Unit 3

Risk Management in BankingUnit 3

ASSET LIABILITY MANAGEMENT

Unit 3

Learning Objectives

By the end of this unit, you should be able to:• Explain Asset-Liability Management • Describe liquidity gaps• Discuss the term structure of interest rates• Describe interest rate gaps• Explain amount hedging and the use of derivatives• Discuss the hedging issues

SCENARIOS

A > L A < LPositive gapDeficit

Negative gapSurplus

Key risk drivers

Liquidity gap / solvency risk

Interest rate / Income risk

Recap

Risk factors

Maturity or term structure

mismatch

Fixed v variable rate mismatch

Mixture of both

Examples:-Rate sensitive assets $50m

higher than rate sensitive

liabilities (liquidity gap /get

emergency funding)-$2m of 1 year loans v only

$1m amount of 1 year deposits

(term mismatch)- $10m of fixed rate loans at 5%

v $5m of variable rate deposits

at LIBOR+2% (interest rate

mismatch)-Variable rate loans of $50m v

variable rate deposits of $30m

(interest rate gap)-Fixed rate loans of $30m v

variable rate deposits of $20m

interest rate gap)

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Types of Interest Rate Risk(VIDEO)

Task: take notes for further discussion, Q&A

Interest rate risks

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Impact of Changes in Interest Rates

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DiscussionQ & A

• Cash matching is a fundamental concept applied to manage liquidity and interest rate risks.

• It implies that the time profiles of amortization of assets and liabilities are identical.

• FINDING A NATURAL HEDGE: • Fixed rates funding are matched with fixed rates

lending; floating rate funding reset periodically with floating rate lending based on the same reset dates using the same reference rates.

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Cash Matching betweenassets and liabilities

• Liquidity management is a continuous process of raising new funds when there are deficits or investing funds when there are surpluses.

• The Cost of the Liquidity Ratio Typical commercial banks transactions comprise of borrowing

short and lending long, leads to deteriorating liquidity ratio. Borrowing long and lending short is one method to improve

the liquidity ratio but there are costs involved. It is a component of the ‘all-in’ cost of funds including:

1.Spread between long-term and short-term rates

2.Cost of the swap plus the credit spread of borrowing plus the bid-ask spread.

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Liquidity Management

1. Demand deposits (hard to predict outflows over

longer term)

2. Contingencies (Off-balance sheet) – hard to

predict net settlement values

3. Prepayment options embedded in loans – adds

additional uncertainty and cost

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Issues in determining the liquidity gap time profiles

Interest rates are essential for the banking business because: Fluctuating interest rates impact the bank’s interest

income Future interest rates of borrowing or lending/investing

are unknown Typical commercial banks lend long-term and borrow

short-term. All funding and investing decisions resulting from

liquidity gaps have an impact on interest rate risks.

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Term Structure of Interest Rates

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Interest Rate Expectationand Forward Rates

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Price-Yield curve(VIDEO)

Task: take notes for further discussion, Q&A

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Expectation of steepening/flattening of Price-

Yield Curve(VIDEO)

Task: take notes for further discussion, Q&A

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Yield Curve data (for all term US gov. bonds)

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https://www.bis.org/bcbs/basel3.htm

• An upward sloping yield curve benefits the typical commercial bank who pay short-term deposit rates and earn long-term interest rates from loans– Capture the positive maturity spread– Sensitive to shifts and steepness of the yield curve.

• Net lender banks with large deposit base:– Adversely affected by interest rate declines.– High long-term interest rates increases the bank’s

income.– Adversely exposed to decline in the steepness of the

yield curve.Unit 3

Hedging Issues

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Bessis, 2nd edition

Week 1. Chapters (Sections) 2 and 3

Week 2. Chapter (Sections) 4

Week 3. Chapters (Sections) 5 and 6

Week 4 (next week) Chapter 7

Bessis 3rd edition

Sections

ALM Models

• ALM decisions which manages interest rate risks and business risks, involves:– business decisions (on-balance sheet);– hedging decisions (off-balance sheet).

• ALM simulations are required to evaluate the behaviour of the balance sheet under different interest rate assumptions and determine the future profitability and risk faced by the bank.

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Unit 3

Interest Rate Risk Measurement(VIDEO)

Task: take notes for further discussion, Q&A

1. Select the target variables, interest income and the balance sheet NPV

2. Define the interest rate scenarios.

3. Build business projections of the future balance sheet.

4. Project the margins and net income.

5. Consider optional risk by valuing options

6. Combine all the steps with hedging scenarios to view the entire set of feasible risk and return combinations.

7. Jointly select the optimum business and hedging scenarios based on the risk and return goals of the ALCO.

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ALM Simulation

• The sensitivity of the bank’s exposure to parallel shifts of the yield curve depends on:– the sign of the variable interest rate gap– the average reset period of assets and

liabilities.• If variable rate gap is positive, the bank behaves

as net lenders.• If variable rate gap is negative, the bank

behaves as net borrowers.

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Hedging Issues

• Variable rate gaps increase with the gap between the asset reset rate period and the liability reset period.– Variable rate assets > Variable rate liabilities:

• the reset period for assets become shorter than the reset period for liabilities.– Variable rate liabilities > Variable rate assets:

• the reset period for liabilities become shorter than the reset period for assets.

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Variable Rate Gaps

• With Variable rate gaps and reset date gaps having the same sign, the position of the bank would be as follows:

• Positive variable rate gap– The asset average reset period is shorter than

the liabilities average reset period.– Bank borrows long-term and lend short-term.– With an upward sloping yield curve, the bank’s

interest income will suffer negative market spread between the short and long rates.

