Glosario

El término prima a plazo, o “forward Premium” en inglés, se refiere a la diferencia positiva entre el valor de una divisa en el mercado al contado (spot) y el tipo al que se cambia mediante un seguro de cambio o contrato forward.

En un seguro de cambio, el precio que paga el cliente a vencimiento es el resultado del tipo de cambio en el momento de la firma del contrato al que se suman los puntos forward, calculados según el diferencial de tipos de interés de las dos divisas.

Esta es la fórmula para calcular los puntos forward de la prima a plazo:

Esto puede tener dos consecuencias:

1-    La divisa que el cliente quiere comprar tiene un tipo de interés más alto que la que quiere vender. En este caso, los puntos forward irán a su favor y, por lo tanto, el cliente recibirá un tipo de cambio más conveniente que comprando la divisa al contado el día de la firma del seguro de cambio. Esta diferencia es lo que se conoce como prima a plazo.

2-    La divisa que el cliente quiere comprar tiene un tipo de interés más bajo que la que quiere vender. En este caso, se aplica un descuento a plazo. A vencimiento recibirá un tipo de cambio menos conveniente tipo de cambio al contado el día de la firma del seguro de cambio.

Under Hedge Accounting, a fair value hedge is a hedge of the exposure to changes in the fair value of a recognized asset or liability or unrecognized firm commitment, attributable to a particular risk and could affect profit or loss. (The other main type of hedge is the Cash Flow hedge).

Fedwire is the abbreviation for the United State’s Federal Reserve Wire Network, a real-time gross settlement funds transfer system that settles funds electronically between any of the United States banks registered in the Federal Reserve System. Each transaction is processed individually and settled upon receipt via a highly secure electronic network. Settlement of funds is immediate, final and irrevocable.

Financial statement translation is the process through which a firm restates, —in the currency in which a company presents its financial statements—, all assets, liabilities, revenues, expenses, gains and losses that are denominated in foreign currencies. This process of financial statement translation results in accounting FX gains and losses. There are three main financial statement translation methods available. With the current/noncurrent method, all the foreign exchange denominated current assets and liabilities are translated at the current exchange rate, while non-current assets and liabilities are translated at the historical exchange rate. With the monetary/nonmonetary method, monetary items such as cash, accounts receivable and payable, are translated at the current exchange rate, while nonmonetary items (inventory, fixed assets) are translated at the historical exchange rate. Finally, with the current rate method, all balance sheet and income statement items are translated at the current exchange rate. No matter what financial statement method is used, the resulting FX gains and losses are paper only, and rarely affect cash flows.

Fintech es un término formado por los vocablos ingleses “finance” y “technology”; tecnología y finanzas. Se aplica a aquellas empresas del sector financiero que se sirven de las últimas tecnologías para ofrecer productos y servicios pioneros e innovadores.

El concepto fintech ha adquirido gran relevancia en los últimos años y sus representantes han crecido exponencialmente, tanto en número como en cuota de mercado. Por ejemplo, la inversión global en empresas fintech se cuadruplicó desde los 3 millones de dólares en 2013 hasta los 12 millones en 2014.

La diversidad de servicios financieros que ofrecen las empresas fintech es amplia y se ha extendido con rapidez, desde los servicios de crédito hasta transferencias, gestión de inversiones y de capital.

Uno de los elementos característicos de las empresas fintech genuinas es la transparencia, a través de la cual buscan alterar el statu quo de un sector dominado por organizaciones tradicionales y en la mayor parte de los casos, de bajo desarrollo tecnológico.

El fuerte avance que ha experimentado el sector fintech y su crecimiento dentro del sector financiero tradicional tiene su raíz en los rápidos avances tecnológicos que han hecho posible esta innovación, pero no exclusivamente en este punto.

La crisis financiera global del 2007-09 ha tenido gran parte de la responsabilidad del crecimiento del sector fintech, principalmente debido a la restricción del crédito, que obligó a empresas y particulares a buscar vías alternativas de financiación, lo que contribuyó a crear uno de los servicios destacados de la industria fintech.

