Guide to Analysing Companies

Euro Overnight Index Average
A weighted average of the rate at which all unsecured lending
takes place in the euro zone. The rate is calculated by the eu-
ropean central bank at the end of each trading day from
data supplied to it by a panel of reporting banks, which is why
it is called an overnight average. Eonia, as it is known, is used as
a benchmark for pricing transactions in the capital
markets throughout the euro zone and anywhere that
derivatives denominated in euros are bought and sold. It
was introduced at the same time as euribor, the benchmark
used by the money markets, following the euro’s introduction
in January 1999 as a notional currency that could be exchanged
between banks and financial institutions. 
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
An institution owned by governments and international organ-
isations which was set up to channel aid to eastern Europe.
E
EUROPEAN BANK FOR REC0NSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT
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Created largely on the initiative of the European Union, the Eu-
ropean Bank for Reconstruction and Development (ebrd) has
40 member countries. It opened its doors for business (in
London) in 1991 with plans to grant 40% of its loans to eastern
Europe’s public sectors and 60% to the growing private sectors.
In all, ebrd lends money to around 27 countries from central
Europe to central Asia and is the region’s largest single investor.
Large capital projects are usually the beneficiaries of its cheap
loans, for example, the restructuring of the Slovak railway, an
oilfield in the Arctic Circle jointly developed by the Russians
and Finns, and a dam in Kazakhstan.
European Central Bank
The European Union’s central bank and guardian of the euro.
The European Central Bank (ecb) is the successor to the euro-
pean monetary institute and operates as a sort of Euro-
Fed, a European version of the federal reserve System.
Like the Fed, the ecb is made up of representatives from eu
member countries’ central banks, which form the European
System of Central Banks (escd). The ecb’s main duty is to
maintain price stability, a job that many think it often takes
too literally, especially when the largest economies within the
eu need stimulating.