Английский язык. Бочкарева Т.С - 18 стр.

     to charge                               -   начислять, назначать
     to deliver                              -   доставлять
     calculated gamble                       -   просчитанный риск
     currency option                         -   валютный опцион
     purchase                                -   покупка; (v) покупать
     agreed exchanced rate                   -   условленный курс обмена
     agreed date                             -   условленная дата
     expiration date                         -   дата истечения срока
     to exercise                             -   использовать

      Сompanies trading internationally are exposed to considerable foreign exchange
risk. If, for example, a French company knows that it will need $2 million in three
months' time to pay for imports from the USA, it can buy the dollars forward, i.e. at a
rate specified now, thus eliminating the risk of an adverse movement in the exchange
rate between the French franc and the US dollar. Unfortunately, buying dollars forward
also eliminates the possibility of a favorable movement in exchange rates. Alternatively,
the company could wait three months and then buy the dollars at the spot rate, i.e. the
rate charged then for funds to be delivered two working days after the transaction. This
way the company may get a better exchange rate but it also runs a risk, since the rate
could be worse. Essentially, either course of action involves a calculated gamble on
exchange rates.
      To meet this situation, some banks developed and began to offer currency options
in the early 1980s. Under the currency option, the customer pays a premium which gives
them right to demand purchase or sale of a specified currency at an agreed exchange rate
up to an agreed date, but no obligation to do so. After the customer pays the premium,
the bank sends out confirmation of the deal. If the exchange rate in three months' time,
or whenever the expiration date is, is better than the one the customer has agreed on,
they do not use the option, and instead deal at the market rate when they need to. Their
cost has only been the premium for the option. Alternatively, if the rate is worse than the
one they have agreed upon, they exercise the option, and thus suffer no loss due to the
fall in exchange rates. The customer may exercise the option at any time up to and
including the experation date, for value spot. This, then, is the basic idea of the currency
option.

     Comprehension Questions

     1 Why are companies trading internationally exposed to foreign exchange risk?
     2 What does it mean “to buy dollars forward”?
     3 Does this deal eliminate the possibility of a favourable movement in exchange
rates?
     4 What does it mean “to buy dollars at a spot rate”?

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