Question

A graduate student starts working in a large accounting firm and is not sure how a currency swap oprates. As a senior accountant, explain this in simple words to the graduate student.

Answer 1

A currency swap is an agreement in which two parties exchange the principal amount of a loan and the interest in one currency for the principal and interest in another currency.

At the inception of the swap, the equivalent principal amounts are exchanged at the spot rate.

During the length of the swap each party pays the interest on the swapped principal loan amount.

At the end of the swap the principal amounts are swapped back at either the prevailing spot rate, or at a pre-agreed rate such as the rate of the original exchange of principals. Using the original rate would remove transaction risk on the swap.

Currency swaps are used to obtain foreign currency loans at a better interest rate than a company could obtain by borrowing directly in a foreign market or as a method of hedging transaction risk on foreign currency loans which it has already taken out.