Glossary

General Glossary

O

Obverse 

The main side of a banknote, which bears the most representative motif. Doors and windows feature on the obverse of euro banknotes, symbolising Europe's spirit of openness and co-operation.

Official banking  

In Spain, this concept makes reference to a series of state-owned credit institutions, such as Caja Postal, Banco de Crédito Agrícola, Banco de Crédito Local, Banco Hipotecario de España and Banco Exterior de España.

Official interest rates of the European Central Bank 

The rates set by the Governing Council of the European Central Bank. They indicate the direction of monetary policy in the Eurosystem. At present they include: The official central rate, which serves as the minimum bid rate for principal financing operations, and the lowest rate of interest at which counterparty institutions can bid in variable-rate tenders; the interest rate of the marginal lending facility; and the interest rate of the deposit facility. The latter two rates are usually set 100 basis points above and below the official central rate, respectively.

Offset lithography 

A printing method in which an image inked on a planographic surface is printed on an intermediate counter cylinder covered by rubber and from there is transferred to the paper. Dry offset printing, so-called because it does not use water, uses a printing plate with an image. In the case of wet offset printing, the ink of the image is applied to a treated flat plate so that when it is wet with a solution of ink and water, the ink adheres to the parts that form the image, while the water adheres to the parts with no image.

Ombudsman 

A position that a financial institution can voluntarily create to deal with their customers' complaints and claims. In any case, the institutions must always have Customer Care Service. If a customer does not receive a satisfactory response to their complaint by the Ombudsman, they can appeal to the Banco de España Claims Service.

Opacity 

Opacity is defined as a ratio between the light reflected by a single sheet of paper with respect to that reflected by a set of sheets. The ratio value is affected by paper colour. It gives a measure of how more or less transparent a piece of paper is. The appearance and resolution of the features of the watermark will be affected by the opacity of the paper. Opacity is included in the technical specifications for euro banknotes.

Open market operation 

An operation executed on the initiative of the central bank in the financial markets. With regard to their aims, regularity and procedures, Eurosystem open market operations can be divided into four categories: main refinancing operations; longer-term refinancing operations; fine-tuning operations; and structural operations. As for the instruments used, reverse transactions are the main open market instrument of the Eurosystem and can be employed in all four categories of operations. In addition, the issuance of debt certificates and outright transactions are available for structural operations, while outright transactions, foreign exchange swaps and the collection of fixed-term deposits are available for the conduct of fine-tuning operations.

Open position 

An open position is a derivative instrument that is cleared through a clearing house and which consists of the number of contracts of said instrument that remain current at a certain point in time, because they have not been redeemed early due to a transaction of the opposite sign or because they have reached their maturity date.

Open repurchase transaction 

Transaction with a fixed period during which the buyer has the option to demand the repurchase of the securities by the initial seller, in the conditions established at the time of trading. Said conditions are usually fixed in terms of internal profitability, regardless of when the option is exercised. These are rare operations that are usually contracted between management companies and their clients.

Operating procedure for same network/other national network/other foreign network 

The different levels of commissions charged and ceded are established based on this criterion, taking into account differences in operating costs between entities adhered to the «same network», to a different network within Spain or with respect to third-party country networks. Exchange rates are established by general agreement. In the «same network» operating procedure, all participants are ceded the same commission in accordance with the agreements reached by the board of directors of the company to which they belong. In a Spanish network other than the proprietary network, the resulting commission will be identical for each network pair, but not necessarily with respect to a third-party network. With regard to the international operating procedure, the commission is determined by the trademark licenser (Visa or MasterCard), whereupon Spanish organisations adhere to framework agreements. The data provided refer to payment cards issued by credit institutions established in Spain. Despite the fact that, in Spain, some commercial establishments and non-banking companies also issue similar instruments, the Banco de España does not have said information.

Optical character recognition (OCR) 

The reading and recognition of characters using an optical device. The numbering on euro banknotes contains optically legible OCR characters.

Optically variable ink 

Euro notes use optically variable ink on the reverse of the €50, €100, €200 and €500 denominations. See "Iridescent ink".

Option 

Financial instrument that gives the owner the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell specific assets (for example, a bond or a stock) at a predetermined price (the strike or exercise price) at or up to a certain future date (the exercise or maturity date).

Order cheque  

A cheque payable to order that can be endorsed (transferred to another person by means of a written declaration by the holder on the document itself).

Organised markets 

Financial markets wherein financial asset exchange is governed by specific regulations, such as market entry conditions, registration of securities, price fixing mechanisms, intermediation costs and terms, contract standardisation, transparency obligation, etc.

Other financial intermediaries 

Company or quasi-company other than an insurance company and pension fund that is engaged mainly in financial Intermediation by incurring liabilities in forms other than currency, deposits and/or close deposit substitutes for deposits from institutional entities other than MFIs. In particular, these are companies that engage primarily in long-term financing, such as companies engaged in financial leasing, securitisation special purpose entities, holding companies, dealers in securities and derivatives (when dealing for their own account) and venture capital companies.

Other investments 

A heading on the balance of payments and on the international investment position which covers all financial operations/positions concerning trade credit, deposits and lending, and other accounts pending collection and payment with non-residents.

Outright transaction 

A single sale or purchase transaction. It can be spot or forward.

Overdraft  

The debit balance of a current account, more commonly known as being "in the red". This can only occur when the institution authorises funds to be drawn of an amount exceeding the existing balance. The interest rate that can be applied to this overdraft is regulated by law and may not lead to an annual percentage rate of more than 2.5 times the legal interest rate of money.

Own account 

An individual record of the debt balances maintained in one's own name in the Book-Entry System.