Banking Terms - Set 27 (Closed Vs Open Loop Card, POP, Master Feeder Fund, Rehypothecation)

Closed loops Card vs Open Loop Card

General purpose and limited-purpose payments networks primarily operate under two different business models. Open-loop payments networks, such as Visa and MasterCard, are multi-party and operate through a system that connects two financial institutions—one that issues the card to the cardholder, known as the issuing financial institution or issuer, and one that has the banking relationship with the merchant, known as the acquiring financial institution or acquirer—and manages information and the flow of value between them. In a typical closed-loop payments network, the payment services are provided directly to merchants and cardholders by the owner of the network without involving third-party financial institution intermediaries. Closed-loop networks can range in size from networks such as American Express and Discover, which issue cards directly to consumers and serve merchants directly, to an individual merchant that issues limited-purpose private-label credit cards to its customers for use only in that merchant’s stores.

Prime of Prime - POP

A brokerage that provides service to traders (especially Forex traders) who need micro-contract trades. Prime of Prime (PoP) brokerages also often allow for trades of greater leverage and, as a result, more risk. Many of the brokers using PoP brokerages are small regional banks with clients that need smaller currency trade options.

One of the reasons that regular forex prime brokerages dont provide the services that PoPs do is that there is a smaller profit margin in the smaller trades. Additionally, their systems often dont support a cost-effective way to complete smaller trades. PoP brokerages are also equipped to deal with increasing regulatory requirements for highly leveraged trades.

Master Feeder Fund

A structure commonly used by hedge funds to pool investment capital raised by U.S. investors - both taxable and tax-exempt - and overseas investors into one central vehicle called the master fund, with separate investment vehicles or feeders created for each investor group. Investors invest in the feeder funds, which in turn invest their assets in the master fund. The master fund makes all the portfolio investments and conducts trading activity, while management and performance fees are payable at the feeder-funds level.

Rehypothecation

The practice by banks and brokers of using, for their own purposes, assets that have been posted as collateral by their clients. Clients who permit rehypothecation of their collateral may be compensated either through a lower cost of borrowing or a rebate on fees. 

In a typical example of rehypothecation, securities that have been posted with a prime brokerage as collateral by a hedge fund are used by the brokerage to back its own transactions and trades. While rehypothecation was a common practice until 2007, hedge funds became much more wary about it in the wake of the Lehman Brothers collapse and subsequent credit crunch in 2008-09.