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Evidence reported by Geczy, Minton and Schrand (1997) showed that foreign exchange risk had a significant influence on the use of currency derivatives but that interest cover and financial leverage did not. In this study, we suggest that the reason why foreign exchange risk was significant but interest cover and financial leverage were not significant in the evidence was because currency derivatives were used to measure the dependent variable. We verify the validity of this suggestion by testing the influence of interest cover and financial leverage on the use of interest rate derivatives. Our sample comprises 140 firms in the UK, 48 of which use interest rate derivatives. Evidence observed shows that interest cover and financial leverage have a significant influence on the use of interest rate derivatives and that foreign exchange risk does not. We also compare the previous evidence referred to above with our results to determine whether there is a difference between the factors that motivate firms to use currency derivatives or interest rate derivatives. The result of the comparison indicates that dependence on overseas product and capital markets, tax, institutional shareholding and economies of scale are the factors that motivate firms to use currency derivatives. The result also indicates that high interest cover (i.e. interest/profit before interest and tax)or total debt ratio, economies of scale and directors’ shareholding are the factors that motivate firms to use interest rate derivatives.

We reviewed the fiscal 2003 financial statement footnote disclosures of the fifty states and the 100 largest cities in the United States (US) to ascertain the nature and extent of derivative activities among US state and municipal governments. There were 23 state governments and 23 municipal governments that have engaged in such transactions with an aggregate notional value approaching $32 billion. These governments enter into these transactions primarily to hedge the interest rate and cash flow risks associated with their long term variable rate demand obligations and auction rate debt. Our findings also indicate that the widespread implementation of GASB TB 2003 - 1 has improved the quality of state and municipal disclosures with respect to their derivative activities. In June 2008, the GASB issued its Statement 53 which mandates the accounting measurement of these derivative financial instruments at their fair value on the statement of net assets and promises to further improve their footnote disclosure.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how changes in the firm's information disclosure practices impact the way investors process macroeconomic news. Specifically, the authors examine the role of derivative instruments and hedging activities disclosure, as required by SFAS 133, in shaping invertors response to good and bad interest rate news. In addition, the authors examine whether the effect of SFAS 133 on investors' response to good and bad interest rate news varies between firms with higher and lower earnings volatility.

This study uses data on all US public firms over the period from 1990 to 2019. The authors mainly apply multivariate regression and a difference-in-difference approach to test their hypotheses.

The results show a significant decrease in the asymmetry of responses to good and bad interest rate news for users of interest rate derivatives following the adoption of SFAS 133. However, in contrast to this finding, the authors also find that the adoption of SFAS 133 has no impact on the asymmetry of responses to good and bad interest rate news for nonusers of interest rate derivatives. Consistent with the ambiguity theory, the finding suggests that SFAS 133 indeed decreases investors’ uncertainty (ambiguity) about the cash flow implications of changes in the interest rate. The authors also find that the decrease in the asymmetry of response to good and bad interest rate news after the adoption of SFAS 133 is greater for users of interest rate derivatives with higher than lower earnings volatility. This implies that derivatives and hedging activities disclosure, as required by SFAS 133, are more important for firms with higher than lower earnings volatility. The finding is consistent with the idea that investors demand more accounting information when underlying earnings volatility is higher. In a set of additional analyses, the authors find that the effect of SFAS 133 on investors' response to good and bad interest rate news varies depending on the level of analyst coverage and interest rate exposure. Specifically, the authors find that the decrease in the asymmetry of response to good and bad interest rate news after the adoption of SFAS 133 is greater for users of interest rate derivatives with higher interest rate exposure and lower analyst coverage.

The findings of this study help market participants including regulators and standard setters to understand the impact of mandatory disclosure practices on investors' reaction to macroeconomic news. Moreover, the findings of the study help managers to understand the influence firm-specific characteristics (e.g. earnings volatility, analyst coverage and interest rates exposure) on the effectiveness of mandatory derivative instruments and hedging activities disclosure.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first paper to explore how firm-specific information environment affects the way investors process macroeconomic news. This study contributes to the literature by providing the empirical evidence that derivatives instruments and hedging activities, as required by SFAS 133, affect investors' response to good and bad interest rate news. In doing so, the results provide insights about how firm-specific information environment affects the way investors process macroeconomic news. This study shows that the cross-sectional variation in earnings volatility, analysts’ coverage and interest rate exposure affects the impact of SFAS 133 on investors' response to good and bad interest rate news. The findings are not only the notable addition to the existing literature on the topic but also can aid to market participants including policy makers, regulators, standard setters and managers to understand the influence of firm-specific characteristics on the effectiveness of mandatory derivative instruments and hedging activities disclosure. Finally, the findings contribute to the general debate about the effectiveness of SFAS 133 by showing that the adoption of SFAS 133 indeed decreases information ambiguity.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the effect of financial derivatives use on different exposures by comparing domestic firms, domestic multinational corporations (MNCs) and affiliates of foreign MNCs using a unique hand-collected data set of derivatives activities from 881 non-financial firms in eight East Asian countries over the period of 2003-2013.

