Neil Birrell: Liquidity? You pay your money, you take your choice

There are a number of phrases being banded around at the moment that need a little bit of clarification. Many of them revolve around the word ‘unlisted' and then have ‘investments' or ‘assets' or ‘securities' added, which creates an enormous universe of possibilities. As an example, the world of derivatives knows few boundaries and mostly falls into two camps - exchange traded derivatives, where the name is a bit of a giveaway, and over the counter or OTC derivatives. These are not traded on a recognised stock exchange but are issued by major banks. Over and above these, there are many o...