MULTINATIONAL BUSINESS FINANCE THIRTEENTH EDIT ION
The Pearson Series in Finance Adelman/Marks
Entrepreneurial Finance
Andersen Global Derivatives: A Strategic Risk Management Perspective
Bekaert/Hodrick International Financial Management
Berk/DeMarzo Corporate Finance*
Berk/DeMarzo Corporate Finance: The Core*
Berk/DeMarzo/Harford Fundamentals of Corporate Finance*
Boakes Reading and Understanding the Financial Times
Brooks Financial Management: Core Concepts*
Copeland/Weston/Shastri Financial Theory and Corporate Policy
Dorfman/Cather Introduction to Risk Management and Insurance
Eiteman/Stonehill/Moffett Multinational Business Finance
Fabozzi Bond Markets: Analysis and Strategies
Fabozzi/Modigliani Capital Markets: Institutions and Instruments
Fabozzi/Modigliani/Jones/Ferri Foundations of Financial Markets and Institutions
Finkler Financial Management for Public, Health, and Not-for-Profit Organizations
Frasca Personal Finance
Gitman/Joehnk/Smart Fundamentals of Investing*
Gitman/Zutter Principles of Managerial Finance*
Gitman/Zutter Principles of Managerial Finance––Brief Edition*
Haugen The Inefficient Stock Market: What Pays Off and Why
Haugen The New Finance: Overreaction, Complexity, and Uniqueness
Holden Excel Modeling and Estimation in Corporate Finance
Holden Excel Modeling and Estimation in Investments
Hughes/MacDonald International Banking: Text and Cases
Hull Fundamentals of Futures and Options Markets
Hull Options, Futures, and Other Derivatives
Keown Personal Finance: Turning Money into Wealth*
Keown/Martin/Petty Foundations of Finance: The Logic and Practice of Financial Management*
Kim/Nofsinger Corporate Governance
Madura Personal Finance*
Marthinsen Risk Takers: Uses and Abuses of Financial Derivatives
McDonald Derivatives Markets
McDonald Fundamentals of Derivatives Markets
Mishkin/Eakins Financial Markets and Institutions
Moffett/Stonehill/Eiteman Fundamentals of Multinational Finance
Nofsinger Psychology of Investing
Ormiston/Fraser Understanding Financial Statements
Pennacchi Theory of Asset Pricing
Rejda Principles of Risk Management and Insurance
Seiler Performing Financial Studies: A Methodological Cookbook
Shapiro Capital Budgeting and Investment Analysis
Sharpe/Alexander/Bailey Investments
Solnik/McLeavey Global Investments
Stretcher/Michael Cases in Financial Management
Titman/Keown/Martin Financial Management: Principles and Applications*
Titman/Martin Valuation: The Art and Science of Corporate Investment Decisions
Van Horne Financial Management and Policy
Van Horne/Wachowicz Fundamentals of Financial Management
Weston/Mitchel/Mulherin Takeovers, Restructuring, and Corporate Governance
MyFinanceLab www.myfinancelab.com
www.myfinancelab.com
MULTINATIONAL BUSINESS FINANCE THIRTEENTH EDIT ION
David K. EITEMAN
University of California, Los Angeles
Arthur I. STONEHILL
Oregon State University and the University
of Hawaii at Manoa
Michael H. MOFFETT
Thunderbird School of Global Management
Editor-in-Chief Editorial Project Manager Editorial Assistant Senior Marketing Manager Senior Managing Editor Senior Production Project Manager Permissions Specialist/Project Manager Permissions Editor Art Director Cover Designer Cover Image Senior Manufacturing Buyer Media Production Project Manager Production Coordination Composition and Art Creation Copy Editor Proofreader Indexer
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Copyright © 2013, 2010, 2007, 2004 by Pearson Education, Inc.
www.pearsonhighered.com
Multina- tional Business Finance
! Organizations of all kinds.
! Emerging markets.
! Financial leadership.
Audience Multinational Business Finance
Global Finance in Practice
Organization Multinational Business Finance
Preface
Preface
!
!
!
!
!
!
New in the Thirteenth Edition
new normal
!
!
!
!
Global Finance in Practice
!
!
!
Preface
€
A Rich Array of Support Materials
! Instructor’s Manual.
! Test Bank.
! Computerized Test Bank.
! PowerPoint Presentation.
! Companion Web Site.