In this paper, the authors apply a two-stage approach. In the first stage, exposures to country risks, exchange rate and interest rate risks are estimated by using the market model. In the second stage, potential effects of firms’ derivatives use on multifaceted exposures are investigated by carrying out pooled regression model, and panel data regressions with random effect specifications.

The authors provide novel evidence that financial hedging of domestic firms and domestic MNCs reduces exposure to home country risks by 10.91 and 14.42 percent per 1 percent increase in notional derivative holdings, respectively, while affiliates of foreign MNCs fail to mitigate exposure to host country risks. The use of foreign currency and interest rate derivatives by domestic firms and domestic MNCs is effective in alleviating such firms’ exposures to varied degrees, while foreign affiliates’ use of derivatives can only lower interest rate exposures.

The primary theoretical contribution of this study is applying the market model to estimate exposures to home and host country risks. Regarding empirical contributions, the authors provide strong evidence that the use of financial derivatives by domestic firms and domestic MNCs significantly contributes to a decline in exposure to home country risks, and evidence the outperformance of domestic MNCs vis-à-vis domestic firms and foreign affiliates.

Debt-related financial derivative usage by state and local governments became a very salient topic over the last few years in light of the Great Recession and its impacts on the efficacy of these financial instruments. However, there has been a dearth of systematic research on the types and kinds of derivatives state and local governments have actually employed in recent years. While anecdotes of financial derivative usage has grabbed the headlines (such as the case of Jefferson County, Alabama), there has been little research examining the derivative portfolios among states or local governments pre- and post-Great Recession. Using descriptive research, this paper attempts to rectify this gap in the literature for state governments as a means of better understanding how the recent financial crisis has impacted the critical debt management decision to use financial derivatives.

Using data on 5,491 commercial banks in the USA that were operational between 2001 second quarter and 2016 first quarter, the present study aims to examine the impact of derivative securities and its different constituent categories on bank-specific risks and profitability.

The study uses panel data fixed effects model and Bayesian model averaging techniques.

This study finds aggregate derivatives and both interest-rate and exchange-rate derivatives and their different constituent categories to reduce banks insolvency risks for the entire time period and the pre-crisis era. Moreover, aggregate derivatives increase banks’ risk-adjusted return on assets that are driven by exchange-rate derivatives. Such findings are robust to the size of banks, the degree of derivative use and extent of profitability. However, in the post-crisis period, derivatives reduce bank profits.

While the results largely provide evidence of the beneficial effects of derivatives, the findings for the post-crisis period are rather concerning. It underscores a clear need to improve regulation and supervision across different categories of derivatives to ensure the benefits exceed their costs for banks.

Disaggregate analysis of derivatives can not only unmask important differences in how they affect banks risks, profits, etc. but also help banks mitigate risks arising from specific types of derivative securities banks hold. Furthermore, discerning the impact of derivatives on banks risks and profits in the post-crisis era vis-à-vis the pre-crisis one is extremely important to restore a sounder banking system and foster overall financial stability.

This chapter reassesses the economics of interest rate risk management in light of the global financial crisis by developing a derivative-based integrated treatment of interest rate and credit risk interrelation. The decade-long historical data on credit default swap spreads and interest rate swap rates are used as proxy measures for credit risk and interest rate risk, respectively. An elasticity of interest rate risk and credit risk, considered a function of the business cycle phases, maturity of instruments, economic sector, creditworthiness, and other macroeconomic parameters, is investigated for optimizing economic capital. This chapter sheds light on how financial institutions may address hedge strategies against downside risks implementing the proposed derivative-based integrated treatment of interest rate and credit risk assessment allowing for optimization of interest rate swap contracts. The developed framework of integrated interest rate and credit risk management is of special importance for emerging markets heavily dependent on foreign capital as it potentially allows emerging market banks to improve risk management practices in terms of capital adequacy and Basel III rules. Analyzing diversification versus compounding effects, it allows enhancing financial stability through jointly optimizing Pillar 1 and Pillar 2 economic capital.

