International Financial Markets and The Firm

Piet Sercu, Raman Uppal

Publisher: Thomson, 1995, 731 pages

ISBN: 1-86152-354-8

Keywords: International Enterprise, Finance

Last modified: Nov. 29, 2007, 11:04 p.m.

The latest book in The Current Issues in Finance Series, Piet Sercu and Raman Uppal's INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL MARKETS AND THE FIRM sets a new standard in its clarity and rigor.

Distinguishing features include:

  • Unified approach based on arbitrage-free pricing, which can be used to value assets whose payoffs depend on the exchange rate.
  • In-depth discussions of the economic role of the forward rate and the value of a forward contract. Implications for corporate managemnent and valuable insights fro option pricing are examined.
  • Descriptions of the empirical behavior of exchange rates and its implications for foreign exchange traders, treasurers, and corporate managers. readers examine how inflation-based theories fail to explain exchange rates and how the forward rate is a biased predicator of the future spot rate. Track records of various econometric methods and professional forecasters are reviewed.
  • Comprehensive study of when and why the firm can increase its value by hedging foreign exchange risk: how to measure exposure to foreign exchange rates; and how to select the best hedging instrument.
  • Economic analysis of the various payment and credit insurance techniques used in international trade, including countertrade.
  • Stepwise approach on how to value foreign direct investment projects, with a discussion of generic international taxation systems and their implications for transfer policies, cost of capital models in integrated and segmented markets, and joint venture projects.
    • An Introduction to International Financial Markets
      • I.1 Money and Banking: A Brief Review
      • I.2 The International Payment Mechanism
      • I.3 Euromarkets
      • I.4 Exchange Rate Regimes
  • Part I International Financial Markets
    • Chapter 1 Spot Exchange Markets
      • 1.1 Exchange Rates
      • 1.2 Major Markets for Foreign Exchange
      • 1.3 The Law of One Price for Spot Exchange Quotes
      • 1.4 Triangular Arbitrage
      • 1.5 Implications for the Treasurer
      • Chapter Review Questions
    • Chapter 2 Forward Contracts in Perfect Markets
      • 2.1 Introduction to Forward Contracts
      • 2.2 The Relationship between Exchange and Money Markets
      • 2.3 The Law of One Price and Interest Rate Parity
      • 2.4 Interpreting the Forward Premium or Discount
      • 2.5 Concluding Remarks
      • Chapter Review Questions
      • Appendix 2A Interest Rates, Returns, and Bond Yields
    • Chapter 3 The Value of a Forward Contract and Its Implications
      • 3.1 The Market Value of an Outstanding Forward Contract
      • 3.2 Implications: The Value at Expiration and at Inception
      • 3.3 Insights for Financial Reporting
      • 3.4 Insights for Corporate Hedging and Investments Policies
      • Chapter Review Questions
    • Chapter 4 Forward Contracts and Market Imperfections
      • 4.1 Credit Risk in Forward Contracts
      • 4.2 How Forward Rates are Quoted with Bid-Ask Spreads
      • 4.3 Synthetic Forward Rates
      • 4.4 The Arbitrage Bounds on the Forward Bid and Ask Rates
      • 4.5 Empirical Tests of the Arbitrage Bounds
      • 4.6 Bounds Imposed on the Forward Range by Least Cost Dealing
      • 4.7 Implications of Spreads for the Financial Manager
      • Chapter Review Questions
    • Chapter 5 Currency Futures Markets
      • 5.1 Currency Futures Markets
      • 5.2 Effect of Marketing to Market on Futures Prices
      • 5.3 Hedging with Futures Contracts
      • 5.4 Conclusion: Pros and Cons of Futures Contracts Relative to Forward Contracts
      • Chapter Review Questions
      • Appendix 5A Computing the Hedge Regression Coefficient
      • Appendix 5B The Effect of Interest Rates on Futures Prices: A Formal Discussion
    • Chapter 6 Currency Options
      • 6.1 An Introduction to Currency Options
      • 6.2 Institutional Aspects of Options Markets
      • 6.3 Bounds on Option Values
      • 6.4 A Graphical Analysis of European Options