International Editions Multinational Business Finance
www.pearsonhighered.com/irc
http://wpslive.pearsoncmg.com/cmg_instructor_testgen_1/
http://wpslive.pearsoncmg.com/cmg_instructor_testgen_1/
www.pearsonhighered.com/eiteman
www.pearsonhighered.com/eiteman
Preface
Acknowledgments
Multinational Business Finance
Yong-Cheol Kim University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Yen-Sheng Lee Bellevue University
Robert Mefford University of San Francisco John Petersen George Mason University Rahul Verma University of Houston-Downtown
Otto Adleberger Essen University, Germany
Alan Alford Northeastern University
Stephen Archer Willamette University
Bala Arshanapalli Indiana University Northwest
Hossein G. Askari George Washington University
Robert T. Aubey University of Wisconsin at Madison
David Babbel University of Pennsylvania
James Baker Kent State University
Morten Balling Arhus School of Business, Denmark
Arindam Bandopadhyaya University of Massachusetts at Boston
Ari Beenhakker University of South Florida
Carl Beidleman Lehigh University
Robert Boatler Texas Christian University
Gordon M. Bodnar John Hopkins University
Nancy Bord University of Hartford
Finbarr Bradley University of Dublin, Ireland
Tom Brewer Georgetown University
Michael Brooke University of Manchester, England
Robert Carlson Assumption University, Thailand
Kam C. Chan University of Dayton
Chun Chang University of Minnesota
Sam Chee Boston University Metropolitan College
Kevin Cheng New York University
It-Keong Chew University of Kentucky
Frederick D. S. Choi New York University
Jay Choi Temple University
Nikolai Chuvakhin Pepperdine University
Mark Ciechon University of California, Los Angeles
J. Markham Collins University of Tulsa
Alan N. Cook Baylor University
Kerry Cooper Texas A&M University
Robert Cornu Cranfield School of Management, U.K.
Roy Crum University of Florida
Steven Dawson University of Hawaii at Manoa
David Distad University of California, Berkeley
Gunter Dufey University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Mark Eaker Duke University
Rodney Eldridge George Washington University
Imad A. Elhah University of Louisville
Vihang Errunza McGill University
Cheol S. Eun Georgia Tech University
Mara Faccio University of Notre Dame
Larry Fauver University of Tennessee
Joseph Finnerty University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign
William R. Folks, Jr. University of South Carolina
Lewis Freitas University of Hawaii at Manoa
Preface
Anne Fremault Boston University
Fariborg Ghadar George Washington University
Ian Giddy New York University
Martin Glaum Justus-Lievig-Universitat Giessen, Germany
Deborah Gregory University of Georgia
Robert Grosse Thunderbird
Christine Hekman Georgia Tech University
Steven Heston University of Maryland
James Hodder University of Wisconsin, Madison
Alfred Hofflander University of California, Los Angeles
Janice Jadlow Oklahoma State University
Veikko Jaaskelainen Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration
Benjamas Jirasakuldech University of the Pacific
Ronald A. Johnson Northeastern University
John Kallianiotis University of Scranton
Fred Kaen University of New Hampshire
Charles Kane Boston College
Robert Kemp University of Virginia
W. Carl Kester Harvard Business School
Seung Kim St. Louis University
Yong Kim University of Cincinnati
Gordon Klein University of California, Los Angeles
Steven Kobrin University of Pennsylvania
Paul Korsvold Norwegian School of Management
Chris Korth University of South Carolina
Chuck C. Y. Kwok University of South Carolina
John P. Lajaunie Nicholls State University
Sarah Lane Boston University
Martin Laurence William Patterson College
Eric Y. Lee Fairleigh Dickinson University
Donald Lessard Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Arvind Mahajan Texas A&M University
Rita Maldonado-Baer New York University
Anthony Matias Palm Beach Atlantic College
Charles Maxwell Murray State University
Sam McCord Auburn University
Jeanette Medewitz University of Nebraska at Omaha
Robert Mefford University of San Francisco
Paritash Mehta Temple University
Antonio Mello University of Wisconsin at Madison
Eloy Mestre American University
Kenneth Moon Suffolk University
Gregory Noronha Arizona State University
Edmund Outslay Michigan State University
Lars Oxelheim Lund University, Sweden
Jacob Park Green Mountain College
Yoon Shik Park George Washington University
Harvey Poniachek New York University
Yash Puri University of Massachusetts at Lowell
R. Ravichandrarn University of Colorado at Boulder
Scheherazade Rehman George Washington University
Jeff Rosenlog Emory University
David Rubinstein University of Houston
Alan Rugman Oxford University, U.K.