This paper aims to examine the interest rate risk management (IRRM) practices of UK‐listed companies. In particular, it examines the significance of interest rate risk (IRR) to these companies as well as the risk management practices adopted, including: the methods used to assess the level of IRR and the types of interest rate forecasts used in the process; derivatives activity; and corporate governance, reporting and control.

A series of semi‐structured interviews was conducted with the treasurers of ten UK companies in order to provide an in‐depth analysis of IRRM.

The results of this research suggest that IRR is important to UK companies and that their IRR hedging strategies are geared towards managing shareholder considerations and protecting banking covenants and corporate credit ratings. Moreover, companies rely extensively on financial derivatives to manage their IRR although their corporate governance practices relating to derivatives usage, in some instances, are lacking. Finally, there was a mixed response in relation to the implications of International Accounting Standard (IAS) 39; while some companies fear that the new standard may curb managerial practices, others are in favour of the more stringent reporting requirements.

The research indicates that IRRM is important to UK companies, and especially so for firms that have loan covenants in place. Thus, the interest rate decisions of the Bank of England will have a major effect on UK industry. The study also suggests that the implementation of IAS 39 may have unanticipated consequences on the risk management behaviour of UK firms as the possible reduction in the use of options and exchange‐traded products may result in less efficient IRRM within companies. Finally, the research suggests that corporate governance practices relating to financial risk management need to be improved.

The use of an interview‐based approach facilitates an investigation of the IRRM practices of companies on an individual basis rather than the aggregated analysis offered by most studies in the area. In addition, the paper addresses the more qualitative aspects of IRRM, such as the form and significance of IRR, IRR policy and strategy, and the use of derivative instruments.

Interest rate derivatives (IRDs) are the essential components of financial risk management and are used across various industry sectors. The objective is to analyze the differences in approach to managing interest rate risks between the Indian corporates that execute IRDs and the ones that do not.

Interest rate fluctuations require Indian corporates to hedge their exposures in foreign currency interest rates. This is all the more true for mid-sized corporates because of their balance sheet exposures. Additionally, they may not have the resources to formulate risk management policies. This paper analyzes data collected from financial statements of a diverse set of companies that use IRD and helps in formulating such a strategy.

The results indicate significant differences for some of the parameters like information asymmetry and agency cost between users and non-users of IRDs. The study further suggests causality between users of derivatives and parameters like size, growth and debt.

The study compares users and non-users of IRDs, thereby identifying factors unique to users of IRDs. It also studies causality relations which explain the motivation to do IRDs. Thus, it enables risk managers to use this as a reference point to decide on their strategies.

While there are multiple studies across geographies and sectors including commercial banks in India on the usage of interest rate swaps, this study focuses on Indian mid-tier corporates. Furthermore, the study distinguishes between users and non-users based on financial parameters, which in turn would provide a framework for decision-hedging strategies.

This paper investigates the motivations and practice of nonfinancial firms with regard to using options in their risk management activities.

The paper provides a comprehensive account of the existing empirical evidence and analyzes data on the use of derivatives in general and options in particular by nonfinancial corporations across different underlyings and countries.

Overall, a significant number of 15‐25 per cent of the firms outside the financial sector use options. This reflects the fact that options are very versatile risk management instruments that can be used to hedge various types of exposures, linear as well as nonlinear. In particular, options are a useful component of corporate risk management if exposures are uncertain, e.g. due to price and quantity risk. Depending on the correlation between price and quantity risk, the optimal hedge portfolio consists of a varying combination of linear and nonlinear risk management instruments. Moreover, the accounting treatment as well as liquidity effects can impact the choice of derivative. At the same time, there may be agency‐related incentives to use options because of their role to present dual bets on both direction as well as future volatility of the underlying.

The findings are important with regards to assessing whether the full potential of derivative financial instruments is being realized, since not all firms use these instruments and not all of them use all types and, more importantly, whether they are used appropriately.

The paper provides an up‐to‐date analysis of the motivations for nonfinancial firms to use financial derivatives in general and options in particular as well as comprehensively characterizes the extent of their use in practice.