy, fee level and eligibility rules, all backed by the same underlying portfolio.

Sharpe ratioThe Sharpe ratio measures return per unit of risk: a fund's excess return over the risk-free rate divided by the volatility of its returns over the same period.

SRI (summary risk indicator, PRIIPs)The SRI is the 1–7 summary risk indicator shown in a PRIIPs KID; it combines a market risk measure with a credit risk measure and replaced the SRRI for EU UCITS in 2023.

SRRI (synthetic risk and reward indicator, UCITS)The SRRI is the 1–7 risk score in a UCITS KIID, assigned purely from the fund's five-year annualised volatility using fixed buckets; it preceded the PRIIPs SRI.

Swing pricingSwing pricing adjusts a fund's NAV up or down on days of large net flows so that the trading costs caused by subscribing or redeeming investors are borne by them, not the fund.

T

TER (total expense ratio)The TER is the industry's long-standing name for a fund's annual running costs as a percentage of assets; in UCITS documents the same figure is disclosed as ongoing charges or OCF.

TickerA ticker is the short exchange-specific symbol used to trade a listed security; one ETF share class can have several tickers, one per exchange, but only one ISIN.

Top holdingsTop holdings are a fund's largest positions by portfolio weight, usually the ten biggest, as published in its factsheet or holdings file at a stated date.

Tracking differenceTracking difference is the gap between a fund's return and its benchmark's return over a period; for index funds it is the real cost of ownership after fees and frictions.

Tracking errorTracking error is the annualised standard deviation of the difference between a fund's returns and its benchmark's returns; it measures how consistently the fund follows its index.

U

UCITSUCITS is the EU regulatory framework for retail investment funds; a UCITS fund meets rules on diversification, liquidity and disclosure and can be sold across the EU under a passport.

V

VolatilityVolatility is the annualised standard deviation of a fund's returns; it measures how widely returns have swung around their average and underpins the SRRI and Sharpe ratio.

W

WKNA WKN (Wertpapierkennnummer) is the six-character German national securities identifier; it is widely used on German retail platforms and embedded in DE ISINs.

Y

Yield to maturityYield to maturity is the weighted average annualised return a bond fund's holdings would earn if held to maturity at today's prices, before fees; a snapshot of the portfolio's yield.