IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jimfin/v60y2016icp289-312.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Firm-level effects of asymmetric intervention in foreign exchange markets: Evidence from the Swiss currency floor

Author

Listed:
  • Streit, Daniel

Abstract

In January 2015, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) abandoned the Swiss franc's exchange rate floor against the Euro. This paper is the first to study the firm-level effects of this asymmetric type of central bank intervention in foreign exchange markets. Using weekly stock returns for a sample of Swiss non-financial firms, I find significant reductions in total stock return volatility as well as market risk following the introduction of the currency floor. Accounting for the asymmetric nature of the intervention, I show that the enforcement of this policy solely manifests in a significant reduction of incremental EUR/CHF exchange rate risk exposures of exporting firms, while importing firms experience reductions in proportion to the market portfolio only. Thus, the asymmetric policy design is reflected in asymmetric responses of firm-level currency exposures. All effects, however, do not depend on the extent of business activity in the Eurozone. The overall results suggest that the currency floor was successful in supporting the performance of the Swiss economy by effectively reducing stock return sensitivities to market fluctuations and EUR/CHF exchange rate volatility.

Suggested Citation

  • Streit, Daniel, 2016. "Firm-level effects of asymmetric intervention in foreign exchange markets: Evidence from the Swiss currency floor," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 289-312.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jimfin:v:60:y:2016:i:c:p:289-312
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jimonfin.2015.09.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261560615001515
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jimonfin.2015.09.002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bartram, Sohnke M. & Karolyi, G. Andrew, 2006. "The impact of the introduction of the Euro on foreign exchange rate risk exposures," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 13(4-5), pages 519-549, October.
    2. Christopher J. Neely, 2001. "The practice of central bank intervention: looking under the hood," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 83(May), pages 1-10.
    3. Patnaik, Ila & Shah, Ajay, 2010. "Does the currency regime shape unhedged currency exposure?," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 760-769, September.
    4. Kathryn M. E. Dominguez & Linda L. Tesar, 2001. "Trade and Exposure," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(2), pages 367-370, May.
    5. Kathryn M. E. Dominguez & Linda L. Tesar, 2001. "A Reexamination of Exchange-Rate Exposure," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(2), pages 396-399, May.
    6. Michael Hanke & Rolf Poulsen & Alex Weissensteiner, 2015. "Where Would the EUR/CHF Exchange Rate be Without the SNB's Minimum Exchange Rate Policy?," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(12), pages 1103-1116, December.
    7. Jorion, Philippe, 1991. "The Pricing of Exchange Rate Risk in the Stock Market," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 26(3), pages 363-376, September.
    8. Bartov, Eli & Bodnar, Gordon M. & Kaul, Aditya, 1996. "Exchange rate variability and the riskiness of U.S. multinational firms: Evidence from the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 105-132, September.
    9. Dominguez, Kathryn M.E. & Tesar, Linda L., 2006. "Exchange rate exposure," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 188-218, January.
    10. Grisse, Christian & Nitschka, Thomas, 2015. "On financial risk and the safe haven characteristics of Swiss franc exchange rates," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 153-164.
    11. Karolyi, G. Andrew & Stulz, Rene M., 2003. "Are financial assets priced locally or globally?," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 16, pages 975-1020, Elsevier.
    12. G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), 2003. "Handbook of the Economics of Finance," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1.
    13. Belghitar, Yacine & Clark, Ephraim & Mefteh, Salma, 2013. "Foreign currency derivative use and shareholder value," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 283-293.
    14. Angelo Ranaldo & Paul Söderlind, 2010. "Safe Haven Currencies," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 14(3), pages 385-407.
    15. Muller, Aline & Verschoor, Willem F.C., 2006. "Foreign exchange risk exposure: Survey and suggestions," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 385-410, October.
