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1 – 10 of over 7000This paper aims to identify how non-financial firms manage their interest rate (IR) exposure. IR risk is complex, as it comprises the unequal cash flow and fair value risk. The…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to identify how non-financial firms manage their interest rate (IR) exposure. IR risk is complex, as it comprises the unequal cash flow and fair value risk. The paper is able to separate both risk types and investigate empirically how the exposure is composed and managed, and whether firms increase or decrease their exposure with derivative transactions.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper examines an unexplored regulatory environment that contains publicly reported IR exposure data on the firms’ exposures before and after hedging. The data were complemented by indicative interviews with four treasury executives of major German corporations, including two DAX-30 firms, to include professional opinions to validate the results.
Findings
The paper provides new empirical insights about how non-financial firms manage their interest rate exposure. It suggests that firms use hedging instruments to swap from fixed- to floating-rate positions predominantly in the short-to medium-term, and that 63 [37] per cent of IR firm exposure are managed using risk-decreasing [risk-increasing/-constant] strategies.
Practical implications
Interviewed treasury executives suggest that the advanced disclosures benefit various stakeholders, ranging from financial analysts and shareholders to potential investors through more meaningful analyses on firms’ risk management activities. Further, the treasury executives indicate that the new data granularity would enable firms to carry out unprecedented competitive analyses and thereby benchmark and improve their own risk management.
Originality/value
The paper is the first empirical study to analyze the interest rate activities of non-financial firms based on actually reported exposure data before and after hedging, rather than using proxy variables. In addition, the new data granularity enables a separate analysis of the cash flow and fair value risk to focus on the non-financial firms’ requirements.
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The purpose of this paper is to empirically analyse how different exchange rate regimes affect the links between monetary fundamentals and exchange rates in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to empirically analyse how different exchange rate regimes affect the links between monetary fundamentals and exchange rates in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the Pedroni method for panel cointegration, mean group and pooled mean group and the panel vector autoregressive technique, this study empirically investigates whether monetary fundamentals impact exchange rates similarly in both regimes. Thus, the author acquires needed and credible empirical data.
Findings
The result suggests that the impact is dissimilar. In the floating regime, an increase in relative money supply and relative real output depreciates and appreciates the nominal exchange rate in the long run whereas in the non-floating regime, the evidence is mixed. Thus, exchange rates bear a theoretically consistent relationship with monetary fundamentals across SSA countries with floating regimes but fails under non-floating regimes. This provides evidence that regime choice is important if the relationship between monetary fundamentals and exchange rates in SSA are to be theoretically consistent.
Originality/value
This study empirically incorporates the dissimilarities in exchange rate regimes in a panel framework and study the links between exchange rates and monetary fundamentals. The focus on how exchange rate regimes might alter the equilibrium relationships between exchange rates and monetary fundamentals in SSA is a pioneering experiment.
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Arie Beenhakker and Faramarz Damanpour
For many years interest‐rate and currency swaps have been used by multinational corporations' management as a hedge against unforeseen contingencies in the capital market…
Abstract
For many years interest‐rate and currency swaps have been used by multinational corporations' management as a hedge against unforeseen contingencies in the capital market. However, the current literature does not contain specific decision‐making criteria or models for use by company management to decide whether a swap should be preferred to alternative forms of obtaining debt in the capital market. This research presents models and criteria to be used by management in the decision‐making process to obtain a desirable swap transaction in a unified international capital market.
A rational expectations model estimated for the UK is used to simulate macroeconomic policy under fixed and floating exchange rates. Under fixed rates inflation and interest rates…
Abstract
A rational expectations model estimated for the UK is used to simulate macroeconomic policy under fixed and floating exchange rates. Under fixed rates inflation and interest rates are effectively set internationally; monetary policy only affects the reserves even in the short run and cyclical variations in fiscal policy are able to influence output in a fairly standard manner. Under floating rates, fiscal and monetary policy have rapid impacts on inflation and interest rates producing unfamiliar financial effects on expenditure which eliminate or reserve the conventional output multipliers. Stabilisation policy is still feasible but has to take account of these effects.
Corporate treasurers, in managing their foreign currency payables and receivables, are continually forced to decide whether to deal forward or to wait and to deal spot in the…
Abstract
Corporate treasurers, in managing their foreign currency payables and receivables, are continually forced to decide whether to deal forward or to wait and to deal spot in the future. The forward market provides a market where, for a price, the risk of adverse foreign exchange rate fluctuations can be sold off to professional risk bearers. The last ten years have seen considerable turmoil in the foreign exchange markets. In this article I want to examine several issues. Firstly, how do you measure the cost of forward cover under flexible rates and has there been any change in the cost of cover of flexible compared with fixed rates? Secondly, to what extent is the forward market a reliable forecaster of future spot rates? Thirdly, what, if any, are the corporate hedging implications of the behaviour of the forward market?
