Zsuzsanna Novák

Department of Finance, Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary

novak.zsuzsanna@gtk.bme.hu

ORCID 0000-0002-4785-0411

Hungarian forint FX swap spreads during and beyond crisis times

Nikolett Sereg

Department of Finance, Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary

sereg.nikolett@gtk.bme.hu

ORCID 0000-0002-4609-6410

Abstract. Incentivised by a wide range of research discussing mispricing in USD related swap markets, the paper aims at discovering the  factors contributing to the deviation of the 3-month FX swap points in the EURHUF and USDHUF market from their CIP based values primarily between the period January 2008 and December 2018 and with an extension to the end of 2021 using daily and monthly Bloomberg quotes. The period examined can be divided into three plus one subperiods as concerns FX swap spreads, largely determined by the effects of the global financial crisis and the volume of FX loans. Apart from the most important classes of variables explaining FX swap spreads, counterparty, funding and market liquidity risk indicators, the literature identifies, policy variables were also involved in the analysis. During and in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis, the MNB applied various kinds of FX swap tenders to ease FX liquidity tensions in the Hungarian interbank market, and continued providing such operations even after the conversion of household FX loans to domestic currency. The results of VARX estimations suggest that indicators of market and liquidity tension, counterparty risk mostly positively contributed to the widening of FX swap spreads, in addition, policy intervention had a spread dampening impact throughout most of the period. The paper confirms that central bank FX swap market participation can mitigate mispricing especially in turbulent times.

Received: March, 2021

1st Revision: February, 2022

Accepted: March, 2022

DOI: 10.14254/2071-8330.2022/15-1/2

JEL Classification: G01, G10, G18

Keywords: CIP condition, HUF FX swap spreads, central bank FX swap liquidity tenders, VARX