Six steps to better FX risk management
When it comes to business risks for manufacturers and exporters, time and again fx volatility comes out as the number one concern. FX risk management is seen as a murky world but it doesn’t have…
How to better understand the impact of FX hedging decisions
Companies will often hedge foreign currency exposures against harmful exchange rate fluctuations. Having decided to enter financial instruments, such as forward exchange contracts and options/collars, it is necessary to evaluate the performance of the hedging…
Spreadsheets: a ticking time bomb
The main competitor to Hedgebook’s treasury management system (“TMS”) is excel spreadsheets. They are cheap (can’t get much cheaper than free!), flexible and easy to use. So why do companies choose to replace their spreadsheets…
Year-end Financial Instrument Check List
30 June marks the financial year-end for many Australian and New Zealand public and private companies, as well as Councils. With an ever increasing compliance burden, we have put together a practical check list for…
Feature client: Ports of Auckland
As Auckland’s population continues its strong growth trajectory, the Ports of Auckland has had to keep pace in order to provide the goods a growing city requires. There is not only the domestic demand for…
Know your position: FX Volatility, friend or foe?
The FX market is no stranger to volatility. Whether it is global economic or political uncertainties, or a country’s interest rate outlook, they all play out in the currency markets. The constant push and pull…
PwC treasury survey reveals over-reliance on spreadsheets
PwC’s recently released “New Zealand treasury management survey” (http://pwc.to/1DCSdse) threw up some interesting results, especially in relation to treasury management systems. It may come as no surprise to many, including us at Hedgebook, that there…
Using Hedgebook to make smart fx hedging decisions
Has anyone told you lately that they know where the currency is going? Lots of people think they know if it is going up or down but the reality is that no one knows where…
Why use an interest rate swap and how does it work?
It seems like only yesterday that I started my treasury career at one of NZ’s leading treasury advisory consultants, alas it was closer to 15 years ago. “We advise clients on managing their fx and…
Feature client: Palmerston North City Council
Palmerston North City Council (PNCC) is fairly typical of a NZ local authority in that Council is a sophisticated borrower with autonomy around the management of its interest rate risk exposure. Councils can access funding…
Hedge accounting fx options: time versus intrinsic value
FX options make up an element of many companies fx risk management strategies. FX options lock in the certainty of worst case exchange rate outcomes while allowing participation in favourable rate movements. In my experience,…
Hedge accounting has never been easier
It seems like a lifetime ago since hedge accounting was first introduced, nearly ten years ago now. My how auditors loved it. How complicated could they make it? Very, ,was the answer. How about insisting…