R. J. Rummel University of Hawaii at Manoa
Mehdi Salehizadeh San Diego State University
Michael Salt San Jose State University
Roland Schmidt Erasmus University, the Netherlands
Lemma Senbet University of Maryland
Alan Shapiro University of Southern California
Hany Shawky State University of New York, Albany
Hamid Shomali Golden Gate University
Vijay Singal Virginia Tech University
Preface
Sheryl Winston Smith University of Minnesota
Luc Soenen California Polytechnic State University
Marjorie Stanley Texas Christian University
Joseph Stokes University of Massachusetts- Amherst
Jahangir Sultan Bentley College
Lawrence Tai Loyola Marymount University
Kishore Tandon CUNY—Bernard Baruch College
Russell Taussig University of Hawaii at Manoa
Lee Tavis University of Notre Dame
Sean Toohey University of Western Sydney, Australia
Norman Toy Columbia University
Joseph Ueng University of St. Thomas
Gwinyai Utete Auburn University
Harald Vestergaard Copenhagen Business School
K. G. Viswanathan Hofstra University
Joseph D. Vu University of Illinois, Chicago
Mahmoud Wahab University of Hartford
Masahiro Watanabe Rice University
Michael Williams University of Texas at Austin
Brent Wilson Brigham Young University
Bob Wood Tennessee Technological University
Alexander Zamperion Bentley College
Emilio Zarruk Florida Atlantic University
Tom Zwirlein University of Colorado, Colorado Springs
Industry (present or former affiliation)
Paul Adaire Philadelphia Stock Exchange
Barbara Block Tektronix, Inc.
Holly Bowman Bankers Trust
Payson Cha HKR International, Hong Kong
John A. Deuchler Private Export Funding Corporation
Kåre Dullum Gudme Raaschou Investment Bank, Denmark
Steven Ford Hewlett Packard
David Heenan Campbell Estate, Hawaii
Sharyn H. Hess Foreign Credit Insurance Association
Aage Jacobsen Gudme Raaschou Investment Bank, Denmark
Ira G. Kawaller Chicago Mercantile Exchange
Kenneth Knox Tektronix, Inc.
Arthur J. Obesler Eximbank
I. Barry Thompson Continental Bank
Gerald T. West Overseas Private Investment Corporation
Willem Winter First Interstate Bank of Oregon
!
!
Preface
!
Arthur I. Stonehill
Financial Management, Journal of International Business Studies California Management Review Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis Journal of International Financial Management and Accounting International Business Review Euro- pean Management Journal The Investment Analyst (U.K.) Nationaløkonomisk Tidskrift (Denmark) Sosialøkonomen (Norway) Journal of Financial Education
David K. Eiteman
The Journal of Finance The International Trade Journal Financial Analysts Journal Journal of World Business Management International Business Horizons MSU Business Topics Public Utilities Fortnightly,
Michael H. Moffett
About the Authors
About the Authors
Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis Journal of Applied Corporate Finance Journal of International Money and Finance Journal of Interna- tional Financial Management and Accounting Contemporary Policy Issues Brookings Dis- cussion Papers in International Economics
Handbook of Modern Finance International Accounting and Finance Handbook Encyclopedia of International Business
International Business Global Business
PART I Global Financial Environment 1
PART II Foreign Exchange Theory and Markets 157
PART III Foreign Exchange Exposure 245
PART IV Financing the Global Firm 349
PART V Foreign Investment Decisions 439
PART VI Managing Multinational Operations 527
Brief Contents
PART I Global Financial Environment 1
Chapter 1 Current Multinational Challenges and the Global Economy 2
Summary Points 17 MINI-CASE: Nine Dragons Paper and the 2009 Credit Crisis 17 Questions ! Problems ! Internet Exercises 24
Chapter 2 Corporate Ownership, Goals, and Governance 27
Summary Points 49 MINI-CASE: Luxury Wars—LVMH vs. Hermès 49 Questions ! Problems ! Internet Exercises 54
Chapter 3 The International Monetary System 59
Summary Points 78 MINI-CASE: The Yuan Goes Global 79 Questions ! Problems ! Internet Exercises 84
Chapter 4 The Balance of Payments 87
Summary Points 112 MINI-CASE: Global Remittances 113 Questions ! Problems ! Internet Exercises 117
