© 2010 South-Western/Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website forclassroom use.

International Corporate Finance10th Edition

by Jeff Madura

1

© 2010 South-Western/Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website forclassroom use.

2

7International Arbitrage And Interest Rate Parity

Chapter ObjectivesThis chapter will:

A. Explain the conditions that will result in various forms of

international arbitrage and the realignments that will occur

in response

B. Explain the concept of interest rate parity

2

© 2010 South-Western/Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website forclassroom use.

3

International Arbitrage

1. Defined as capitalizing on a discrepancy in quoted prices by making a riskless profit.

2. Three forms of arbitrage:a. Locational arbitrageb. Triangular arbitragec. Covered interest arbitrage

© 2010 South-Western/Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website forclassroom use.

4

Locational Arbitrage

1. Defined as the process of buying a currency at the location where it is priced cheap and immediately selling it at another location where it is priced higher.

2. Gains from locational arbitrage are based on the amount of money used and the size of the discrepancy.

3. Realignment due to locational arbitrage drives prices to adjust in different locations so as to eliminate discrepancies.

© 2010 South-Western/Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website forclassroom use.

5

Exhibit 7.2: Locational Arbitrage

5

© 2010 South-Western/Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website forclassroom use.

6

Triangular Arbitrage

1. Defined as currency transactions in the spot market to capitalize on discrepancies in the cross exchange rates between two currencies.

2. Accounting for the Bid/Ask Spread: Transaction costs (bid/ask spread) can reduce or even eliminate the gains from triangular arbitrage.

3. Realignment due to triangular arbitrage forces exchange rates back into equilibrium.

© 2010 South-Western/Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website forclassroom use.

7

Exhibit 7.3 Example of Triangular Arbitrage

7

© 2010 South-Western/Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website forclassroom use.

8

Covered Interest Arbitrage

1. Defined as the process of capitalizing on the interest rate differential between two countries while covering your exchange rate risk with a forward contract.

2. Consists of two parts:a. Interest arbitrage: the process of capitalizing on the

difference between interest rates between two countries.b. Covered: hedging the position against interest rate risk.

3. Realignment due to covered interest arbitrage causes market realignment.

4. Timing of realignment may require several transactions before realignment is completed.

© 2010 South-Western/Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website forclassroom use.

9

Exhibit 7.7 Example of Covered Interest Arbitrage

9

© 2010 South-Western/Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website forclassroom use.

10

Exhibit 7.8 Comparing Arbitrage Strategies

© 2010 South-Western/Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website forclassroom use.

11

Interest Rate Parity

In equilibrium, the forward rate differs from the spot rate by a sufficient amount to offset the interest rate differential between two currencies.

rateinterest foreign rateinterest home

premium forward where

111

===

−++

=

f

h

f

h

iip

iip

© 2010 South-Western/Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website forclassroom use.

12

Determining the Forward Premium

The relationship between the forward premium (or discount) and the interest rate differential according to IRP is simplified in an approximated form:

rateinterest foreign rateinterest home

dollarsin ratespot dollarsin rate forward

discount)(or premium forwardwhere

=

====

−≅−

=

f

h

fh

ii

S Fp

iiS

SFp

© 2010 South-Western/Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website forclassroom use.

13

Exhibit 7.9 Illustration of Interest Rate Parity

13

© 2010 South-Western/Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website forclassroom use.

14

Interpreting Exhibit 7.9 Illustration of Interest Rate Parity

1. Points representing a discount: points A and B2. Points representing a premium: points C and D3. Points representing IRP: points A, B, C, D4. Points below the IRP line: points X and Y

a. Investors can engage in covered interest arbitrage and earn a higher return by investing in foreign currency after considering foreign interest rate and forward premium or discount.

5. Points above the IRP line: point Za. U.S. investors would achieve a lower return on a foreign

investment than on a domestic one.

14

© 2010 South-Western/Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website forclassroom use.

15

Considerations When Assessing Interest Rate Parity1. Transaction costs2. Political risk3. Differential tax laws

© 2010 South-Western/Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website forclassroom use.

16

Exhibit 7.12 Relationship between the Interest Rate Differential and the Forward Premium