IBPS RRB Treasury Manager key terms

The share of a bank's net demand and time liabilities that must be held as cash with the Reserve Bank of India. It earns no interest and is used to control liquidity in the banking system.

The minimum proportion of net demand and time liabilities a bank must hold in approved liquid assets such as government securities, cash or gold. Unlike CRR, these assets earn a return.

The total of a bank's demand deposits, time deposits and other liabilities to the public, netted against assets held with other banks. It is the base on which CRR and SLR are calculated.

The interest rate at which the RBI lends short-term funds to banks against government securities, with an agreement to repurchase them. It is the key policy rate for signalling monetary stance.

The rate at which the RBI absorbs surplus liquidity from banks by borrowing against securities. It sets the floor of the Liquidity Adjustment Facility corridor.

A window allowing banks to borrow overnight from the RBI against approved government securities, up to a limit of their NDTL, at a rate above the repo rate. It forms the ceiling of the policy corridor.

The RBI's framework for managing day-to-day liquidity through repo and reverse repo operations with banks, keeping short-term interest rates within a defined corridor around the policy rate.

Buying or selling of government securities by the RBI in the secondary market to inject or absorb durable liquidity. Purchases add money supply; sales withdraw it.

A debt instrument issued by the central or a state government to borrow money, paying fixed or floating interest and repaying principal at maturity. It is the benchmark for domestic risk-free rates.

A short-term money market instrument issued by the government at a discount, maturing in 91, 182 or 364 days. It carries no coupon and is repaid at face value on maturity.

A negotiable money market instrument issued by banks and select financial institutions to raise short-term funds, with a minimum maturity of seven days and issued at a discount to face value.

An unsecured promissory note issued by large corporates and financial institutions to meet short-term working capital needs, usually for 7 to 365 days, sold at a discount.

The total annualised return earned by holding a bond until maturity, assuming all coupons are reinvested at that same rate. It links the bond's price, coupon and remaining term.

The weighted average time in years until a bond's cash flows are received. It measures sensitivity to interest rate changes: a higher duration means greater price volatility for a given rate shift.

One hundredth of a percentage point, that is 0.01 per cent. It is used to express small changes in interest rates, yields and spreads precisely, so 25 bps means a quarter percentage point.

The difference between two interest rates or yields, such as the gap between a corporate bond and a government security of similar maturity. It reflects perceived credit and liquidity risk.

An independent agency's opinion on a borrower's ability and willingness to repay debt on time, expressed as an alphanumeric grade. Higher grades indicate lower default risk and cheaper borrowing.

A loan or advance where interest or principal has remained overdue for more than 90 days. Such assets stop generating income and require provisioning by the bank.

The amount a bank sets aside from profits to cover expected losses on loans and other assets. Provisioning norms are prescribed by the RBI and reduce reported profit.

A measure of a bank's capital expressed as a percentage of its risk-weighted assets. It indicates the cushion available to absorb losses and must stay above RBI-prescribed minimums.

A global set of banking reforms agreed after the 2008 crisis, raising minimum capital, introducing a leverage ratio and liquidity standards such as LCR and NSFR. It is phased in by national regulators.

A Basel III standard requiring a bank to hold enough high-quality liquid assets to survive a 30-day stress scenario of heavy deposit withdrawals. It is expressed as a percentage of net cash outflows.

A Basel III measure comparing available stable funding with required stable funding over a one-year horizon. It discourages excessive reliance on short-term wholesale funding for long-term assets.

The practice of managing a bank's assets and liabilities so that interest rate and liquidity risks stay within limits. It matches maturities and repricing dates across buckets in the balance sheet.

The danger that changes in market interest rates will reduce a bank's net interest income or the value of its securities portfolio. It is managed through gap analysis, duration matching and hedging.

Foreign currency assets, gold, SDRs and reserve position held by the RBI to defend the rupee and meet external obligations. Reserves are published weekly and signal external strength.

The excess of a country's imports of goods, services and transfers over its exports. A persistent deficit pressures the currency and is financed by capital inflows or reserve drawdown.

The marketplace where currencies are bought and sold, including spot, forward and swap transactions. In India it is regulated by the RBI and operates through authorised dealer banks.

An agreement to buy or sell a currency at a fixed rate on a future date, used to hedge exchange rate risk. Unlike futures, it is customised and traded over the counter.

Taking an offsetting position in a related instrument to reduce exposure to price, interest rate or currency movements. The aim is protection, not profit from the underlying exposure.

A pooled investment vehicle that collects money from many investors and invests it in securities according to a stated objective. Units are priced daily at net asset value.

The per-unit value of a mutual fund scheme, calculated as total assets minus liabilities divided by units outstanding. It is declared at the end of each business day.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India, the statutory regulator of securities markets, mutual funds, brokers and listed companies. It protects investors and promotes orderly market development.

A form of logical reasoning where conclusions are drawn from two or more given statements or premises. In bank exams it typically involves categorical statements about all, some and no.

A visual technique for solving syllogism and set-based reasoning questions by drawing overlapping circles that represent the possible relationships between the groups described in the statements.

A reasoning question type where the candidate must decide whether the given statements supply enough information to answer a question, without actually computing the final answer.

A quantitative aptitude topic requiring candidates to read tables, bar graphs, pie charts or line graphs and compute percentages, ratios and averages from the data presented.

A fraction or ratio expressed as a part of one hundred. It is fundamental to profit and loss, simple and compound interest, and data interpretation calculations in numerical ability tests.

A ratio compares two quantities of the same kind, while a proportion states that two ratios are equal. These concepts underpin partnership, mixture and time-work problems.

An English language question in which a passage has words or phrases removed and the candidate selects the option that best restores meaning and grammatical correctness to each blank.

A passage-based question set that tests a candidate's ability to grasp the main idea, infer meaning, identify tone and answer detail questions accurately under time pressure.

A fixed expression whose meaning cannot be understood from the literal words, such as 'a shot in the dark'. Bank exams test recognition and correct usage of common idioms and phrases.