Contents
Contents
Chapter 5 The Continuing Global Financial Crisis 122
Summary Points 150 MINI-CASE: Letting Go of Lehman Brothers 151 Questions ! Problems ! Internet Exercises 153
PART II Foreign Exchange Theory and Markets 157
Chapter 6 The Foreign Exchange Market 158
Summary Points 177 MINI-CASE: The Saga of the Venezuelan Bolivar Fuerte 178 Questions ! Problems ! Internet Exercises 180
Chapter 7 International Parity Conditions 185
Summary Points 204 MINI-CASE: Emerging Market Carry Trades 205 Questions ! Problems ! Internet Exercises 206 Appendix: An Algebraic Primer to International Parity Conditions 212
Chapter 8 Foreign Currency Derivatives and Swaps 216
Summary Points 235 MINI-CASE: McDonald’s Corporation’s British Pound Exposure 236 Questions ! Problems ! Internet Exercises 237
PART III Foreign Exchange Exposure 245
Chapter 9 Foreign Exchange Rate Determination and Forecasting 246
Summary Points 268 MINI-CASE: The Japanese Yen Intervention of 2010 269 Questions ! Problems ! Internet Exercises 271
Contents
Chapter 10 Transaction Exposure 275
Summary Points 290 MINI-CASE: Banbury Impex (India) 291 Questions ! Problems ! Internet Exercises 295 Appendix: Complex Option Hedges 301
Chapter 11 Translation Exposure 309
Summary Points 320 MINI-CASE: LaJolla Engineering Services 320 Questions ! Problems 323
Chapter 12 Operating Exposure 326
Summary Points 343 MINI-CASE: Toyota’s European Operating Exposure 343 Questions ! Problems ! Internet Exercises 346
PART IV Financing the Global Firm 349
Chapter 13 The Global Cost and Availability of Capital 350
Summary Points 366 MINI-CASE: Novo Industri A/S (Novo) 367 Questions ! Problems ! Internet Exercises 371
Chapter 14 Raising Equity and Debt Globally 376
Summary Points 400 MINI-CASE: Korres Natural Products and the Greek Crisis 401 Questions ! Problems ! Internet Exercises 406 Appendix: Financial Structure of Foreign Subsidiaries 411
Contents
Chapter 15 Multinational Tax Management 415
Summary Points 430 MINI-CASE: The U.S. Corporate Income Tax Conundrum 430 Questions ! Problems ! Internet Exercises 434
PART V Foreign Investment Decisions 439
Chapter 16 International Portfolio Theory and Diversification 440
Summary Points 453 MINI-CASE: Portfolio Theory, Black Swans, and [Avoiding] Being the Turkey 454 Questions ! Problems ! Internet Exercises 456
Chapter 17 Foreign Direct Investment and Political Risk 460
Summary Points 485 MINI-CASE: Corporate Competition from the Emerging Markets 486 Questions ! Internet Exercises 487
Chapter 18 Multinational Capital Budgeting and Cross-Border Acquisitions 490
Summary Points 513 MINI-CASE: Yanzhou (China) Bids for Felix Resources (Australia) 514 Questions ! Problems ! Internet Exercises 521
PART VI Managing Multinational Operations 527
Chapter 19 Working Capital Management 528
Summary Points 549 MINI-CASE: Honeywell and Pakistan International Airways 549 Questions ! Problems ! Internet Exercises 552
Contents
Chapter 20 International Trade Finance 556
Summary Points 574 MINI-CASE: Crosswell International and Brazil 575 Questions ! Problems ! Internet Exercises 579
Answers to Selected End-of-Chapter Problems 582
Glossary 586
Index 603
Credits 626
This page intentionally left blank
Global Financial Environment
CHAPTER 1 Current Multinational Challenges and the Global Economy
CHAPTER 2 Corporate Ownership, Goals, and Governance
CHAPTER 3 The International Monetary System
CHAPTER 4 The Balance of Payments
CHAPTER 5 The Continuing Global Financial Crisis
PART I
1
Current Multinational Challenges and the Global Economy
I define globalization as producing where it is most cost-effective, selling where it is most profitable, and sourcing capital where it is cheapest, without worrying about national boundaries.
—Narayana Murthy, President and CEO, Infosys.
The subject of this book is the financial management of multinational enterprises (MNEs). MNEs are firms—both for profit companies and not-for-profit organizations—that have operations in more than one country, and conduct their business through foreign subsidiar- ies, branches, or joint ventures with host country firms.
