Glossar

Foreign exchange risk or foreign currency risk, also known as exchange rate risk, is the possibility that currency fluctuations can affect a firm’s expected future operating cash flows, i.e., its future revenues and costs. Exchange rate risk affects all companies with international operations. For companies desiring to take advantage of the growth opportunities from buying and selling in multiple currencies, effectively managing currency risk is an essential task. Foreign exchange risk can be decomposed into: Pricing risk, between the moment a transaction is priced and settled Transaction risk, between the moment a transaction is agreed and settled Accounting risk, between the moment the invoice is created and settled The most effective tool to manage foreign currency risk is to deploy FX hedging programs —and combinations of hedging programs — that allow management to achieve the firm’s goals in a systematic way, meaning: (a) targets must be consistently accomplished over time; (b) the goals of the program must be clearly communicated across the enterprise in as much detail as possible.

A foreign exchange risk management strategy or program is a set of procedures that allows a company to achieve its goals in terms of managing currency risk. It is based on the business specifics of the company, including its pricing parameters, the location of its competitors, the weight of FX in the business. A foreign exchange risk management strategy or program also takes into account the company’s sources of information, IT systems, degree of cash flow visibility, and key decision makers (their risk tolerance, their familiarity with different risk management styles, etc. Once the program is established, a particular FX solution —with partial or complete automation of the processes involved— can be implemented.

A foreign exchange short position in FX forward markets is a commitment to sell a specified amount of one currency against payment in another currency at a fixed future date, known as the value date, at a specified exchange rate. Typically, a foreign exchange short position offsets a corresponding ‘long’ position that a company takes when it agrees to sell goods for delivery at a future date. In effect, such a foreign exchange short position enables the company to convert a long underlying position to a zero net exposed position, with the forward contract receipt cancelling out the corresponding account receivable.

A foreign exchange FX swap is an exchange of debt-service obligations denominated in one currency for the service on an agreed-upon principal amount of debt denominated in another currency. By swapping their future cash-flow obligations, the counterparties are able to replace cash flows denominated in on currency with cash flows in a more desired currency. A company borrowing in GBP at a fixed interest rate can convert its debt into a fully hedged USD liability by exchanging flows with another company with the opposite need. At each payment date, the company will pay a fixed interest rate in USD and receive a fixed rate in GBP. Unlike interest rate swaps, where no exchange of principal takes place, foreign exchange FX swaps include the exchange of principal amounts at the start and at the end of the agreement. Depending on the nature of the corresponding interest rate payments —at a fixed or floating interest rate—, currency swaps can be arranged as ‘fixed-for-fixed’, ‘fixed-for-floating’ or ‘floating-for-floating’.

A forex trading platform is a portal or software interface that allows customers to trade currencies with execution in all major FX instruments, including spot, forwards, NDFs, limit orders, options and swaps. Forex trading platforms provide liquidity through a single dealer (single dealer platform) or multiple dealers (multi-dealer platforms). Forex trading platforms advertise their capacity in terms of displaying transparent pricing, complying with best price execution requirements and providing trade history. Leading forex trading platforms targeting corporate clients offer seamless integration to Treasury Management Systems (TMS) with Straight-Through Processing (STP). Currency Management Automation solutions integrate forex trading platforms, providing connectivity between the ERP/TMS and forex trading platforms in order to automate FX hedging and distribute risks among multiple banks.

A forward contract, in the context of foreign exchange, is a contractual agreement to buy or sell a specified amount of one currency against payment in another currency at a fixed future date, known as the value date.The exchange rate is fixed at the time the contract is entered into. A forward contract effectively ‘locks in’ today’s exchange rate, plus or minus the forward points, i.e. the difference between the forward and the spot rate due to interest rate differentials between currencies. An open forward contract, the funds can be exchanged before the value date. By contrast, when both parties are legally obliged to exchange the funds on the value date, the forward contract is said to be’ closed’ or ‘standard’.

A forward contract opportunity profit exists when the value of a long (short) forward position increases (decreases) prior to contract expiration, reflecting a shift in the underlying spot exchange rate. A speculator might take the opportunity profit and close out the position. However, closing out a forward position taken as a hedge would leave the underlying exposure unprotected. When forward points are not favourable and the firm tolerates some degree of deviation between the budget rate and the spot rate at the time of setting the budget, the budget can be hedged with conditional orders—’take-profit’ if currency markets move in the firm’s favour, and ‘stop-loss’ if markets move against. This program allows the firm to protect a ‘worst-case scenario’ budget rate while delaying hedging as much as possible and still allowing it to profit from possible favourable market moves.

The forward element is a concept introduced by the IFRS 9 standards for general hedge accounting and defines the forward points of a forward contract, to distinguish it from the spot element of the contract. Forward points are the basis points added to or deducted from the current spot rate to determine the forward rate at which the forward contract will be settled on the delivery date. These forward points result from the difference between the interest rates of the two currencies and the duration of the contract. One of the changes under IFRS 9 is the possibility of excluding it from the designation of a forward contract as the hedging instrument and accounting for it as costs of hedging.Under IFRS 9, companies can store the forward element in other comprehensive income (OCI). Changes in the fair value of the forward points, thus, will not affect the profit and loss, thereby increasing the effectiveness of the hedging relationship and mitigating income statement volatility.

Forward points express the difference in price between currency rates for two different delivery and payment dates, usually spot and forward (although it could be two forward rates with different maturity). Forward points mainly reflect the interest rate differential between two currencies as reflected in the Interest Parity Theorem. They are expressed in pips. Forward points play an important role in pricing and in FX hedging. They are said to be ‘in favour of’ (‘against’) a firm that sells (buys) in currencies that trade at a forward premium and/or buys (sells) in currencies that trade at a forward discount. Hedging with currency forwards allows firms to ‘capture’ the financial benefit of favourable forward points. If forward points are ‘against’, a variety of automated hedging tools and programs can help mitigate their impact by delaying hedging as much as possible.

The forward point premium is the additional value of a given currency against another, when the forward and spot rates are compared. For example, if spot JPY-USD is 0.009189 and the corresponding 180-day forward rate is 0.009360, JPY trades at a 171-point premium. The forward premium can also be calculated in percentage terms. In this case, the annualised 180-day JPY premium is 3.72% = [(9360-9189)/9189] x 360/180. The forward premium reflects the interest rate differential between USD and JPY. In this example, short-term interest rates are lower in JPY than in USD, which explains the forward premium of JPY. The forward rate makes it impossible for arbitrageurs to take advantage of interest rates differentials without risk.

A full convertible currency is the monetary unit of a country where holders of the currency have the right to convert it freely at the going exchange rate into any other currency. A currency is deemed to be fully convertible if it fulfills the following three criteria: it can be used for all purposes without restrictions; it can be exchanged for another currency without limitations; it can be exchanged at a given exchange rate. A fully convertible currency is the monetary unit of a country where holders of the currency have the right to convert it freely at the going exchange rate into any other currency. A currency is said to be fully convertible if it fulfills one or more of the following three criteria about usability, exchangeability and market value: it can be used for all purposes without restrictions; it can be exchanged for another currency without limitations; It can be exchanged at a given exchange rate.

The functional currency is the currency of the primary economic environment in which a company operates. It is the currency in which a company primarily generates and expends its cash. In most cases, the functional currency is also the firm’s ‘accounting currency’ or ‘reporting currency’, i.e. the monetary unit used by a firm to record its transactions and to present its financial statements. A company can decide to present its financial statements in a currency different from its functional currency, for example when preparing a consolidated report for its parent in a foreign country. While a company can choose its accounting currency, it cannot change its functional currency.