    16. Parsley, David C. & Popper, Helen A., 2006. "Exchange rate pegs and foreign exchange exposure in East and South East Asia," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 992-1009, October.
    17. Barry Eichengreen & Ricardo Hausmann, 1999. "Exchange rates and financial fragility," Proceedings - Economic Policy Symposium - Jackson Hole, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, pages 329-368.
    18. Newey, Whitney & West, Kenneth, 2014. "A simple, positive semi-definite, heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation consistent covariance matrix," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 33(1), pages 125-132.
    19. repec:dau:papers:123456789/11689 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Allayannis, George & Ofek, Eli, 2001. "Exchange rate exposure, hedging, and the use of foreign currency derivatives," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 273-296, April.
    21. G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), 2003. "Handbook of the Economics of Finance," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 2.
    22. Aline Muller & Willem F. C. Verschoor, 2006. "European Foreign Exchange Risk Exposure," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 12(2), pages 195-220, March.
    23. Ye, Min & Hutson, Elaine & Muckley, Cal, 2014. "Exchange rate regimes and foreign exchange exposure: The case of emerging market firms," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 156-182.
    24. Paul R. Krugman, 1991. "Target Zones and Exchange Rate Dynamics," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(3), pages 669-682.
    25. Bartram, Söhnke M. & Brown, Gregory W. & Minton, Bernadette A., 2010. "Resolving the exposure puzzle: The many facets of exchange rate exposure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(2), pages 148-173, February.
    26. Dumas, B, 1978. "The Theory of the Trading Firm Revisited," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 33(3), pages 1019-1030, June.
    27. Muller, Aline & Verschoor, Willem F.C., 2006. "Asymmetric foreign exchange risk exposure: Evidence from U.S. multinational firms," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 13(4-5), pages 495-518, October.
    28. Hamada, Robert S, 1972. "The Effect of the Firm's Capital Structure on the Systematic Risk of Common Stocks," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 27(2), pages 435-452, May.
    29. Christopher J. Neely, 2011. "A foreign exchange intervention in an era of restraint," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 93(Sep), pages 303-324.
    30. Bartov, Eli & Bodnar, Gordon M, 1994. "Firm Valuation, Earnings Expectations, and the Exchange-Rate Exposure Effect," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 49(5), pages 1755-1785, December.
    31. Kent D Miller & Jeffrey J Reuer, 1998. "Firm Strategy and Economic Exposure to Foreign Exchange Rate Movements," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 29(3), pages 493-513, September.
    32. Chen, Cherry C. & So, Raymond W., 2002. "Exchange rate variability and the riskiness of US multinational firms: evidence from the Asian financial turmoil," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 12(4-5), pages 411-428.
    33. Jorion, Philippe, 1990. "The Exchange-Rate Exposure of U.S. Multinationals," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 63(3), pages 331-345, July.
    34. Shapiro, Alan C, 1975. "Exchange Rate Changes, Inflation, and the Value of the Multinational Corporation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 30(2), pages 485-502, May.
    35. Muller, Aline & Verschoor, Willem F.C., 2009. "The effect of exchange rate variability on US shareholder wealth," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(11), pages 1963-1972, November.
    36. Gordon M. Bodnar & M.H. Franco Wong, 2003. "Estimating Exchange Rate Exposures: Issues in Model Structure," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 32(1), Spring.
    37. Lan, Li-Huei & Chen, Chang-Chih & Chuang, Shuang-Shii, 2015. "Exchange rate risk management: What can we learn from financial crises?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 187-192.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yu‐Fu Chen & Michael Funke & Richhild Moessner, 2018. "Informal one‐sided target zone model and the Swiss franc," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(5), pages 1130-1153, November.