MNEs are struggling to survive and prosper in a very different world than in the past. Today’s MNEs depend not only on the emerging markets for cheaper labor, raw materials, and outsourced manufacturing, but also increasingly on those same emerging markets for sales and profits. These markets—whether they are emerging, less developed, developing, or BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, and China)—represent the majority of the earth’s population, and therefore, customers. And adding market complexity to this changing global landscape is the risky and challenging international macroeconomic environment, both from a long- term and short-term perspective, following the global financial crisis of 2007–2009. How to identify and navigate these risks is the focus of this book.
Financial Globalization and Risk
Back in the halcyon pre-crisis days of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, it was taken as self evident that financial globalisation was a good thing. But the subprime crisis and eurozone dramas are shaking that belief. Never mind the fact that imbalances amid globalisation can stoke up bubbles; what is the bigger risk now—particularly in the eurozone—is that financial globalisation has created a system that is interconnected in some dangerous ways.
—“Crisis Fears Fuel Debate on Capital Controls,” Gillian Tett, The Financial Times, December 15, 2011.
2
CHAPTER 1
3Current Multinational Challenges and the Global Economy CHAPTER 1
The theme dominating global financial markets today is the complexity of risks associated with financial globalization—far beyond whether it is simply good or bad, but how to lead and manage multinational firms in the rapidly moving marketplace.
! The international monetary system, an eclectic mix of floating and managed fixed exchange rates today, is under constant scrutiny. The rise of the Chinese renminbi is changing much of the world’s outlook for currency exchange, reserve currencies, and the roles of the dollar and the euro (see Chapter 3).
! Large fiscal deficits plague most of the major trading countries of the world, including the current eurozone crisis, complicating fiscal and monetary policies, and ultimately, interest rates and exchange rates (see Chapters 4 and 5).
! Many countries experience continuing balance of payments imbalances, and in some cases, dangerously large deficits and surpluses—whether it be the twin surpluses enjoyed by China, the current account surplus of Germany amidst a sea of eurozone deficits, or the continuing current account deficit of the United States, all will inevi- tably move exchange rates (see Chapters 4 and 5).
! Ownership, control, and governance changes radically across the world. The publicly traded company is not the dominant global business organization—the privately held or family-owned business is the prevalent structure—and their goals and measures of performance differ dramatically (see Chapter 2).
! Global capital markets that normally provide the means to lower a firm’s cost of capital, and even more critically increase the availability of capital, have in many ways shrunk in size, openness, and accessibility by many of the world’s organizations (see Chapters 1 and 5).
! Today’s emerging markets are confronted with a new dilemma: the problem of being the recipients of too much capital—sometimes. Financial globalization has resulted in the flow of massive quantities of capital into and out of many emerging markets, complicating financial management (Chapters 6 and 9).
These are but a sampling of the complexity of topics. The Mini-Case at the end of this chapter, Nine Dragons Paper and the 2009 Credit Crisis, highlights many of these MNE issues in emerging markets today. As described in Global Finance in Practice 1.1, the global credit crisis and its aftermath has damaged the world’s largest banks and reduced the rate of eco- nomic growth worldwide, leading to higher rates of unemployment and putting critical pres- sures on government budgets from Greece to Ireland to Portugal to Mexico.
The Global Financial Marketplace Business—domestic, international, global—involves the interaction of individuals and indi- vidual organizations for the exchange of products, services, and capital through markets. The global capital markets are critical for the conduct of this exchange. The global financial crisis of 2008–2009 served as an illustration and a warning of how tightly integrated and fragile this marketplace can be.
Assets, Institutions, and Linkages Exhibit 1.1 provides a map to the global capital markets. One way to characterize the global financial marketplace is through its assets, institutions, and linkages.
4 CHAPTER 1 Current Multinational Challenges and the Global Economy
GLOBAL FINANCE IN PRACTICE 1.1
Global Capital Markets: Entering a New Era
The current financial crisis and worldwide recession have abruptly halted a nearly three-decade-long expansion of global capital markets. From 1980 through 2007, the world’s financial assets—including equities, private and public debt, and bank deposits—nearly quadrupled in size relative to global GDP. Global capital flows similarly surged. This growth reflected numerous interrelated trends, including advances in information and communication technology, financial market liberalization, and innovations in financial products and ser- vices. The result was financial globalization.
But the upheaval in financial markets in late 2008 marked a break in this trend. The total value of the world’s financial assets fell by $16 trillion to $178 trillion, the largest setback on record. Although equity markets have bounced back from their recent lows, they remain well below their peaks. Credit markets have healed somewhat but are still impaired.
