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European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority

1419

Q&A

Question ID: 1419

Regulation Reference: Guidelines on use of internal models

Article: 188

Status: Final

Date of submission: 10 Jul 2018

Question

We would like to know your assessment of the following question:

An EUR denominated fund is holding FX options. We would like to know how the foreign currency exposure is calculated.
As an example we are looking at the following fx option:
USDSEK Put, Strike 8.45, Position -3 Options, Delta = 0.95, Nominal = 1 Mio. USD

We have seen two different calculation methods, that can be described as follows:

Method 1:
Numer of options x nominal x delta =
-3 x 1'000'000 x 0.95 = USD -2'850'000.- (EUR -2'425'531.91 with EURUSD being 1.1750).
Numer of options x nominal x delta x strike =
-3 x 1'000'000 x 0.95 x 8.45 = SEK -24'082'500 (EUR - 2'515'406.31 with EURSEK being 9.574)

Total Exposure would then be:
EUR 2'425'531.91 + 2'515'406.31 = EUR 4'490'938.22 (not taking into account + or -)

Method 2:
Same procedure for single currencies, but taking into consideration + and -.
USDSEK Short Put ==> USD Long, SEK Short ==>
EUR 2'425'531.91 - EUR 2'515'406.31 =
EUR 89'874.39

both methods vary significantly with regard to the resulting underyling exposure.

We are looking forward to hearing from you and would like to thank you for your efforts in this matter.

EIOPA answer

Long 100 USD in three months
Short 8000 SEK in three months

In euros this would be worth:
+ 80 EUR
– 100 EUR

The contract would be worth –20 EUR (or –25 USD or –1600 SEK).

Applying the USD shock

Applying the increase of the USD versus the EUR while assuming that all other FX rates remain the same, including the SEK/EUR rate implies the following change in value:
+ 100 EUR since the increase in the USD makes the long position more valuable
– 100 EUR as the SEK/EUR rate does not change

This results in a contract value of 0 EUR, a profit of 20 EUR

Applying the decrease of the USD versus the EUR while assuming that all other FX rates remain the same, including the SEK/EUR rate implies the following change in value:
+ 64 EUR since the decrease in the USD makes the long position less valuable
– 100 EUR as the SEK/EUR rate does not change

This results in a contract value of –36 EUR, a loss of 16 EUR

 

Applying the SEK shock

Applying the increase of the SEK versus the EUR while assuming that all other FX rates remain the same, including the USD/EUR rate implies the following change in value:
+ 80 EUR as the USD/EUR rate does not change
– 125 EUR as the increase in the SEK makes the short position less valuable

This results in a contract value of -45 EUR, a loss of 25 EUR