arbitrée

English translation: Traded

17:52 Nov 13, 2014
French to English translations [PRO]
Bus/Financial - Investment / Securities / equity component
French term or phrase: arbitrée
Hi

I am translating a newsletter for a managed fund and there is a section which refers to the changes in the asset allocation during the year, such as which asset classes or other funds were bought or sold.

"La poche actions japonaises a été arbitrée au cours de l’année."

Thanks in advance.

Mark
Mark Radcliffe
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:54
English translation:Traded
Explanation:
I have always understood this to mean either bought or sold ie traded.

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Note added at 12 mins (2014-11-13 18:05:18 GMT)
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So within the *poche* (fund or allocation perhaps) certain Japanese shares were sold and others bought to replace, which may have occurred on one occasion or several different occasions.
Selected response from:

Jane Phillips
France
Local time: 11:54
Grading comment
Thanks
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +2Traded
Jane Phillips
4sold
rkillings


Discussion entries: 2





  

Answers


7 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
Traded


Explanation:
I have always understood this to mean either bought or sold ie traded.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 12 mins (2014-11-13 18:05:18 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

So within the *poche* (fund or allocation perhaps) certain Japanese shares were sold and others bought to replace, which may have occurred on one occasion or several different occasions.

Jane Phillips
France
Local time: 11:54
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 12
Grading comment
Thanks

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Duncan Moncrieff: Arbitrage trading isn't just trading... the arbitrage part tells you something about the strategy used.
2 hrs

agree  Edgar Bettridge: probably just means traded here. However, like w sensibilité, your prob is that it wants to sound more "grown up" than that. Perhaps "we exploited arbitrage opportunities with our Japanese equities" would be an appropriate circumlocution here?
5 hrs

agree  rkillings: Absolutely correct. The fund sold the entire position in Japanese assets, and you can't get away with calling it 'arbitrage' in English. Yet! I'll post an answer not for points, but just to explain why.
1 day 11 hrs
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1 day 12 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
sold


Explanation:
This is what 'arbitré' has come to mean, in FR, in an investment/asset management context. Position cashed out, wound down to zero. Traded in favour of other assets, of course, but that does not mean you can get away with calling it 'arbitrage' in EN. Yet!

Lest there be any doubt, consider this recent news item regarding Axa Real Estate:
http://www.valad.fr/fr/news/axa-real-estate-arbitre-un-porte...

Now, how could what Axa did be described as financial arbitrage? It doesn't come close to meeting the classic definition:
<< L'arbitrage est une combinaison de plusieurs opérations permettant de réaliser un bénéfice sans risque (en théorie au moins !) en tirant partie des seules imperfections susceptibles d'apparaître entre différents marchés. L'arbitrage permet d'assurer l'égalité des prix à un même moment. Il assure la fluidité entre les différents marchés et contribue à leur liquidité. >>
http://www.lesechos.fr/finance-marches/vernimmen/definition_...

It's also hard to argue that it meets the looser definition of 'risk arbitrage' ("spéculatif" as opposed to "pur"):
<< L’Arbitrage est une pratique qui consiste à acheter un actif et en vendre simultanément un autre, afin de profiter d’une incohérence de prix entre les deux et générer un profit certain. Les arbitrages sont rendus possibles par les inefficiences du marché. Dans la réalité, les arbitrages sont quasiment inexistants, car les arbitragistes profiteraient des incohérences du marché pour prendre des positions et ainsi resserrer les écarts de prix, jusqu’à les rendre cohérents. On distingue donc l’arbitrage pur (sans risque) de l’arbitrage spéculatif (comportant des risques). >>
http://financedemarche.fr/definition/arbitrage

Well, how about falling back on etymology:
<< Le concept d’arbitrage
Arbitrer = choisir rationnellement entre plusieurs alternatives (arbitrium agere, faire un choix), indépendamment de tout jugement de valeur >>
http://ces.univ-paris1.fr/membre/capelle/Cours/FE/BerkDeMMar...

Bingo! If you think you are choosing rationally among several alternatives -- independently of any value judgment! -- you are committing arbitrage! It's that simple. Never mind if you believe that markets are efficient, which means arbitrage opportunities are nonexistent at equilibrium. If you are AXA Real Estate and investors will pay you more for some assets than you *know* they are worth, it is certainly rational to sell to them. It must be one of those vanishingly rare arbitrage opportunities ...:-)

The economic term that you *can* justifiably use in EN for most of these uses of "arbitrage" in FR is simply 'trade-off', although usually the reader will then expect to see a mention of what replaced what was sold.



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Note added at 1 day12 hrs (2014-11-15 06:24:37 GMT)
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If it helps to wean you away from the cognate word in English, think of the asset manager here as the referee who has to blow the whistle when an investment position has been held too long.

rkillings
United States
Local time: 03:54
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 131
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