    2. Yang, Yan-Hong & Shao, Ying-Hui & Shao, Hao-Lin & Stanley, H. Eugene, 2019. "Revisiting the weak-form efficiency of the EUR/CHF exchange rate market: Evidence from episodes of different Swiss franc regimes," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 523(C), pages 734-746.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Muller, Aline & Verschoor, Willem F.C., 2006. "Foreign exchange risk exposure: Survey and suggestions," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 385-410, October.
    2. Asif, Raheel & Frömmel, Michael, 2022. "Exchange rate exposure for exporting and domestic firms in central and Eastern Europe," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(PA).
    3. Ekta Sikarwar & Ganesh Kumar Nidugala, 2018. "Effect of Central Bank Intervention in Estimating Exchange Rate Exposure: Evidence from an Emerging Market," Journal of Emerging Market Finance, Institute for Financial Management and Research, vol. 17(1), pages 60-95, April.
    4. Ye, Min & Hutson, Elaine & Muckley, Cal, 2014. "Exchange rate regimes and foreign exchange exposure: The case of emerging market firms," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 156-182.
    5. Ledenyov, Dimitri O. & Ledenyov, Viktor O., 2015. "Wave function method to forecast foreign currencies exchange rates at ultra high frequency electronic trading in foreign currencies exchange markets," MPRA Paper 67470, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Akay, Gokhan H. & Cifter, Atilla, 2014. "Exchange rate exposure at the firm and industry levels: Evidence from Turkey," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 426-434.
    7. Bartram, Söhnke M. & Bodnar, Gordon, 2005. "The Exchange Rate Exposure Puzzle," MPRA Paper 6482, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Belghitar, Yacine & Clark, Ephraim & Dropsy, Vincent & Mefteh-Wali, Salma, 2021. "The effect of exchange rate fluctuations on the performance of small and medium sized enterprises: Implications for Brexit," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 399-410.
    9. Aysun, Uluc & Guldi, Melanie, 2011. "Exchange rate exposure: A nonparametric approach," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 321-337.
    10. Bartram, Söhnke M. & Bodnar, Gordon M., 2012. "Crossing the lines: The conditional relation between exchange rate exposure and stock returns in emerging and developed markets," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 766-792.
    11. Jongen, R. & Muller, A. & Verschoor, W.F.C., 2012. "Using survey data to resolve the exchange risk exposure puzzle: Evidence from U.S. multinational firms," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 148-169.
    12. Horst Entorf & Gösta Jamin, 2007. "German Exchange Rate Exposure at DAX and Aggregate Levels, International Trade and the Role of Exchange Rate Adjustment Costs," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 8(3), pages 344-374, August.
    13. Hutson, Elaine & O'Driscoll, Anthony, 2010. "Firm-level exchange rate exposure in the Eurozone," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 468-478, October.
    14. Hoberg, Gerard & Moon, S. Katie, 2017. "Offshore activities and financial vs operational hedging," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(2), pages 217-244.
    15. Agyei-Ampomah, Sam & Mazouz, Khelifa & Yin, Shuxing, 2013. "The foreign exchange exposure of UK non-financial firms: A comparison of market-based methodologies," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 251-260.
    16. Lestano, Lestano, 2015. "Asymmetric Exchange Rate Exposure in Indonesian Industry Sectors," MPRA Paper 64357, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Belghitar, Yacine & Clark, Ephraim & Mefteh, Salma, 2013. "Foreign currency derivative use and shareholder value," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 283-293.
    18. Sikarwar, Ekta, 2020. "Forex interventions and exchange rate exposure: Evidence from emerging market firms," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 69-81.
    19. Bartram, Söhnke M. & Brown, Gregory W. & Minton, Bernadette A., 2010. "Resolving the exposure puzzle: The many facets of exchange rate exposure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(2), pages 148-173, February.
    20. Krapl, Alain A., 2020. "The time-varying diversifiability of corporate foreign exchange exposure," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Euro; Swiss franc; Currency floor; Central bank intervention; Market risk; Foreign exchange rate risk;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E58 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Central Banks and Their Policies
    • F31 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Exchange
    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jimfin:v:60:y:2016:i:c:p:289-312. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/30443 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.