Louis J. Stewart and Carol A. Cox
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…
Abstract
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.
This paper provides a structural model to value startup companies and determine the optimal level of research and development (R&D) spending by these companies.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper provides a structural model to value startup companies and determine the optimal level of research and development (R&D) spending by these companies.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper describes a new variant of float-the-money options, which can act as a financial instrument for financing R&D expenses for a specific time horizon or development stage, allowing the investor to share in the startup's value appreciation over that duration. Another innovation of this paper is that it develops a structural model for evaluating optimal level of R&D spending over a given time horizon. The paper deploys the Gompertz-Cox model for the R&D project outcomes, which facilitates investigation of how increased level of R&D input can enhance the company's value growth.
Findings
The author first introduces a time-varying drift term into standard Black-Scholes model to account for the varying growth rates of the startup at different stages, and the author interprets venture capital's investment in the startup as a “float-the-money” option. The author then incorporates the probabilities of startup failures at multiple stages into their financial valuation. The author gets a closed-form pricing formula for the contingent option of value appreciation. Finally, the author utilizes Cox proportional hazards model to analyze the optimal level of R&D input that maximizes the return on investment.
Research limitations/implications
The integrated contingent claims model links the change in the financial valuation of startups with the incremental R&D spending. The Gompertz-Cox contingency model for R&D success rate is used to quantify the optimal level of R&D input. This model assumption may be simplistic, but nevertheless illustrative.
Practical implications
Once supplemented with actual transaction data, the model can serve as a reference benchmark valuation of new project deals and previously invested projects seeking exit.
Social implications
The integrated structural model can potentially have much wider applications beyond valuation of startup companies. For instance, in valuing a company's risk management, the level of R&D spending in the model can be replaced by the company's budget for risk management. As another promising application, in evaluating a country's economic growth rate in the face of rising climate risks, the level of R&D spending in this paper can be replaced by a country's investment in addressing climate risks.
Originality/value
This paper is the first to develop an integrated valuation model for startups by combining the real-world R&D project contingencies with risk-neutral valuation of the potential payoffs.
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The esoteric area of financial derivatives has become quite salient in light of the financial crisis of the last few years. In the public sector, state and local governments have…
Abstract
The esoteric area of financial derivatives has become quite salient in light of the financial crisis of the last few years. In the public sector, state and local governments have increasingly employed derivatives in their bond financings. This paper analyzes state and local governments’ use of a specific type of municipal derivative instrument (a floating-to-fixed interest rate swap) in a specific type of transaction (bond refinancing). The paper provides a case study of an executed bond refinancing transaction that employed a floating-to-fixed interest rate swap quantifying the substantial long-term costs financial derivatives can impart on state and local governments. The paper concludes with some specific lessons learned about debt-related derivative usage for public financial managers and offers some suggestions for further empirical and theoretical research in this area of public financial management.
Martin J. Luby and Robert S. Kravchuk
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…
Abstract
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.
Thomas Willett, Eric M.P. Chiu, Sirathorn (B.J.) Dechsakulthorn, Ramya Ghosh, Bernard Kibesse, Kenneth Kim, Jeff (Yongbok) Kim and Alice Ouyang
There has been significant interest in the classification of exchange rate regimes in order to investigate a wide range of hypotheses. Studies of the effects of exchange rate…
Abstract
Purpose
There has been significant interest in the classification of exchange rate regimes in order to investigate a wide range of hypotheses. Studies of the effects of exchange rate regimes on crises and other aspects of economic performance can have important implications for policy choices. The paper provides a guide to the major new large data sets that classify exchange rate regimes and to critically analyze important methodological issues.
Design/methodology/approach
The study surveys and critiques the literature and provides theoretical analysis of major issues involved in classifying exchange rate regimes.
Findings
The study finds that all of the new data sets have problems but some have more problems than others and several of them are substantial improvements on what was previously available. It is also shown that the best ways to classify depend on the issue being addressed and that for detailed studies variants of measures using the concept of exchange market pressure are the most promising. Directions for future research are also discussed.
Originality/value
The paper makes researchers aware of the new data sets that are available and discusses their strengths and weaknesses. It also presents original analysis of several of the major conceptual issues involved in classifying exchange rate regimes.
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