Estos son los principales servicios que ofrece el sector:

1. Transferencias de dinero
2. Financiación de capital
3. Créditos peer-to-peer
4. Tecnología móvil de pagos
5. Plataformas de trading e inversión

Hoy en día están surgiendo asociaciones de empresas fintech en los países en los que más desarrollado está el sector, con la finalidad de impulsar la inversión y la popularidad de sus servicios.

Fintech companies provide financial services using technological innovation. The rise of Fintech was made possible by the convergence of technological development and changes in financial regulation.Fintech companies essentially offer alternatives to traditional banking in services such as equity funding, lending, payments and foreign currency trading. What sets these new companies apart is their use of technologically sophisticated methods and an approach focused on the client, rather than on short-term profit.With that philosophy, the Fintech industry is challenging the traditional finance sector, which has long been dominated by banks, followed by brokers, wealth management firms, asset portfolio management firms and financial advisors.

A flexible forward contract, also known as an open forward contract, is a contractual agreement to buy or sell a specified amount of one currency against payment in another currency on or before a specified date in the future known as 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 ‘fixed’, ‘closed’ or ‘standard’. In a flexible forward contract, the funds can be exchanged in one go (“outright”). Alternatively, several payments may be made over the course of the contract provided that the entire amount is settled by the maturity date. For example, a US company knows it will have to pay a number of invoices from a supplier based in the Eurozone during next year. I can decide to purchase a 12-month open USD-EUR forward contract, allowing it to make drawdowns to pay the supplier in euros, as and when necessary, over the course of the year.

A flexible hedging strategy or program is the hedging of future FX-denominated cash flows that result from contractually binding transactions, whether or not the corresponding receivables/payables have been created. In a flexible hedging program, forwards are booked against SO/POs (sales orders/purchase orders) and/or AR/AP (accounts receivable/accounts payable). Flexible hedging strategies or programs call for constant vigilance, as new orders keep on arriving. Their effective implementation is carried out with the help of Currency Management Automation solutions that provide end-to-end automation. On the opposite side of the spectrum, static hedging —where a big hedge is taken at the start of the period and is not reactivated until this period is over— is implemented once. Flexible hedging strategies or programs are particularly well suited for companies with low forecast accuracy where an FX rate is systematically part of its pricing parameters. Whether their pricing is frequently updated (bed banks in the travel industry) or not (ecommerce companies), these firms are mostly compelled to hedge on a transaction-by-transaction basis.

A floating exchange rate regime lets currencies find their level in the foreign exchange market. Contrary to a fixed exchange rate regime, where a currency is pegged to another at a fixed rate, exchange rates in a floating exchange rate regime are determined by the interplay of supply and demand. The current floating exchange rate regime has been in place since the 1970s. Some governments intervene, through their central banks, to manage the value of their currency relative to others in order to avoid losing competitiveness. China’s exchange rate regime, for example, has undergone gradual reform since the move away from a fixed exchange rate in 2005. The renminbi has become more flexible over time but is still carefully managed, and depth and liquidity in the onshore FX market is relatively low compared to other countries with floating exchange rates. Gradually, China is allowing a greater role for market forces within the existing regime, and greater two-way flexibility of the exchange rate.

Foreign currency measurement is the accounting method used by an organisation to measure foreign transactions in their functional currency.International businesses that pay suppliers in foreign currencies and/or sell their products in overseas markets need to translate those costs and revenues into their functional currency in their financial statements.Since currencies fluctuate continuously, these companies are subject to transaction risks. The variations of the exchange rate in the different moments when foreign currencies are exchanged, generate differences in the amount of functional currency needed to pay suppliers (in the case of costs) or received from sales in overseas markets. These differentials are called transaction gains and losses and are included in the company's net income statements.

Foreign currency monetary items are FX-denominated assets and liabilities representing a claim to receive, or an obligation to pay, a fixed amount of foreign currency units. Examples of foreign currency monetary items are FX-denominated cash positions, accounts payable and receivable, and long-term debt. By contrast, non-monetary foreign currency items include inventory, fixed assets and long-term investments. The distinction between foreign currency monetary and non-monetary items is relevant in terms of the different techniques used in FX translation methods. With the monetary/nonmonetary method, monetary items such as cash, accounts receivable and payable, are translated at the current exchange rate, while nonmonetary items (inventory, fixed assets) are translated at the historical exchange rate.