金融英語閱讀：套期保值

Banks and companies unfortunately have no control over interest rates. The only real difference between a bank and a company is that a company can plan for their borrowing requirements, whereas banks are at the mercy of the demand for credit. One way to reduce risk is to build flexibility into the operation. The other way is through hedging. Hedging is a way of reducing some of the risks involved with borrowing and investing. Generally in a market where interest rates fluctuate occasionally, there is usually little concern about funding risk or the need to consider hedging. This is because the certainty that hedging brings to the borrower also comes at a cost. In simple terms, a company should regard hedging as an insurance policy on their funding rate. One part about hedging that is often misunderstood, is that hedging is to reduce risk; it is not about making money. The main risk to a borrower is that the cost of borrowing may become higher than they can handle. To further illustrate this point, if a company made a good profit in one year because interest rates fell by 1%, what may have happened if they went up by 1%??This is where hedging can help.

非常不幸，銀行和公司沒有能控制住利率。銀行和公司唯一真正不同之處在于，公司能夠為其借款要求作出計劃，而銀行則完全受申請信貸的支配。降低風險的一個方法是建立操作的靈活性。另一個方法是通過套期保值。套期保值是降低某些與借款和投資有關(guān)的風險。一般來說，在一個利率偶爾波動的市場里，通常不太關(guān)心籌資風險或考慮套期保值的需求。這是因為套期保值帶給借款人的確定性的同時，也需要借款人付出一定的代價。簡單說來，公司應(yīng)將套期保值看作是其籌資利率的一份保單。有關(guān)套期保值，經(jīng)常被人誤解的一點就是套期保值能夠降低風險;但不能夠賺錢。對借款人來說，主要的風險就在于借款的代價可能比他們能夠承受的還要高。為進一步闡明這點，如果某公司在一年內(nèi)因利率下降了1%而獲得了豐厚的好處，那么如果利率上漲了1%可能會發(fā)生什么事情呢?這就是套期保值能夠起作用的地方了。