The COVID-19 crisis has reduced exposures to a point where for many companies those hedges may not be needed anymore. Time to unwind? If you’re planning on unwinding a cash-flow hedge, there are many things to think about before you do. Determining when and why to unwind, as well as how to view the transaction’s cost benefits, and what counterparty to use, are just a few of the factors to consider. This was the topic of discussion among NeuGroup FX Managers’…
Members whose companies have material exposure to the Chinese market exchange experiences with how to manage the currency risk. What’s the best course of action when corporates need to blunt their growing cash-flow exposures in China? The answer, hedge. But what’s the best approach? Depends on the company of course. At a recent FX summit of NeuGroup’s two FX Managers’ Peer Groups – which due to COVID-19 was NeuGroup’s first-ever virtual peer group meeting – one session dealt with managing…
April 9, 2020
How to Protect FX From Newbies on Rotation
A NeuGroup member asks peers how to train people passing through the FX function without raising the risk of costly mistakes. More often than not, specific corporate functions love a rotation plan where people from other areas come through to learn how the work in that function gets done, usually as part of a training and development program for high-potential talent. But for FX, more specifically trading, this can sometimes be a little tricky. For instance, how, asked one FX manager…
April 2, 2020
Using Bloomberg for “Nuisance” Trades
Avoiding the time-intensive process of requesting trades in a centralized structure, local cash managers speed the process with online access to Bloomberg. During a recent NeuGroup virtual meeting of FX managers, one member said he has started to use Bloomberg for local affiliates’ “nuisance trades.” These are foreign currency-denominated accounts payable under a certain USD-equivalent threshold. Local freedom. The member noted his company’s corporate treasury manages FX worldwide, so they were happy to find that local cash managers are able…
Flexibility and resourcefulness are critical as treasury teams cope with fallout from COVID-19. Assistant treasurers at a virtual NeuGroup meeting last week exchanged numerous examples of resourcefulness and flexibility in coping with the effects of the pandemic on FX trading, capital markets and other areas of responsibility. Here are some top takeaways: Time for algos. One AT saidspot trading in the FXmarket became “ridiculous” as liquidity vanished and spreads widened, making it difficult to close out small spot trades. That…
March 12, 2020
FX Hedging Opportunities Amid Virus Volatility
Opportunistic FX managers are locking in favorable exchange rates to hedge exposures as markets gyrate. NeuGroup members have locked in favorable foreign exchange rates in the wake of volatility sparked by the coronavirus outbreak, plunging oil prices and speculation about more US interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. “We’re taking advantage; this is something of an opportunity to layer in hedges,” said one risk manager during a NeuGroup’s Virtual FX Summit sponsored by Chatham Financial. Amol Dhargalkar, a managing…