      • 6.5 Options as Hedging or Speculating Devices
      • 6.6 Implications of the Corporate Treasurer
      • Chapter Review Questions
      • Appendix 6A Options on Currency Futures, Premium Affairs, and Futures-Style Options
      • Appendix 6B The Effect of the Forward Premium on the Probability of Early Exercise
    • Chapter 7 Pricing Currency Options Using the Binomial Model
      • 7.1 The Logic of Binomial Option Pricing
      • 7.2 Notation and Assumptions for the Multiperiod Binomial Model
      • 7.3 Pricing the One-Period European Currency Call
      • 7.4 Pricing the N-Period European Call
      • 7.5 Towards the Black-Scholes Formula
      • 7.6 Pricing Other European-Type Derivative Assets
      • 7.7 Pricing American Options
      • 7.8 Conclusion
      • Chapter Review Questions
      • Appendix 7A Choosing the Parameters of the Binomial Model
      • Appendix 7B Pricing Options on Foreign Currency T-Bills and on Currency Futures
    • Chapter 8 Pricing European Options: The Lognormal Model
      • 8.1 Assumptions of the Continuous-Time Option Pricing Model
      • 8.2 A Discrete-Time Derivation of the Continuous-Time Model
      • 8.3 How To Use the Continuous-Time Option Valuation Formula
      • 8.4 Related Option Pricing Models
      • 8.5 Conclusions
      • Chapter Review Questions
      • Appendix 8A Derivation of the Expected Expiration Value of the Call Option
      • Appendix 8B Stochastic Calculus and the Black-Scholes Equation
    • Chapter 9 International Bond and Money Markets
      • 9.1 Eurobanking Products
      • 9.2 Eurosecurity Markets
      • 9.3 Eurocurrency Futures Contracts
      • 9.4 Conclusions
      • Chapter Review Questions
      • Appendix 9A Term Structures, Bond Yields, and Interest Rates
    • Chapter 10 Currency and Interest Rate Swaps
      • 10.1 Earlier Swap-Like Contracts
      • 10.2 The Fixed-for-Fixed Currency Swaps
      • 10.3 Interest Rate Swaps
      • 10.4 Cross-Currency Swaps
      • 10.5 Cocktail Swaps
      • 10.6 Conclusions
      • Chapter Review Questions
  • Part II Exchange Rate Determination
    • Chapter 11 Purchasing Power Parity
      • 11.1 Commodity Price Parity
      • 11.2 Absolute Purchasing Power Parity
      • 11.3 Relative Purchasing Power Parity
      • 11.4 Empirical Tests of the Price Parity Relations
      • 11.5 PPP as a Theory of Exchange Rate Determination
      • 11.6 Implications for Managers of the Evidence on PPP
      • Chapter Review Questions
    • Chapter 12 The Balance of Payments
      • 12.1 What Is the Balance of Payments?
      • 12.2 The Net International Investment Account
      • 12.3 The BOP Approach to Exchange Rate Determination
      • 12.4 Conclusions
      • Chapter Review Questions
      • Appendix 12A Relationship between the BOP and Fiscal Policy
    • Chapter 13 Portfolio Theories of Exchange Rate Determination
      • 13.1 Monetary Theory of Exchange Rate Determination
      • 13.2 An Asset's Contribution to Portfolio Mean and Variance
      • 13.3 Mean-Variance Portfolio Choice
      • 13.4 Conclusions
      • Chapter Review Questions
      • Appendix 12A Return and Risk of a Portfolio Containing Risk-Free Assets
    • Chapter 14 Risk and Return in Forward Markets
      • 14.1 The Unbiased Expectations Hypothesis (UEH)
      • 14.2 Regression Tests of UEH
      • 14.3 Can Risk Premium Explain Violations of UEH?
      • 14.4 Other Explanations for Violations of UEH
      • 14.5 Testing UEH in Real Terms
      • 14.6 Implications for Financial Decision Making
      • Chapter Review Questions
    • Chapter 15 Forecasting Exchange Rates
      • 15.1 Technical Analysis
      • 15.2 Fundamental Models of Exchange Rate Forecasting
      • 15.3 Evaluating the Performance of Forecasters
      • 15.4 Implications for Treasury Management
      • Chapter Review Questions
  • Part III International Risk Management
    • Chapter 16 The Relevance of Hedging
      • 16.1 Conditions for Irrelevance of a Firm's Hedging Decision
      • 16.2 Arguments in Favor of Hedging Exchange Risk
      • 16.3 Irrelevant Arguments
      • 16.4 Conclusion
      • Chapter Review Questions
    • Chapter 17 Measuring and Managing Contractual Exposure to the Exchange Rate
