Glossary

VAT is a tax on spending, collected in instalments along the supply chain. Each business charges it on sales, deducts what it paid on purchases, and passes the net amount to the government.

Value at Risk is the loss that a portfolio is not expected to exceed over a set period at a stated confidence level, such as 99% over one day.

Vendor due diligence is the review of a prospective supplier's capability, financial strength, controls, compliance record and ethics before a contract is signed, to decide whether the risk is acceptable.

Vertical restraints are limits that firms at different levels of a supply chain, such as a manufacturer and its distributors, place on each other, for example on resale prices, territories or exclusivity.

A VASP is a company that runs a crypto exchange, wallet, custody or transfer service for customers, and so falls under anti-money laundering rules much as a bank does.

Virtual assets are crypto-style tokens that hold value on a digital ledger and can be bought, sold or sent online as payment or investment. Official money in digital form and tokens already regulated as securities are left out.

Vulnerability management is the governed, repeating process of finding weaknesses in systems and software, ranking them by risk, fixing or otherwise controlling them, and checking that the fix worked.

Vulnerable customers are people who, because of their circumstances, are more likely to suffer harm or less able to look after their own interests when dealing with a firm.