指交易双方为了抵消
利率或
货币风险,及使其
资产与
负债相平衡而交换
现金流量 。例如,某
公司可能有必须以瑞士法郎支付的支出,但其
收入是以美元计值。而另一家
公司的情形正好相反。这时,银行为了赚取手续费可安排一项能满足双方要求的
货币互换(换汇交易)。
利率互换的情形也一样,这种互换允许双方以固定
利率取代浮动
利率的
风险,从而使双方获益。关键是参与互换的双方没有交换
本金,即数量固定的
债务,而只交换
现金流量,即利息。
An
exchange of cash flows between two counterparties designed to offset
interest rate or
currency risk and to match their
assets to their
liabilities. For example, a company may have costs which it must pay in Swiss francs while its revenues are in US dollars. Another company may have the opposite requirement. A bank, in exchange for a fee, arranges a currency
swap which meets both requirements. The same is true of interest rate swaps, which allow two parties to exchange fixed rate for floating rate risk to their mutual advantage. A key
point is that parties to a swap do not exchange
principal, or the underlying fixed amount of
debt, but just
cash flow, or the interest payments.