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Variable Rate Gaps

• Negative variable rate gap– The liabilities average reset period is shorter

than the asset average reset period.– Bank borrows short-term and lend long-term.– With an upward sloping yield curve, the

bank’s interest income will benefit positive market spread between the short and long rates.

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Variable Rate Gaps

• Banks with positive variable rate gaps have increasing interest income with increasing interest rates – behave as net lenders:– Expect interest rates to increase: benefit by maintaining gaps

open

– Expect interest rates to decrease: benefit by closing gaps.

• Banks with negative variable rate gaps have increasing interest income with decreasing interest rates – behave as net borrowers:– Expect interest rates to increase: benefit by closing gaps.

– Expect interest rates to decrease: benefit by maintaining gaps open.

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Hedging Policy

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Natural exposure of a bank

1. As Breakeven Rates for Interest Rate Arbitrage.

2. Lock-in forward rate as of today.

3. Provide lending-borrowing opportunities instead

of only lending-borrowing cash at the current

spot rates.

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Forward Rates Applications

There are 2 types of interest rate gaps:• Fixed interest rate gap

the difference between fixed rate assets and fixed rate liabilities.

• Variable interest rate gap the difference between interest rate sensitive

assets and interest sensitive liabilities.

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Interest Rate Gaps

• Volume and maturity uncertainties• Dealing with options which create ‘convexity risk’• Mapping assets and liabilities to selected

interest rates as opposed to using the actual rates of individual assets and liabilities.

• Dealing with intermediate flows within time bands selected for determining gaps.

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Limitations of Interest Rate Gaps

In a prudent management which aims to hedge interest rate risks, policies aim to:

• Lock in interest rates over a given time horizon with the use of forward contracts or derivatives such as futures or swaps.

• Hedge adverse movements only, while having the option to benefit from other favourable market movements with the use of options

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Interest Rate Risk Management

• Interest rate swaps allow for the exchange of a floating rate for a fixed rate or vice versa.

• The cost of the swap is the spread earned by the counterparty which is a spread deducted from the rate received by the swap.

• In the case of a bank:– Positive variable gap (Variable rate asset > Variable rate

debt): Bank is adversely exposed to interest rate declines

– Negative variable gap (Variable rate asset < Variable rate debt): Bank is adversely exposed to an increase in interest rates.

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Interest Rate Swaps

• Forward contract enables the rates to be locked in. • The cost of the forward contract is the spread

between the 9-month interest rates and the 3-month interest rates.– A future borrower can purchase a forward rate

agreement (FRA) hedge the risk of an interest rate increase.

– A future lender can enter into a forward rate agreement (FRA) to hedge an interest rate decline.

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Forward Contracts

• A call option is the right, but not the obligation, to buy the underlying asset at a fixed exercise price for a fixed period of time. The buyer of the option has to pay a premium for the right, irrespective of whether it is subsequently exercised or not.

• A put option is the right, but not the obligation, to sell the underlying asset. In-the-money: underlying value of the asset is higher

than the exercise price and it provides a gain to the option holder.

Out-of-the-money: underlying value of the asset is below the exercise price

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Interest Rate Options

• A cap sets up a guaranteed maximum rate which protects the borrower from any increase in interest rate but allows the borrower to take advantage of cheaper interest rates.

• A floor set a guaranteed minimum rate which protects a lender from any interest rate decreases while allowing the lender to benefit from any interest rate increases.

• Caps and floors are more costly than forward hedges as it allows for upside benefits. As a result, it is common to minimize the cost of options by using a collar:– Borrower at floating rate buys a cap for protection and sells

a floor to minimize the cost of the hedge.– Lender at floating rate buys a floor for protection and sells

a cap to minimize the cost of the hedge.

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Caps and Floors

Futures contracts requires the hedger to:• Commit the price and delivery quantity at

maturity of a given asset.• Close-out the position (settle the transaction) at

the committed date as per the agreed terms.• The futures market is a standardized exchange

that uses standard contracts. The clearinghouse acts at the intermediary to the counterparties.

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Futures Contract

• To hedge against a decrease in interest rates:– Lender buys a futures contract – A gain is earned in the futures market when interest

rates decrease

• To hedge against an increase in interest rates:– Borrower sells a futures contract– A gain is earned when interest rate increase.

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Futures Contract

• The unit responsible for managing interest rate risk and bank liquidity is the Asset-Liability Management (ALM). It addresses 2 types of interest rate risk as follows:– Interest income fluctuates due to interest rate

movement.– Embedded options in the banking products which may

be exercised when interest rate change.

• ALM reviews 2 major areas of risk:– Standalone risk– Portfolio risk

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Asset-Liability Management (ALM)

• Liquidity gaps are the differences between assets and liabilities of the banking portfolio at all future dates.

• The gaps create liquidity risks which is the risk that the bank is not able to raise funds without incurring excess costs.

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Liquidity Gaps

• Controlling liquidity risk implies:– Spreading funding amounts over time.– Avoiding unexpected important market funding.– Maintaining a buffer of liquid short-term assets.

• Two types of liquidity gaps:– Static liquidity gap – result from existing assets and

liabilities– Dynamic liquidity gap – includes projected new loans

and deposits.

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Liquidity Gaps

• Liquidity risk exists when there are deficit of funds but surplus funds results in interest rate risks – the risk of an unknown rate of lending or investment.

• A > L: Positive gap – deficit which require funding

• A < L: Negative gap – surplus which is an excess resource that needs to be invested.

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Liquidity Gaps

• With fixed rates, any liquidity gap generates interest rate risk. A projected deficit will require raising funds at an unknown rate in the future. A projected surplus will require lending or investment at an unknown rate as well.– With deficits, margin decrease when interest rates

increase, – With surplus, margin decrease when interest rates

decrease.

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Fixed rates versus Floating rates