Foreign exchange risk management by Swedish and Korean nonfinancial firms: A comparative survey

This study compares the hedging practices of Swedish and Korean nonfinancial firms. Our findings suggest that the aim of hedging differed between firms in the two countries. Korean firms mostly focused on reducing fluctuations in cash flows, while Swedish firms more commonly emphasized reducing fluctuations of accounting numbers. The proportion of firms that used derivatives was significantly lower in the Korean than in the Swedish sample, a finding that may stem from the relative immaturity of the Korean derivatives markets. The evidence suggests that Korean firms hedged as much as Swedish firms but substituted foreign debt for derivatives. Furthermore, Korean firms appeared to be less rigorous than Swedish firms in overseeing risk management activity. Finally, a large proportion of firms in both countries used a profit-based approach to evaluating the risk management function.