Going forward, our research suggests that global capi- tal markets are entering a new era in which the forces fueling growth have changed. For the past 30 years, most of the overall increase in financial depth—the ratio of assets to GDP—was driven by the rapid growth of equities and private debt in mature markets. Looking ahead, these asset classes in mature mar- kets are likely to grow more slowly, more in line with GDP, while government debt will rise sharply. An increasing share of global asset growth will occur in emerging markets, where GDP is ris- ing faster and all asset classes have abundant room to expand.
Source: Excerpted from “Global Capital Markets: Entering a New Era,” McKinsey Global Institute, Charles Rosburgh, Susan Lund, Charles Atkins, Stanislas Belot, Wayne W. Hu, and Moira S. Pierce, McKinsey & Company, September 2009, p. 7.
Assets. The assets—the financial assets—which are at the heart of the global capital markets are the debt securities issued by governments (e.g., U.S. Treasury Bonds). These low-risk or risk-free assets then form the foundation for the creating, trading, and pricing of other finan- cial assets like bank loans, corporate bonds, and equities (stock). In recent years, a number of
EXHIBIT 1.1
Bank
Mortgage Loan
Corporate Loan
Corporate Bond
Bank
Interbank Market (LIBOR )
Bank
Public Debt
Private Debt
Private Equity
Central Banks Institutions
Currency Currency Currency
The global capital market is a collection of institutions (central banks, commercial banks, investment banks, not for profit financial institutions like the IMF and World Bank) and securities (bonds, mortgages, derivatives, loans, etc.), which are all linked via a global network—the Interbank Market. This interbank market, in which securities of all kinds are traded, is the critical pipeline system for the movement of capital.
The exchange of securities—the movement of capital in the global financial system—must all take place through a vehicle—currency. The exchange of currencies is itself the largest of the financial markets. The interbank market, which must pass-through and exchange securities using currencies, bases all of its pricing through the single most widely quoted interest rate in the world—LIBOR (the London Interbank Offered Rate).
Global Capital Markets
5Current Multinational Challenges and the Global Economy CHAPTER 1
additional securities have been created from the existing securities—derivatives, whose value is based on market value changes in the underlying securities. The health and security of the global financial system relies on the quality of these assets.
Institutions. The institutions of global finance are the central banks, which create and control each country’s money supply; the commercial banks, which take deposits and extend loans to businesses, both local and global; and the multitude of other financial institutions created to trade securities and derivatives. These institutions take many shapes and are subject to many different regulatory frameworks. The health and security of the global financial system relies on the stability of these financial institutions.
Linkages. The links between the financial institutions, the actual fluid or medium for exchange, are the interbank networks using currency. The ready exchange of currencies in the global marketplace is the first and foremost necessary element for the conduct of financial trading, and the global currency markets are the largest markets in the world. The exchange of currencies, and the subsequent exchange of all other securities globally via currency, is the international interbank network. This network, whose primary price is the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), is the core component of the global financial system.
The movement of capital across borders and continents for the conduct of business has existed in many different forms for thousands of years. Yet, it is only within the past 50 years that these capital movements have started to move at the pace of an electron, either via a phone call or an email. And it is only within the past 20 years that this market has been able to reach the most distant corners of the earth at any moment of the day. This market has seen an explosion of innovative products and services in the past decade, some of which proved, as in the case of the 2008–2009 crisis, somewhat toxic to the touch.
The Market for Currencies The price of any one country’s currency in terms of another country’s currency is called a foreign currency exchange rate. For example, the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar ($ or USD) and the European euro (€ or EUR) may be stated as “1.4565 dollar per euro” or simply abbreviated as $1.4565/€. This is the same exchange rate as when stated “EUR1.00 = USD1.4565.” Since most international business activities require at least one of the two parties in a business transaction to either pay or receive payment in a currency, which is dif- ferent from their own, an understanding of exchange rates is critical to the conduct of global business.
A quick word about currency symbols. As noted, USD and EUR are often used as the symbols for the U.S. dollar and the European Union’s euro. These are the computer sym- bols (ISO-4217 codes) used today on the world’s digital networks. The field of international finance, however, has a rich history of using a variety of different symbols in the financial press, and a variety of different abbreviations are commonly used. For example, the British pound sterling may be £ (the pound symbol), GBP (Great Britain pound), STG (British pound sterling), ST£ (pound sterling), or UKL (United Kingdom pound). This book will also use the simpler common symbols—the $ (dollar), the € (euro), the ¥ (yen), the £ (pound)—but be warned and watchful when reading the business press!
