Hedging Currency Risk at Aifs

The goal of this case is to help Sandra Meyer develop a presentation to address Henry Bosse’s concerns about international investments. The general idea is to demonstrate to Henry the benefits of international diversification, if any. To achieve this goal, you need to have a view on 1) the impact of foreign exchange (FX) rates on the return and risk of international investments, and 2) the impact of having more assets on the return and risk of the investment portfolio To form views on these two points, answer the following questions: I. The impact of FX rates on the risk and return of foreign investments 1a) Using data in Appendix A, calculate the

The current 50% hedging policy executed at the fund level has served well for OTPP for the past ten years, contributing to the fund’s positive returns. The FX Hedge Program not only has minimized the downside risk, but has also limited the upside potential. If OTPP decided not to implement a hedging program in 1996, they would have lost about $983 million CAD over the ten year period (1995-2005) which is valued at 2% of the portfolio. With the hedging program, OTPP was able to reduce the overall loss to about $469 million CAD, but also limited the gain from the depreciation of the pound.(Exhibit 1) Hedging is an excellent short-term risk minimizing strategy for long term investors, sustaining a continual payout of pensions during volatile times in OTPP’s invested currency markets. Currently, approximately 21% of OTPP’s net assets are exposed to foreign currency risk. Consequently, it is essential that OTPP maintain a risk management program of hedging, as slight currency fluctuations can significantly affect the value of the fund. Similarly to continual renewal of swaps, hedging can be a very expensive risk management strategy.

General Motors Corporation, the world’s largest automaker, has an extensive global outreach, which places the firm in competition with automakers worldwide, and subjects itself to significant exchange rate exposure. In particular, despite most of its revenues and production being derived from North America, depreciating yen rates pose problems for the firm indirectly through economic exposure. While GM possesses ‘passive’ hedging strategies for balance sheet and income statement exposures, management has not yet quantified or recognized solutions to possible losses from the indirect competitive exposure it now shared with Japanese automakers in the U.S import

There are lots of methods to solve the changes in foreign currency and interest rates issue, however, derivative financial instruments are the major tunes Nike enterprise has used to tackle this issue. Despite the fact that this approach does not wipe out comprehensively the risk of foreign exchange, Nike enterprise still utilize it to minimize or delay the negative consequences. Specifically, the derivative financial instruments comprise embedded derivatives, interest rate swap, and foreign exchange forwards and options contracts (Nike annual report, 2014).

Foreign Exchange Risk Management: HSE’s results are affected by the exchange rates between various currencies, including the Canadian and U.S. dollar. HSE enters into short-dates foreign exchange contracts to

IntroductionThis report is to check the hedging strategy that was used and lead to the huge loss of CITIC Pacific Limited and point out the importance of managing foreign exchange exposure through select appropriate hedging strategies. The huge loss of CITIC Pacific Limited and its cause is discussed in the first part. The importance of hedging and the tools of hedging are respectively reviewed in part two and part three. Finally, suggestions are given out on how to design proper hedging strategies for different enterprises.

* Refer sheet “25000 Sales” for cost incurred and Gain/loss for AIFS for different scenarios and actual sales volume of 25000.

Dozier can capture a profit through both of the hedging strategies albeit it being smaller than the target six percent originally built into the bid. An un-hedged position is unacceptable due to the firm’s recent financial difficulties - it is critical that Dozier profits from this initial venture into this new market. While leaving the receivable un-hedged alternative does offer the greatest potential profit at the current prevailing FX rates, these profits are not guaranteed (see appendix for profit/loss possibilities given GBP/USD FX fluctuations). Given the importance of locking in a profit and the uncertainty of the GBP/USD future exchange rates, we recommend Dozier hedges the £1,057,500 receivable by exchange rate in

The forward and money-market hedges are discussed in detail below. At this point, it is sufficient to acknowledge that these financial contracts do mitigate the risk. Other suggested contracts are beyond the scope of this case, but should be acknowledged.

Risk is an inherent aspect of every business activity and its effective management can determine the success or failure of a company. Companies dealing with foreign currencies are at a risk of significant losses caused by fluctuations in the exchange rates. The American Institute for Foreign Study (AIFS) operates in more than one currency and this exposes it to currency risks. The company incurs its expenses in dollars but receives its revenue in other currencies and, therefore, adverse fluctuations might result in huge losses to the company. The company employs a hedging strategy as its core approach to risk management. Hedging involves entering into contracts that lock up exchange rates in future so that a company obtains its revenues or makes payments in constant exchange rates despite fluctuations. By hedging its currency risks, AIFS is able to avoid losses that result from huge fluctuations in currency exchange rates. However, the company has to pay a commission for the hedging as compensation to entities that assume this risk. AIFS has employed two primary methods of hedging: currency forward contracts and currency options. Forward contracts are agreements that give an entity a right to exchange specified amounts of one currency for another at pre-determined exchange rates in a future date. On the other hand, options give the holder a right but not an obligation to engage in

After conduction an analysis, it shows that the fluctuations in exchange rate could cause a lot of trouble for GM. Hence, it reverts back to the issue of GM’s expectations of the future spot exchange rate. From this, they can then determine which hedging method is more

Those expenses act as a natural hedge that decreases the total exposure of Aspen to foreign exchange risk. For its revenues and expenses, after “natural hedging”, the overall exposure of Aspen to foreign exchange risk is $9,484,000, with Belgium

The second is to combat the unfavourable currency movement by reducing the negative impact of currency exposure (Eiteman et al, 2009). This can be understood by the fact that for an organisation who is involved in international business, exposure to currency fluctuation accounts for the dramatic variance of the organisation’s income and expenses (Cusatis & Thomas, 2005). It is found that forward contracts are normally used to eliminate the variance involved in contractual commitments while option-type contracts are used to reduce the impact caused by uncertain foreign currency denominated future cash flows (Bodnar & Gebhardt, 1999). As in most cases, payment and experiences are contractual obligations, forward contracts are more popular, but for big organisations who have a bigger number of uncertain payments received from overseas customers, options can be also commonly seen (Bodnar & Gebhardt, 1999). In general, an organisation that has a higher level of foreign pretax income is more likely to benefit from hedging in this case (Geczy, et al, 1997).

If the new spot rate is above 1.0847(1.06470.02), the option is out-of-the money and it dominates the money market hedge (because when the euro is sufficiently strong, then the free disposal (the right to throw away the put) of the out-of-the money option becomes very valuable). The new spot rate is so attractive that you can pay for the (unused) put option and still do better than the money market forward rate. e) You learn that UBS Warburg expects the European currency to hit 1.15 by the end of the year. You strongly believe in UBS Warburgs forecast, what hedging plan would work best for you 3 Given that you strongly believe in the euro appreciation beyond 1.0847 USD/EUR and you have a receivable in six months, the option hedge would be the most profitable of the plans according to your expectations.  QUESTION 3 - 15 points In the US Semiconductor (USS) case, the group controllers of USS suggested that for the translation of a new UK

Great Eastern Toys is a company in Hong Kong that exports a huge percent of its total sales to the North American and European markets and hence is exposed to currency risk. Previously, the company was occupied with expanding their business and the company 's management had never given much attention to currency risk until their recent meeting with their banker. The banker pointed out that the depreciation of the European currencies during the previous two years had resulted in a substantial loss of income. The company 's management was indeed convinced that they should begin to devote more time and manage their currency position. In this report, we are going to explore the different options for Great Eastern Toys to hedge