What is financial capital?

Learn what financial capital means

Capital is a catch-all term that’s used to describe a person or organisation’s wealth. It could be cash, assets or a mixture of the two.

In the business world, capital is often associated with money that is being used to invest or the assets and funds that a specific holds.

There are three types of capital that are key most businesses.

Debt capital


In simple terms, debt capital is borrowed money.

When a company borrows money from individuals, credit card companies or banks, they are acquiring debt capital.

Debt capital must be paid off at specified intervals with interest rates.

Whether or not a company can obtain debt capital will usually be decided by its prior credit history. This will also generally define the terms under which the company receives any debt capital.

Equity capital


Equity capital is a fancy way of describing money that a company receives from investments.

A company will acquire equity capital via public or private channels.

If a firm receives money from a private investor, they are acquiring private equity capital.

If a firm goes public and lists shares on a stock exchange, it will raise public equity capital from any investors that choose to buy its shares.


Working capital


Working capital is the money that a company uses to meet its short-term obligations. That might be paying office rent, salaries or debt payments.

Companies will generally have to hold liquid assets - cash or assets that can be easily converted into cash - to use as their working capital.


More terms

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Income from an investment as a percentage of its current price.
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Gilts where the dividends and principal repayments are fixed in nominal terms. This is as opposed to an index-linked gilt where the dividends and principal repayments are related to movements in the Retail Prices Index (RPI).
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Holding Period Return

The amount of money generated by an asset during the time that it was held by an investor..
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Money weighted rate of return

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Running yield

The annual interest payment (dividend) divided by the current market price of a bond.
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After-hours trading

Trading outside of a stock exchange's opening hours.
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Rate of Return

Profit on an investment, expressed as a percentage of the investment.
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W-8BEN Form

Non-US individuals and businesses may have to file this form for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the US tax authority.
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American Depository Receipt (ADRs)

Tradeable assets that let Americans invest in overseas stocks using US laws and dollars.
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