L
LAN - local area network (the linking of computers within a limited geographical area in order to share and transfer files)
LBO - Leveraged Buyout (takeover of a company using the acquired firm's assets and cash flow to obtain financing)
L/C - Letter of Credit (credit instrument issued by a bank guaranteeing payment on behalf of its customer to a beneficiary third party, for a stated period of time, when certain conditions are met - often used in export/import business where a bank will guarantee payment of obligations up to a certain amount)
LCM - lower of cost or market (generally accepted accounting principle that inventory should be valued at the lower of the cost to produce it, the cost to repurchase it, or its market value)
LCU - Letters to Credit Unions (formal bulletins published by the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) and sent to credit union boards of directors, used to share information, announce new policies, and provide guidance for credit unions and staff)
LDC - Less Developed Country (country whose state of economic development is characterized by a low national income, high rate of population growth annd unemployment, and a dependence on commodity exports)
LEI - Leading Economic Indicators (series of indicators that tend to predict future changes in economic activity)
LESOP - Leveraged Employee Stock Ownership Plan (Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) in which employee pension plans and profit-sharing plans borrow money to purchase stock in the company or issue convertables exchangeable for common stock)
LIBID - London Interbank Bid Rate (key interest rate at which major banks in the London Interbank Market are willing to pay to borrow funds from each other)
LIBOR - London Interbank Offered Rate (the rate major banks in London are willing to accept to lend to each other - used to determine the interest rate charged to creditworthy borrowers)
LIMEAN - London Interbank Median Average Rate (midpoint between the bid rate (LIBID) and the offered rate (LIBOR) for London banks in the Eurocurrency market)
LIN - loan identification number
LLC - Limited Liability Company (type of business organization which provides liability protection from claims and lawsuits, like a corporation, but is treated like a partnership for tax purposes)
LLP - Limited Liability Partnership (a form of organization in which the individual partners are protected from the liabilities of the other partners)
LME - London Metal Exchange (principal-to-principal market for base metals trading)
LOC - Letter of Credit (credit instrument or document issued by a bank guaranteeing payment of a customer's drafts up to a stated amount for a specified period of time)
LP - linear programming (mathematical approach to the problem of allocating limited resources among competing activities in an optimal manner)
LPO - Loan Production Office (banking office that takes loan applications and arranges financing for corporations and small businesses, but does not accept deposits)
LRA - lagged reserve accounting (accounting procedures used to determine a bank's weekly cash reserve by the average of cash reserves of the preceding two weeks)
Ltd - Limited Company (form of business most common in Britain - equivalent to a corporation in the U.S.)
LTD - long-term debt (debt maturing in more than 1 year)
LTOB - loans-to-one borrower (limits on the amount of credit a bank can extend to one borrower)
LTV - Loan To Value (ratio of money borrowed to fair market value, usually in reference to real property)