Managing Foreign Exchange Risks: Organisational Aspects

A multinational firm in its normal, day to day conduct of business becomes vulnerable to potential gains and losses due to changes in the values of its assets and liabilities that are denominated in foreign currencies. Exporting, importing, and investing abroad expose the firm to foreign exchange risks. Under the 1944 Bretton Woods Agreement, Central Bank interventions in foreign currency markets were frequent, with relatively minor changes in exchange rates. Managers then could afford to ignore foreign exchange exposure. However, with the demise of the Agreement in 1973, exchange rates for major currencies have fluctuated freely, sometimes wildly. These currency fluctuations constantly change the values of foreign currency assets and liabilities, thereby creating foreign exchange risks. Managing these foreign exchange risks now constitutes one of the most difficult and persistent problems for financial managers of multinational firms.