Exchange Rate Quotations and Terminology. Exhibit 1.2 lists currency exchange rates for Thursday, January 12, 2012, as would be quoted in New York or London. The exchange rate listed is for a specific country’s currency—for example, the Argentina peso against the U.S. dollar—Peso 3.9713/$, the European euro—Peso $5.1767/€, and the British pound—Peso 6.1473/£. The rate listed is termed a “mid-rate” because it is the middle or average of the rates currency traders buy currency (bid rate) and sell currency (offer rate).
EXHIBIT 1.2 Selected Global Currency Exchange Rates
January 12, 2012 Country Currency Symbol Code
Currency to equal 1 Dollar
Currency to equal 1 Euro
Currency to equal 1 Pound
Argentina peso Ps ARS 4.3090 5.5143 6.6010
Australia dollar A$ AUD 0.9689 1.2413 1.4859
Bahrain dinar — BHD 0.3770 0.4825 0.5776
Bolivia boliviano Bs BOB 6.9100 8.8428 10.5855
Brazil real R$ BRL 1.7874 2.2873 2.7380
Canada dollar C$ CAD 1.0206 1.3061 1.5635
Chile peso $ CLP 502.050 642.473 769.090
China yuan ¥ CNY 6.3178 8.0849 9.6783
Colombia peso Col$ COP 1,843.30 2,358.87 2,823.75
Costa Rica colon C// CRC 508.610 650.869 779.141
Czech Republic koruna Kc CZK 20.0024 25.5970 30.6416
Denmark krone Dkr DKK 5.8114 7.4368 8.9024
Egypt pound £ EGP 6.0395 7.7288 9.2519
Hong Kong dollar HK$ HKD 7.7679 9.9405 11.8996
Hungary forint Ft HUF 241.393 308.910 369.789
India rupee Rs INR 51.6050 66.0389 79.0537
Indonesia rupiah Rp IDR 9,160.0 11,722.1 14,032.2
Iran rial — IRR 84.5000 231.8950 89.1256
Israel shekel Shk ILS 3.8312 4.9027 5.8690
Japan yen ¥ JPY 76.7550 98.2234 117.581
Kenya shilling KSh KES 87.6000 112.102 134.195
Kuwait dinar — KWD 0.2793 0.3574 0.4278
Malaysia ringgit RM MYR 3.1415 4.0202 4.8125
Mexico new peso $ MXN 13.5964 17.3993 20.8283
New Zealand dollar NZ$ NZD 1.2616 1.6145 1.9327
Nigeria naira N NGN 162.050 207.375 248.244
Norway krone NKr NOK 6.0033 7.6824 9.1965
Pakistan rupee Rs. PKR 90.1050 115.3070 138.0320
Peru new sol S/. PEN 2.6925 3.4456 4.1247
Phillippines peso P PHP 44.0550 56.3772 67.4879
Poland zloty — PLN 3.4543 4.4204 5.2916
Romania new leu L RON 3.3924 4.3425 5.1983
Russia ruble R RUB 31.6182 40.4618 48.4360
Saudi Arabia riyal SR SAR 3.7504 4.7994 5.7452
Singapore dollar S$ SGD 1.2909 1.6520 1.9775
South Africa rand R ZAR 8.0743 10.3326 12.3690
South Korea won W KRW 1,158.10 1,482.02 1,774.09
Sweden krona SKr SEK 6.9311 8.8698 10.6178
Switzerland franc Fr. CHF 0.9460 1.2106 1.4492
Taiwan dollar T$ TWD 29.9535 38.3315 45.8858
Thailand baht B THB 31.8300 40.7329 48.7604
Tunisia dinar DT TND 1.5184 1.9431 2.3261
Turkey lira YTL TRY 1.8524 2.3706 2.8377
United Arab Emirates
dirham — AED 3.6733 4.7007 5.6271
United Kingdom pound £ GBP 1.5319 0.8354
Ukraine hrywnja — UAH 8.0400 10.2888 12.3165
Uruguay peso $U UYU 19.4500 24.8902 29.7955
United States dollar $ USD 1.2797 1.5319
Venezuela bolivar fuerte Bs VEB 4.2947 5.4959 6.5790
Vietnam dong d VND 21,035.0 26,918.5 32,223.5
Euro euro € EUR 1.2797 1.1971
Special Drawing Right
— — SDR 0.6541 0.8370 1.0019
Note that a number of different currencies use the same symbol (for example both China and Japan have traditionally used the ¥ symbol, yen or yuan, meaning round or circle). That is one of the reasons why most of the world’s currency markets today use the three-digit currency code for clarity of quo- tation. All quotes are mid-rates, and are drawn from the Financial Times, January 12, 2012.