      • 17.1 The Concepts of Risk and Exposure
      • 17.2 Contractual Exposure from Transactions for a Particular Date and Currency
      • 17.3 Aggregate Contractual Exposure over Several Transcations for a Particular Currency
      • 17.4 What Does Management of Contractual Exposure Achieve?
      • Chapter Review Questions
    • Chapter 18 Measuring and Managing Operating Exposure to the Exchange Rate
      • 18.1 Introduction to Operating Exposure
      • 18.2 The Importance of the Economic Environment in Which the Firm Operates
      • 18.3 Measuring and Hedging Operating Exposure
      • 18.4 Conclusions for Treasury Management
      • Chapter Review Questions
    • Chapter 19 Measuring and Managing Accounting Exposure
      • 19.1 What Is Accounting Exposure?
      • 19.2 Why Firms Need To Translate Financial Statements
      • 19.3 The Choice of Different Translation Methods
      • 19.4 Conclusions for Managers
      • Chapter Review Questions
    • Chapter 20 Managing the Risks in International Trade
      • 20.1 Payment Modes without Bank Participation
      • 20.2 Documentary Payment Modes with Bank Participation
      • 20.3 Other Standard Ways to Cope with Default Risk
      • 20.4 Export-Backed Financing
      • 20.5 Countertrade
      • 20.6 Conclusion
      • Chapter Review Questions
      • Appendix 20A Some Institutional Details of Documentary Credits
  • Part IV International Investment Decisions
    • Chapter 21 International Capital Budgeting
      • 21.1 Domestic Capital Budgeting: A Quick Review
      • 21.2 Forms of Foreign Policy
      • 21.3 Taxes and Three-Step International Capital Budgeting
      • 21.4 Transfer Risks
      • 21.5 Other Political Risks
      • 21.6 Incremental Cash Flows
      • 21.7 Exchange Risk and Market Segmentation
      • 21.8 A Checklist for NPV Analysis
      • Chapter Review Questions
      • Appendix 21A Alternate Ways to Account for Investment in Working Capital
    • Chapter 22 Exchange Risk and Capital Market Segmentation
      • 22.1 Procedures for Valuing Risk-Free Foreign Cash Flows
      • 22.2 Procedures for Valuing Risky Foreign Cash Flows
      • 22.3 The Single-Country CAPM
      • 22.4 The International CAPM
      • 22.5 Conclusions for Capital Budgeting
      • Chapter Review Questions
      • Appendix 22A Linking the International CAPM to Multivariate Regressions
    • Chapter 23 International Taxation
      • 23.1 Multiple Taxation versus Tax Neutrality
      • 23.2 International Taxation of a Branch: The Credit System
      • 23.3 International Taxation of a Branch: The Exclusion System
      • 23.4 Remittances from a Subsidiary: An Overview
      • 23.5 International Taxation of a Subsidiary: The Credit System
      • 23.6 International Taxation of a Subsidiary: The Exclusion System
      • 23.7 Conclusion
      • Chapter Review Questions
    • Chapter 24 Valuation and Negotiation of Joint Venture Projects
      • 24.1 The Three-Step Approach to Joint-Venture Capital Budgeting
      • 24.2 A Framework for Profit Sharing
      • 24.3 Case I: A Simple Pro-Rata Joint Branch with Neutral Taxes and Integrated Capital Markets
      • 24.4 Case II: Valuing a Pro-Rata Joint Branch when Taxes or Discount Rates Differ
      • 24.5 Case III: An Unbundled Joint Venture with a License Contract or a Management Contract
      • 24.6 Concluding Comments
      • Chapter Review Questions
    • Chapter 25 International Capital Budgeting Using Option Pricing Theory
      • 25.1 Situations Where the Option Pricing Approach Is Suitable
      • 25.2 Valuation Using the NPV Criterion
      • 25.3 Valuation Using Option Pricing Methods
      • 25.4 Valuation of Interdependent Options
      • 25.5 Concluding Remarks
      • Chapter Review Questions
      • Appendix 25A Analytical Solution: Optimal Timing Problem in Continuous Time

Reviews

International Financial Markets and The Firm

Reviewed by Roland Buresund

Good ******* (7 out of 10)

Last modified: May 21, 2007, 3:06 a.m.

This is a very good book about international finance, in large corporations. I don't think it is applicable for small to medium sized companies.

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