DERIVATIVES AND HEDGING TECHNIQUES Flashcards
Why is there a need to manage foreign exchange risk?
-Reduce risk of future earnings
-Protect the MNC against adverse price movements (for a specified time period)
- Protecting profitability
Strategic tool in order to adjust future transactions in times of adverse price movements.
FOREX RISK
Transaction risk
What are the approaches to managing exchange rate risk?
- Do nothing
- Invoicing in the home currency
- Identifying net transaction exposure (matching and netting)
- Leading and lagging
- Money market hedging
- Forward exchange contracts
Foreign currency derivatives
- Currency futures
- Currency options
- Currency swaps
DOING NOTHING
-Passive strategy - very risky
-Active strategy
Equilibrium / average position lead to a neutral impact
No transaction costs
Low frequency/ low value transactions
INVOICING IN THE HOME CURRENCY
Require customers and suppliers to use your home currency to pay bills in the home currency.
- Almost eliminates foreign currency risk
- May be unacceptable to trading partners.
LEADING AND LAGGING
Adjusting the timing of a payment request or disbursement to reflect expectations about future currency movements.
- Lead payments - payments in advance
- Lagged payments - delaying payments beyond their due date
MATCHING
This concept focuses on “matching” receipts and payments in the same currency
NETTING
An approach that is used to settle inter-company balances.
MONEY MARKET HEDGING
Approach to hedge against foreign exchange risk.
-Assume we have a future payment to make, the idea is to avoid future exchange rate uncertainty by making the exchange at today’s spot rate.
e.g. borrow in home currency today and immediately convert to foreign currency and place the money in a deposit account. Receive interest and pay creditor in future from foreign bank account.
Repay loan in home currency.
Assume we are an exporter and will receive a known payment in foreign currency in the future. The idea is to avoid future exchange rate uncertainty by making the exchange at today’s spot rate
Money market hedging example:
A UK firm owes HK$3.5m in three months time. The exchange rate is HK$
7.5509 – 7.5548. The company can borrow in GBP for 3 months at 8.6%
p. a. and can deposit HK$ for 3 months at 10% p. a. What is the cost in
GBP with a money market hedge and what effect forward rate would this
represent?
Step 1: Determine the amount of HK$ required in 3 months’ time.
Step 2: Evaluate how much the required amount of HK$ will cost in GBP.
Step 3: Calculate the amount that will have to be repaid
Step 4: Calculate the effective rate of exchange
What is the effective exchange rate?
Interest rate for 3 months:
3/12 * 8.6% = 2.15% (to borrow in GBP)
3/12 * 10% = 2.5% (to borrow in HKD)
Need to deposit enough HKD so that the total plus interest will be our liability (HK$3.5m)
Deposit:
3,500,000 / (1+0.025) = HK$3,414,634 - what we need in HK$ for interest rate
How much will this cost in GBP?
Exchange rate = 7.5509
3,414,634/7.5509 = £452.215 - equivalent in GBP
£452,215 (1.0215) = £461,938
The creditor will be paid from the HK$ account and the company will pay £461,938 in £.
FORWARD
A forward contract is an agreement between a firm and a commercial bank to exchange a specified amount of a currency at a specified exchange rate (forward rate) at a specified date in the future.
Can buy and sell foreign currency.
Example of a forward contract:
Freeze PLC is based in Birmingham and will need 1mil Singapore
dollars in 90 days to purchase imports. Spot rate: £0.35 per
Singapore dollar (S$).
Doesn’t have S$ at present.
Arrange a forward to lock in the price of S$1mil 90 days from now
to avoid exchange rate exposure.
Risk has been completely removed.
Forward agreement - terms £0.38 : S$1
At the spot rate: £0.35:S$1
S1$mil * 0.35 = £350,000
Liability occurs in 90 days so risk is we have some movement in the exchange rate.
S$1million * 0.38 = £380,000 - locked this rate
Example of a forward contract 2:
This can sometimes lead to an opportunity cost:
Freeze PLC again
If original agreement was £0.38 to S$1 in 90 days
= S$1mil * 0.38 per S$ = £380,000.
If spot price in 90 days = £0.37 to S$1
= S$1mil * 0.37 per S$ = £370,000
£10,000 opportunity cost
DERIVATIVES
Derivatives are financial instruments whose returns are derived from those of another financial instrument.
CASH/SPOT MARKETS
The sale is made, the payment is remitted and the good or security is usually remitted immediately or shortly after.
DERIVATIVE MARKETS
Contractual instrument returns depend on the performance of the underlying asset.
FUTURES
A futures contract between two parties to buy or sell an asset at a particular price agreed today, for delivery at some point in the future.
Currency futures contracts specify a standard volume of a particular instrument to be exchanged on a specific settle date at a specific exchange rate.
Can be to buy or sell foreign currency.
Used by MNCs to hedge foreign currency positions
Traded by speculators
FUTURE CONTRACTS
Exchange traded
Buyers and sellers do not transact directly with each other
Trading made possible by the standardised nature of the contracts.
SHORT POSITION
A trader takes a short position when selling a futures contract, which corresponds to selling the currency forward.