6
7Current Multinational Challenges and the Global Economy CHAPTER 1
The U.S. dollar has been the focal point of most currency trading since the 1940s. As a result, most of the world’s currencies have been quoted against the dollar—Mexican pesos per dollar, Brazilian real per dollar, Hong Kong dollars per dollar, etc. This quotation convention is also followed against the world’s major currencies as listed in Exhibit 1.2. For example, the Japanese yen is commonly quoted as ¥83.2200/$, ¥108.481/€, and ¥128.820/£.
Quotation Conventions. Several of the world’s major currency exchange rates, however, fol- low a specific quotation convention that is the result of tradition and history. The exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the euro is always quoted as “dollars per euro” ($/€), $1.3036/€ as listed in Exhibit 1.2. Similarly, the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the British pound is always quoted as $/£, for example, the $1.5480/£ listed under “United States” in Exhibit 1.2. Many countries that were formerly members of the British Commonwealth will commonly be quoted against the dollar as U.S. dollars per currency (e.g., the Australian or Canadian dollars).
Eurocurrencies and LIBOR One of the major linkages of global money and capital markets is the Eurocurrency market and its interest rate known as LIBOR. Eurocurrencies are domestic currencies of one country on deposit in a second country. Eurodollar time deposit maturities range from call money and overnight funds to longer periods. Certificates of deposit are usually for three months or more and in million-dollar increments. A Eurodollar deposit is not a demand deposit; it is not created on the bank’s books by writing loans against required fractional reserves, and it can- not be transferred by a check drawn on the bank having the deposit. Eurodollar deposits are transferred by wire or cable transfer of an underlying balance held in a correspondent bank located within the United States. In most countries, a domestic analogy would be the transfer of deposits held in nonbank savings associations. These are transferred by the association writing its own check on a commercial bank.
Any convertible currency can exist in “Euro-” form. Note that this use of “Euro-” should not be confused with the new common European currency called the euro. The Eurocur- rency market includes Eurosterling (British pounds deposited outside the United Kingdom); Euroeuros (euros on deposit outside the euro zone); Euroyen (Japanese yen deposited outside Japan) and Eurodollars (U.S. dollars deposited outside the United States). The exact size of the Eurocurrency market is difficult to measure because it varies with daily decisions made by depositors about where to hold readily transferable liquid funds, and particularly on whether to deposit dollars within or outside the United States.
Eurocurrency markets serve two valuable purposes: 1) Eurocurrency deposits are an effi- cient and convenient money market device for holding excess corporate liquidity; and 2) the Eurocurrency market is a major source of short-term bank loans to finance corporate working capital needs, including the financing of imports and exports.
Banks in which Eurocurrencies are deposited are called Eurobanks. A Eurobank is a financial intermediary that simultaneously bids for time deposits and makes loans in a currency other than that of the currency in which it is located. Eurobanks are major world banks that conduct a Eurocurrency business in addition to all other banking functions. Thus, the Eurocurrency operation that qualifies a bank for the name Eurobank is in fact a department of a large commercial bank, and the name springs from the performance of this function.
The modern Eurocurrency market was born shortly after World War II. Eastern Euro- pean holders of dollars, including the various state trading banks of the Soviet Union, were afraid to deposit their dollar holdings in the United States because these deposits might be attached by U.S. residents with claims against communist governments. Therefore, Eastern
8 CHAPTER 1 Current Multinational Challenges and the Global Economy
European holders deposited their dollars in Western Europe, particularly with two Soviet banks: the Moscow Narodny Bank in London, and the Banque Commerciale pour l’Europe du Nord in Paris. These banks redeposited the funds in other Western banks, especially in London. Additional dollar deposits were received from various central banks in Western Europe, which elected to hold part of their dollar reserves in this form to obtain a higher yield. Commercial banks also placed their dollar balances in the market because specific maturities could be negotiated in the Eurodollar market. Such companies found it financially advanta- geous to keep their dollar reserves in the higher-yielding Eurodollar market. Various holders of international refugee funds also supplied funds.